The Majadahonda City Council published an official image on Monday of the mayor and her team at the Advanced Command Post in Cenicientos. Police officials claim that the photograph is misleading: the agents shown are not from the Majadahonda Local Police.
On Monday, July 27, the Majadahonda City Council disseminated an official photograph accompanied by a press release in which the governing team stated that the mayor, Lola Moreno, and much of her team had worked on the ground coordinating the Local Police, SERMAJ, and Civil Protection during the emergency caused by the fires in Cenicientos. The image aimed to illustrate the active and operational presence of the municipality in the regional response.
However, police officials consulted by this outlet describe a very different reality. One of them sums it up bluntly: "The photo is a scam because it looks like the Local Police resources sent to Cenicientos were from Majadahonda, when they were not, thus trying to deceive the public. The Civil Protection members are indeed from there."
According to this senior officer, Majadahonda sent "an off-road vehicle with a driver and four members, then they were made to return." The image used by the City Council – taken at the Advanced Command Post – would have been employed to reinforce a presence that, in practice, was minimal and without operational capacity.
Another expert affiliated with the Security Department adds more context: "The photo is from Saturday, July 25, in Cenicientos; they went up, took the photo, and went home. First, because it was the day they moved the post to Navalcarnero, and second, because they were not prepared to intervene in this situation, neither logistically nor with the necessary equipment. That’s why they went back as soon as they arrived."
The image from the Servimedia agency confirms that the Command Post was the same one in Cenicientos – a municipality that was carefully concealed when describing the official image – as when the photograph disseminated by the City Council was taken, and that it had already been moved to Navalcarnero.
Meanwhile, the official statement from the PP insists that Majadahonda "has made human and material resources available to CECOPI" and that the mayor "has worked on the ground." It also details the care provided to evacuees at the Príncipe Felipe sports centre and the mobilization of Civil Protection.
All of this forms an institutional narrative that presents Majadahonda as an active, present, and operational municipality in the emergency. However, technical testimonies and the actual sequence of events paint a different picture: a brief presence, without effective intervention, and a photograph that leads one to believe that the police resources present were from Majadahonda when they were not. A substantial difference between what is communicated and what actually happened.
The emergency in Cenicientos, the small and modest municipality that had called on Majadahonda for its share of solidarity after the devastating fire in the Sierra Oeste, demanded transparency, coordination, and rigor. And what is perceived, upon reading the different versions, is an uncomfortable distance between the institutional narrative and the facts.
The official photograph disseminated by the City Council does not reflect the actual actions and has been used to reinforce a political message that does not align with the version of the police officials themselves. It is not a crime to manipulate an image, nor does it constitute documentary falsification as it is not part of an official file. But it is an institutional manipulation that deceives the public and deserves a clear explanation.
Majadahonda is a serious city. Its citizens are too. And they deserve that official information is equally serious. Because in an emergency, the truth should not be played with. Actions should not be exaggerated, absences should not be glossed over, and narratives should not be constructed with photographs that do not tell what happened. Public trust is too valuable a commodity to risk for an opportunistic image. And when reality contradicts the statement, what needs to be corrected is not the reality, but the statement. Majadahonda does not need photos that seem to portray what it was not. It needs actions that live up to its citizens.
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