There were 14 conclusions from the special committee that interviewed ministers and government officials about activities and funds carried out during the pandemic. He also recommended Alabí’s removal as health minister.
The partial report of the special commission investigating the pandemic’s handling reached 14 conclusions and several recommendations, including President Nayib Bukele, asking President Nayib Bukele to dismiss the Minister of Health, Francisco Alabí, for the “irregularities” that the deputies found out after listening to several ministers and government officials interviewed by lawmakers.
They recommend to the president of ISRI and director of the aged care center Sara Zaldívar “that they are in control of the institution they are in charge of and that the lives of the residents of the center are their own responsibility, as it is unthinkable that to date the whereabouts of more than 50 elderly persons who were under his strict guardianship is not known ”. About this situation they agreed to send a report to the Public Prosecution Service to investigate the possible commission of crimes.
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The recommendation to Bukele to fire the Minister of Health is due to that The Ministry of Tourism has contracted a home owned by Alabí’s cousin as a containment center.
In this case, the recommendation is made “because of a conflict of interest,” since, according to reports from the head of the branch, Morena Valdez, this institution rented properties from the family member of the Minister of Health three times during a month, at a cost of $ 18,850.
According to the delegates’ conclusions, the Minister of Health, Francisco Alabí, has committed irregularities in the handling of the pandemic data. Photo EDH / Archives
“This relationship was confirmed by the head of the health portfolio, José Francisco Alabí Montoya, in the context of his appearance on the special commission. Likewise, it was official Morena Valdez, who stated in her statement that the Ministry of Tourism had only contracted containment centers that were validated or authorized by the Ministry of Health, ”the partial report reads.
They also conclude that the data of people who died from COVID-19 has been manipulated; that human rights were violated in the detention centers; that corruption has occurred in the transfer of $ 25 million from Social Security to the El Salvador hospital; and that Rijkswaterstaat has not met the deadline to complete phase III of the special hospital for COVID cases, among other things.
“The executive branch systematically carried out irregular actions affecting the treatment, prevention and control of the pandemic; it is found that the central government did not have and does not have to have a comprehensive management plan for the pandemic so far; President Nayib Bukele’s administration through the Ministry of Health lied, manipulated and released data on deaths, confirmed cases and tests for COVID-19 during the pandemic at will, ”his other conclusions.
They argue that Social Security provided the executive branch with a $ 25 million loan for Hospital El Salvador, without the ISSS Organic Law permitting it, and that it was clear that the way the government will pay for that has not yet been is defined loan.
“The government of President Nayib Bukele used national radio and television channels to exaggerate and manipulate the mathematical projections of the evolution of the disease, the foregoing with the aim of stirring fear and terror to discipline the population,” reads one. part of the conclusions.
They point out that frontline personnel who died during the pandemic became infected because the Department of Health and the ISSS did not provide them with the necessary and appropriate biosecurity equipment to care for patients suffering from COVID-19.
That the MOP did not meet the deadline for the completion of the construction project for phase III of the hospital in El Salvador, which was scheduled for the end of July 2020.
The delegates agreed to send the partial report to the Government Ethics Tribunal and to the prosecution service to investigate the possible perpetration of the culpable misappropriation crimes against the Secretary of Health and also against the directors of ISRI and Sara Zaldívar Asylum.
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They send the report to the Pan American Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, the United States Congress, and that country’s Senate.
It also copies the Court of Auditors and the Public Prosecution Service to investigate the possible commission of crimes by the Board of Directors and the current director of ISSS in relation to the $ 25 million loan.