Carlos Mazón denies ES-Alert delay caused DANA storm deaths

Carlos Mazón, the former president of the Generalitat Valenciana, has submitted a legal defense to the judge investigating the 2024 DANA storm catastrophe. His legal team, led by Ignacio Gally, argues that there is no causal link between the delay in sending the ES-Alert mass notification and the 231 deaths caused by the flooding.

The defense contends that the ES-Alert, which was sent at 20:11 hours, would not have changed the behavior of victims in a way that would have prevented their deaths. The legal filings specifically analyze individual cases to argue that many victims were already at home or had already begun traveling before the alert was issued.

Mazón's defense also denies that he was responsible for the content of the alert or for the decision-making regarding prevention measures, asserting that such duties fell to the regional Interior Minister, Salomé Pradas. The defense further challenges the 'Cuenca hypothesis,' which suggests that WhatsApp messages from Chief of Staff José Manuel Cuenca to Pradas may have delayed the emergency notification.