FMLN says the Veterans Movement dealing with food packages is “in a fight” with their party. René Portillo Cuadra, from ARENA, states that he is aware that one of the leaders of that organization is affiliated with CD.
“In short, whether you go for one or the other, it shows the payment of the benefits that the alliances make,” said FMLN Deputy Chief Jorge Schafik Hándal, in the case of 1,500 food packages that were unloaded by trucks with logos government in a location labeled CD.
The prosecutor’s office inspected the site last night after a Teleprensa video was posted on Twitter where trucks are seen unloading boxes of food that are distributed by the government during the pandemic purchased with funds authorized by the Salvadoran Assembly of Loans and Contributions.
The General Prosecutor, Raúl Melara, assured that he will not allow the use of public resources for the election campaign, so that the boxes remain with a yellow stripe and ordered the initiation of an investigation in this regard.
Photo EDH / courtesy of FGR
However, Pedro Avilés, the treasurer of the common unification table for veterans, took responsibility for the packages, claiming that they rented part of the property along with the CD, but that the boxes were not for the party, but asked the government to help to celebrate Veterans Day on January 31st.
“We received these packages to celebrate Veterans Day, which by legislative decree we will celebrate on January 31 here, in this place, the confusion that arose is that we have our office here and the CD also has its office, I am the treasurer , I pay for this place with the help of all the affiliates we have in the Table for the Union of the Common Good “, Avilés underlined this Friday, a few hours after the video was circulating with the trucks that unloaded the solidarity packages.
On Saturday, the veterans’ organization held a conference to clarify the facts. Journalists asked them for a copy of the letter containing the government’s request for help, but said they did not have it at the time.
“This is for the benefit of those who need, as stated in the statute, we, as the board of directors, have an obligation to ensure the rights of our veterans and so our leadership with the Presidential House obtained that good help and support from at Capres through the President of the Republic, we see it with great concern, our organization is not political, it is non-profit, with the sole purpose of protecting the rights of veterans, “said Gabriel Durán, vice president of the Veterans Association.
Avilés, the movement’s treasurer, added that they did not remove the colors of the CD party because they did not have the funds to do so, but reported that they had rented the place for a year and a half.
Photographs EDH / Lissette Monterrosa
Áldo Álvarez, the national secretary of Communications for Democratic Change, said the party occupies only part of the infrastructure and shares the parking lot with other tenants. He assumes that this may be the reason for the confusion with which the packages went to the party and not to the Veterans Movement.
“I tell you strongly that this was not an activity of the CD, we ourselves have criticized in the past that they give things to buy votes, less we will do, in addition, there are packages that are for people and come from money public and have nothing to do with election campaigns, “Alvarez said.
Opposition MPs are not convinced by the statements made in this case. Hándal, from FMLN, said that the Veterans Movement that supports food packages is an organization that “fought with us because we did nothing, it is paying the advantage with people’s money,” he reiterated.
He said he was struck by the fact that only 1,500 boxes were mentioned when 4 vans were seen carrying packages inside with a CD slogan.
“This is not allowed, due to the size of the trucks that someone takes into account, unless there were larger packages than others, so in the photo there are 1,500 (boxes), it would be just a van, if that photo It’s all there. They took what fits in a single van, they are prebend payments to the allies and their comrades, they don’t even pay them with their money, but with people’s money, they are purely electoral patronage “, said Hándal.
In this regard, the deputy René Portillo Cuadra, from ARENA, claimed that he has information that one of the veterans who appeared in the videos offering information about the solidarity packages “is affiliated to the CD”.
According to Portillo Cuadra, the worrying aspect is that he acted through “the intervention of a party to make the delivery, what the government would have done is to deliver directly to the Movement, when they leave the party, at that moment a crime is committed, because it’s a public good, “he said.
He urged the Prosecutor’s Office to act thoroughly to investigate where the order to take the packages to a place labeled CD came from and who actually received them.
Regarding the above, at the press conference held this Saturday by Durán, the vice-president of the Movement stressed that the Prosecutor’s Office yesterday confiscated the initial lease of the premises and a mobile device from Avilés, which is the treasurer of the organization. “They took the lease because I don’t understand why they took it because they said the boxes were legal,” he said.
The prosecutor stated on his Twitter account that “for the moment, the boxes are still in place, ready for distribution, they have not been moved. We were presented with the documentation that claims that they will be delivered to those who need them. The investigation continues “, he published.
In view of this, Durán asked the Prosecutor’s Office to remove the yellow tape surrounding the boxes, as the Prosecutor’s Office arrived last night to inspect the place.
For the deputy Raúl Beltrhán Bonilla, from PCN, it is clear that the parties had this bad practice for years in the use of public resources in the election campaign and that it should not continue, but one wonders why in this case “they did not put the CD in prison as they imprisoned the mayor of Ilopango “, he asked the question.
All of the above happens a day after the CD approved its support as a party for the candidacy of former Interior Minister Mario Durán, who is running for mayor of San Salvador for the New Ideas party.
Prosecutors are investigating a CD store following video recordings on the networks of a truck unloading food packages in a place with the party emblem
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