The FMLN says the Veterans Movement that is taking over the food parcels is “in battle” with their party. René Portillo Cuadra, of ARENA, states that he knows that one of the leaders of that organization is affiliated with CD.
“In short, whether you go for one thing or the other, it shows the payment of perks on which the alliances have been formed,” said FMLN assistant chief Jorge Schafik Hándal of the case of 1,500 packages of food unloaded by vans. with government logos in a location with the CD label.
The prosecution inspected the site last night after a video was published on Teleprensa’s Twitter where trucks are observed unloading boxes of food products distributed by the government during the pandemic bought with funds approved by the Assembly of Loans and Contributions from Salvadorans.
The Attorney General, Raúl Melara, assured that he will not allow public funds to be used for the election campaign, so the boxes remain with yellow tape and ordered an investigation into this matter.
Photo EDH / courtesy FGR
Pedro Avilés, treasurer of the Veterans Common Good Unification Table, however, has taken responsibility for the packages, arguing that they are renting part of the property along with the CD, but the boxes were not for the party, but they asked the government for assistance in celebrating “Veterans Day” on January 31.
“We have received these packages to celebrate Veterans Day, which we are going to celebrate here at this place by legislative act on January 31st, the confusion that has arisen is that we have our office here and the CD also his office, I am the treasurer , I am paying for this place with the help of all the branches we have in the Common Welfare Unification Table, ”Avilés noted on Friday, hours after the video circulated showing the trucks unloading the solidarity packages.
Last Saturday, the veterans’ organization held a conference to clarify the facts. The journalists asked them for a copy of the letter asking for help from the government, but said they did not have it at the time.
“This is in the interest of those in need, as the statutes say, we as a Board of Directors have a duty to safeguard the rights of our veterans and so our management through the Presidential House has obtained such good help and support from 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 have not removed the colors from the CD party because they had no money to do so, but he reported that they have been renting the property for a year and a half.
Photo EDH / Lissette Monterrosa
Áldo Álvarez, National Secretary of Communications for Democratic Change, said the party only occupies part of the infrastructure and they share the parking lot with the other tenants. He believes this may be the reason for the confusion with which the packages went to the party and not the Veterans Movement.
“I say with force that this was not an activity of the CD, we have criticized ourselves in the past that they give things to buy voices, to a lesser extent that we will do it, besides, they are packages that are for the people and come from public money and not, they have nothing to do in election campaigns, ”said Álvarez.
The opposition representatives are not convinced by the statements made on the case. Hándal, of the FMLN, stated that the Veterans Movement claiming that the food parcels is an organization that “fought with us that we did nothing, it is the payment of the benefit with people’s money,” he reiterated.
He noticed that only 1,500 boxes were mentioned when it was observed that 4 vans were bringing the packages with a CD slogan to the property.
“That doesn’t remain, because of the size of the vans they take into account, unless they are packages that are larger than others, so 1,500 (boxes) appear in the photo, it would only be a van, if that photo is of it There they took what fits in a single van, they are prepayments to their allies and their compadres, they don’t even pay them with their own money, but with people’s money they are purely electoral patronage, ”said Hándal.
In this regard, ARENA deputy René Portillo Cuadra claimed to have information that one of the veterans who appeared in videos containing information about the solidarity packages “is affiliated with the CD”.
According to Portillo Cuadra, what is disturbing that it has acted through “the intervention of a party to do the supply, what the government would have done is to supply directly to the movement, when they are going to leave the party, at that point. it’s a crime because it’s a public good, ”he said.
He urged the prosecution to take exhaustive action to investigate where the order came from to take the packages to a place with the CD label and who actually received them.
Regarding the above, the movement’s vice president pointed out at Durán’s press conference on Saturday that yesterday the prosecutor’s office seized the property’s original lease and a mobile phone from Avilés, the organization’s treasurer. taken. . “They took the lease which I don’t understand why they took it because they said the boxes were legal,” he said.
The prosecutor said on his Twitter account that “at the moment the boxes are still in place, ready for distribution, they have not been moved. Documentation has been presented to us to support their being delivered to those who need them. The investigation continues, ”he published.
That’s why Durán asked the prosecutor’s office to remove the yellow tape around the boxes since the prosecutor’s office arrived last night to inspect the site.
For PCN Deputy Raúl Beltrhán Bonilla, it is clear that the parties have had this bad practice for years of using public funds in the election campaign, and that he should not go ahead, but he wonders why in this case did not put the CD in jail how they captured the mayor of Ilopango ”, he wondered.
All of the above happens a day after the CD approved its support as a party to the candidacy of former Home Secretary Mario Durán, who is running for mayor of San Salvador for the New Ideas party.
Public prosecutor investigates a CD shop following video on networks of a truck unloading food packages at a place with the party’s emblem
TSE indicates that the time has passed to appeal against applications