The claim was made at the event to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the peace accords held by that sector in Gerardo Barrios Park known as Plaza Cívica.
The veterans of the armed forces and former fighters of the Farabundo Martí Front (FMLN) on this day, in commemoration of the 29th anniversary of the peace agreements, demanded that the government give them $ 8.5 million in payment of pensions and social benefits of the more than 13,600 beneficiaries.
José Santos Melara, representative of the ex-fighters in the armed conflict, assured that the Ministry of the Interior has “kidnapped” the institute administrator of the benefits and social benefits of military veterans of the armed forces and ex-fighters of the Farabundo Martí Liberation Front. National.
“The Ministry of the Interior does not want to release the Institute. Mario Durán has taken over $ 8.5 million that he does not want to hand over, ”Melara denounced in his speech for the 29th anniversary of the peace accords commemorating veterans and ex-combatants in an act in Gerardo Barrios Park known as plaza. Civic for the Metropolitan Cathedral.
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Melara said they have already filed a complaint against Durán with the Attorney General’s Office to return that money that he says belongs to veterans of the armed conflict.
“That money belongs to the veterans and we will not let it be stolen. There is the money from the 13,640 colleagues who have not received their pension all year. There is the money from the 3,822 scholarship recipients who are unwilling to pay the second installment of last year’s second cycle. There is the money from the 1,300 comrades that the President (Bukele) has disabled the FISDL program. There is the money that is missing from the widows, ”Melara said.
The veteran leader benefited from the presence of delegates Mauricio Vargas from the ARENA party and Nidia Díaz from the FMLN; to ask them to promote reform so that the Institute is no longer dependent on the Ministry of the Interior.
SEE ALSO: War Veterans: “Nayib Bukele’s government is anti-veteran and wants us to be suffocated”
“Please release us from that bond that the government has on us. The institute is still being kidnapped by the government and we have to free ourselves because the institute is autonomous. You have to ask the government for permission for the treasury to give us the money, ”Melara said.
He also denounced that the government plans to disband the Institute of Social Benefits and Benefits for Veterans and Former Combatants to establish a technical secretariat.
“We’ve already seen how this president, apart from choking veterans with the budget, wants to destroy the institute. He says the president will destroy the institute after February 28 and appoint a technical secretary, ”said Melara.
Then he expressed himself loftily: “We are not going to leave it, the Institute belongs to veterans and we are going to die for it. Even the pandemic has not stopped us, let alone the president has stopped us ”.
In January 2020, the Legislative Assembly amended the special law to regulate social security benefits and benefits for veterans and ex-combatants so that the Benefits Institute would operate independently and have budgetary autonomy.