Unfiltered, Unvarnished Insight into Valencia's Flood Management Controversy
Witness Summons Issued by Catarroja Judge for Head of Júcar Hydrographic Confederation
In the ongoing hot potato of investigation surrounding the flood management debacle in Valencia, the Court of First Instance and Instruction Number 3 of Catarroja has decided to roped in 13 new witnesses, including none other than Miguel Polo, the big cheese of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar (CHJ).
The director and deputy director of Emergencies, the former head of the Provincial Firefighting Consortium of Valencia, and the mayors of Paiporta, Catarroja, and Sedaví are among those enlisted as witnesses. The Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community has disclosed that the judge has refused to summon some public officials as the investigated parties [1].
Compromís and Intersindical get the hot seat
The judge has granted the popular accusation status to Compromís and the trade union Confederación Intersindical. The judge, however, has thumbs downed the request for investigation by the defense of the implicated former consellera of Interior, Salomé Pradas, concerning leaks to the media of a notarial act she provided in the court, containing a list of calls from her mobile phone[2].
The judge has also trashed the declarations as investigated requested by the defense of the former autonomous secretary of Emergencies of the Generalitat, Emilio Argüeso.
In her latest move, the judge has given a thumbs down to summoning the delegate of the Government in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, as the investigated party [1].
Pradas and Argüeso in the hot seat
Salomé Pradas appeared before the judge as the investigated party on April 17, affirming that the national emergency should have been declared. She, however, clarified that the technicians were the ones who should have judged that decision. According to the transcription of her declaration before Judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, to which TVE has access, Pradas stated that both she and the delegate of the Government, Pilar Bernabé, were not "experts in the matter" and assumed an "institutional" position, while the experts in emergencies were the ones who "had to coordinate."
On the other hand, Emilio Argüeso declared to the instructor of the case that they wanted the Es-Alert to be "understandable" and not "excessively alarming." He, the former secretary of Security and Emergencies at the time of the flood, assured in his declaration that it was the subdirector general of Emergencies, Jorge Suárez, who first proposed to emit an alarm to the population on October 29 due to the danger represented by the Forata dam, and it was decided "around 19.15 hours." The content of the ES-Alert, according to his account, "they did not want it to be excessively alarming and that it be understandable, simple, easy to understand."
According to his version, once that sending was proposed by Suárez, there was a debate between the head of the Consortium and another technician, the head of monitoring, "about whether to send or not a message" because "they said it could even generate more confusion." The conversation "lasted a short time" and finally the consellera ordered it to be sent, and the delegate of the government was in favor of sending it, something in which he was also in favor[4].
Sources:1. Noticias Valencia2. El Confidencial3. El Español4. ABC España
- "The trade union Intersindical, alongside Compromís, has gained the position of being formally investigated in the Valencia flood management controversy."
- "Miguel Polo, a key figure from the Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar (CHJ), has been summoned as a witness in the Valencia flood management investigation."
- "Emilio Argüeso, the former autonomous secretary of Emergencies, stated that the emergency alert should not be 'excessively alarming' during the flood events in Valencia."
- "The delegate of the Government in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, was refused as an investigated party by the judge in the Valencia flood management case."
