The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, accompanied journalist Maribel Vilaplana to a parking lot near the El Ventorro restaurant after lunch on October 29, 2024, the day of the DANA flood. This revelation, confirmed by both entourages, corrects the official itinerary and adds details to the controversial 'dark hour' between 18:45 and 19:45. In that interval, 80 of the 229 total victims died.
The latest version of Carlos Mazón's movements on the day of the DANA reveals that, after a nearly four-hour lunch at the El Ventorro restaurant, the president accompanied Maribel Vilaplana to the public parking lot at Glorieta de la Paz around 18:45. This courtesy gesture, less than five minutes' walk from the establishment on Calle Bonaire, was confirmed this Sunday by an authorized source from the journalist and Mazón's entourage, according to Levante-EMV and EL PAÍS.
Mazón's previous itinerary omitted this stop, which barely adds minutes to the 'dark hour'—between 18:45 and 19:45—when, according to the judicial summary analysis, 80 people died. It includes 37 minutes (18:57 to 19:34) without calls, as shown by his phone log submitted to the Valencian Cortes commission. Mazón arrived at the Palau de la Generalitat around 19:45, according to witnesses, stayed briefly, and left around 20:00 for the Cecopi in L’Eliana.
Mazón has maintained that he was 'working' and 'making calls' at the Palau, but without proof or timetable details, attributing his unchanged schedule to the 'information blackout' from Aemet and the Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar—a thesis rejected by Judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra. In an October 9 interview in Las Provincias, he described his walking route from Calle Bonaire to the Palau, via Paz, Reina, Miguelete, Virgen, and Caballeros, without mentioning the parking.
Vilaplana, who will testify as a witness on November 3 before the Catarroja judge, explained in a September 5 letter that she left the restaurant between 18:30 and 18:45, delayed by calls and interruptions. She attributed her initial silence to 'disarray' and criticized campaigns of 'attacks and lies,' urging explanations from public officials: 'The focus must be where it belongs: on the people who had responsibilities and decision-making power that day'.
The Valencia Audience ordered her testimony, considering it could provide 'details or nuances' relevant to the investigation. The restaurant closed before 19:00, according to its owner.