The Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, has declared before the judge of the Dana who warned on October 29 to the then Department Salome Pradas that, at 12.23 (about eight hours before the sending of the ES-Alert) there was already a missing person in the region of the riverbank. Bernabé, according to sources consulted by eldiario.es, has declared that he was available and told Pradas that the Emergency Military Unit (UME) was prepared to deploy. However, the Generalitat requested the activation of the UMU for Utiel-Requena at 15.30.
In a statement that has been prolonged for several hours, Bernabé has described the meeting of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi), convened by Pradas at 17.00, and has confirmed that the then Minister ordered at 18.00 to turn off the micros and cameras of the telematics connection.
He has also declared that President Carlos Mazón called him from another phone that was not the usual. “He called me from another phone that I did not know, he told me that the phone had spoiled, that he had tried to locate the first vice president [Teresa Ribera]but he had problems with his terminal, ”said Bernabé.
Mazón, according to the Government delegate, had tried to return the calls, “but had been cut.” Pilar Bernabé has assured that if the Cecopi had been summoned in the morning, “it would have been better” and has shown his surprise for the delay in calling the meeting. “The Cecopi was celebrated late. If it had been in the morning they would have changed many things,” he reiterated later before the media.
On the other hand, he has confirmed that, given the danger of the Forata dam, Pradas proposed to evacuate the potentially affected localities, although the technicians argued that it was “thousands of people” and that it was a possible “vital risk” and that “what they had to do was rise to high plants.”
At 19.05, she called the mayor of Paiporta (shortly before the video of the fall of the Picanya bridge) and the first mayor had circulated that the ravine had overwhelmed. Maribel Albalat told him that he was witnessing how his neighbors were serious at the ravine.
Asked by the prosecutor, the Government delegate has assured that all the conversations he had with the president of the CHJ, Miguel Polo, referred to “concrete municipalities.” “When there was a concrete issue, I called him,” he said.
Bernabé stressed that orders on preventive measures in danger correspond to the Emergency Coordination Center. In fact, he has influenced the fact that Pradas exercised the “command” in the Cecopi. “It has always been like this,” he recalled.
Asked “repeatedly” that the es-alert would be sent
“I say that when I connect again,” said Bernabé, who asks for “repeatedly” that the ES-alert be sent to the entire province of Valencia. The Cecopi stopped a second time to write the text of the automatic alert to mobiles. To questions from the prosecutor, Bernabé has said that he thought that the technicians of the Emergency Coordination Center knew the “mechanics” of the sending of the alert. In addition, he has confirmed that Jorge Suárez, deputy general emergency deputy director, referred to the calls of 112.
“From there, memories are complex to retain in a chronological way, because the calls happened incessantly, it was a total chaos situation,” he said.
Pilar Bernabé has affirmed that the first data of fatalities had them at 05.00 of October 30 (before they had recorded that they had disappeared).
The Government delegate has contributed to the instructor magistrate a list of her calls on the day of the Dana, as they did last week, in greater or lesser detail, both Pradas and Argüeso. The witness has clarified that she carried the call list to refine the chronology of the facts.
Detected “danger” from the eve
Pilar Bernabé has reported the tragic day of October 29, in which he had a trip to Córdoba, where all the Government delegates were summoned. However, given the complicated situation that was foreseen on the eve and being aware of the “danger”, he called his chief of cabinet to annul the displacement.
He also summoned, at 09.30 of October 29, the state agencies involved in the emergency at the headquarters of the Government Delegation, including the Civil Guard, Aemet, the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar (CHJ), responsible for traffic and the UME.
“I thought all organisms were alert,” said Bernabé. The Government delegate contacted the mayors of the Region of La Ribera all morning to know the situation and requested information about the CHJ. “I asked everyone to be attentive in case the Generalitat required us,” he said.
Bernabé to Pradas: “Ask me the ume, please”
The Government Delegate has said that she spoke with “many” mayors and telephoned, at 12.23, to the Minister Pradas (a five -minute call) to convey her concern about the situation of Utiel. At 14.33, he asks Salomé Pradas: “Ask me the ume, please”, something that the Minister agrees. After the activation request of the UME, Bernabé maintained a series of calls, in a “very distressing” context with the mayor of Utiel, the popular Ricardo Gabaldón.
The prolonged statement as a witness to Bernabé, has led the instructor judge of the Dana case to postpone the appearance before the Catarroja Court of the President of the Diputación de Valencia, Vicent Mompó. The appearances as witnesses are obliged to answer all the questions, but not the defendants, who can refrain from answering.
Source: www.eldiario.es
