The mayor of San Salvador, seeking re-election, will bring up some of his key ideas when he is reelected. However, it regrets the systematic blockade by the central government. ‘Nevertheless, we are going upstairs,’ he says optimistically.
The capital’s mayor denounces government blockades and the use of state resources to propagate new ideas. These abuses, he says, were not even seen by the governments of the FMLN, a party he describes as authoritarian and dictatorial. Despite this, he says he is optimistic that he will win re-election. This was discussed with El Diario de Hoy:
Polls show that the situation is tight. How do you see your current candidacy?
We risk not only the mayor of San Salvador, but also the defense of democracy. I see the use of state resources and institutions for electoral political propaganda purposes and attacking opponents in a way that has never happened, not even with the governments of the Front, a party with an authoritarian, dictatorial vocation like Castro-Chavista. And yet we are going up because the population appreciates the work we have done. As much as they block us, we’ll respond with more work and more works.
What are the main challenges for the mayor’s office?
Financial blocks, not just the 9 months of Fodes they owe us, which means $ 5.5 million dollars in San Salvador. They have blocked access to finance, the Treasury Department is not giving us the categorization required for loans. The Superintendent of the Financial System has threatened the banks to revoke their permits if they provide loans to the mayor’s office. The Department of Labor has threatened financial entities with marches and personally threatened directors of entities that have provided us with loans by indicting them for money laundering.
They said they would be different. We never thought the president would allow it.
Also read: If Bukele pushes for the removal of the Fodes “the most certain is that he will be prosecuted,” says mayor
Do you think it is a sentence of him attacking you?
When they named a candidate, I asked Nayib (Bukele) for an appointment and we talked. He received me in the presidential house and I asked him if it would be a campaign against Mario Durán, against the government or against him. He told me he wouldn’t come in. And so far he has not interfered, but I didn’t think they would use state resources and institutions, not just to promote their candidate, but to block and intimidate us. I asked Nayib if they were going to use the state institutions and he said no, but he didn’t stick to that.
Do you think all that blocking happens without the president’s order or authorization?
The Minister of Labor has his economic interests. We dismantled his corruption network in the mayor’s office, hundreds of thousands of dollars given to them from ghost jobs, unearned overtime, and more. The Secretary of the Interior, Mario Durán, wants to reach the mayor’s office and has promised the Minister of Labor to return illegal privileges and more.
Unfortunately they allowed this during the Presidency and I thought they were different and would not lend themselves to it. Nayib told me he wouldn’t allow state resources to be used for campaigns, but they did.
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You appear at your place with the president. What’s the message if your government blocks you?
That we are willing to cooperate, to put people first and to put aside biased or personal interests. Sadly, at least at election time, they think they are doing me harm, but harming the population, like filling the city with trash and causing an environmental crisis in the midst of a pandemic to win votes, it’s unthinkable.
Do you trust these choices?
The fraud started 8 months ago. Since they stopped paying the Fodes because they want to financially drown the mayor’s offices. More than 200 municipalities depend on Fodes, of which more than 25% is used for current expenses and salaries. Thousands of works have been halted and it is scandalous to see the Treasury Secretary mocking that he will not pay for it after the election. It is outrageous that the prosecutor’s office has not acted in the face of these blatant violations of the law and the constitution. They have not paid political debts, so only the ruling party can campaign.
Why would you re-elect?
Our work speaks for us, and it’s not Ernesto Muyshondt, it’s my team. We did territory work, not desk work. We have put people first and have come to solve the problems of the major population centers. We survived the pandemic and the election pandemic, but 83% support our management despite what we went through.
What leaps in quality has capital made?
Management is not based on one person, but on people. Our works don’t look very nice in a certain place, but they solve problems. We’ve done more than 700 courts and if you make a court in good order, the crime rates will be reduced by up to four times. We have created emblematic works such as Cuscatlán Park, Hula Hula Park or the Digital Library. We’ve done six daily works changing the lives of the most vulnerable and needy people. We have reached out to the communities not only to ask for the vote, but throughout our governance period. We would have liked to have built more courts, the municipal hospital, a park in Simón Bolívar square or the underground electrification in Rubén Darío street. All this stopped due to non-payment of the Fodes and other government blockades.
What will you be offering in the next three years?
We are going to present our government plan with the 5 axes in a few days and that will provide the continuity of what we have been doing for the past two and a half years. A municipal government alone cannot transform the city, we must unite citizens, the private sector, NGOs, international cooperation and central government, if it allows it. And they allowed it until before the campaign, much more than the FMLN.
What is the risk of giving full control to one party?
If a democracy is to be healthy, there must be a balance between powers and checks and balances. Total power corrupts everyone.
Related note: Mayor of San Salvador resumes waste collection after 6 days of suspension due to ASTRAM blockade
There are those who see the lack of democracy as a non-immediate problem. Can you quantify how much the electoral use of state institutions has affected people?
Thousands of works have been stopped. Tens of thousands of municipal officials did not receive a salary or Christmas bonus in December, there are municipal authorities that have not received a salary since August. It also works for the most vulnerable families. I trusted Nayib, I believed he would do things right. But it has allowed so many things.
He has allowed the Minister of Labor, a proven criminal, to do the things he does. And I know he knows he’s a criminal because he’s confirmed himself that he knows. The fact that he has appointed him Minister of Labor and harasses companies like he does puts us back a lot. I hope you think and that we succeed in maintaining healthy checks and balances in a democracy.
For this balance, matches are still valuable. We are currently not seeing ARENA colors in your campaign. How do you connect with your company?
Our campaign has just started. I think the criticism of my party is clear. ARENA should represent the great majorities and not the small power groups. But I have been identified with the principles of ARENA and its defense of liberties, property and republicanism. After the elections, I will commit to the reforms the party needs.