This amount would be to finance alleged expenses of the party’s electoral campaign in the market of the last general elections.
«Literally, they told me, in December (2023), that was the Christmas gift that all the departmental directors gave me; and one jumped out, I can say the name: Efraín Cañas, you told me that, and you threatened me, you insulted me and the president of the party was right next to me and didn’t even stop to shut him up. You told me: “If you don’t bring in $30 million this day, please leave, why did you get into this?” “It’s that simple and tragic, having the president of the party in front of me and the rest of the COENA people in my campaign house, in my own house making fun of me,” Sánchez said.
Efraín Cañas was a candidate for mayor of San Salvador Sur for the ARENA party in the elections on March 3, in which he lost to the Nueva Ideas candidate, Mario Vásquez.
Sánchez, a Salvadoran living in the United States, assured that it was García Saade who summoned him and convinced him last December to hold a meeting with the departmental directors of ARENA, in which he received threats of expulsion.
«And if he didn’t give [el dinero] “We expel you from the party.” This is not new, it was like the fourth time [que me amenazaban]. Now I can say it because I no longer belong to the party, they are not going to do anything to me anymore. […] “I couldn’t say it because of the threat of the (internal) court, the threat of expulsion, but now I am free and I can say things as they are,” explained the former ARENA candidate.
Last Monday Sánchez notified his resignation from the party, after the president of COENA requested, on April 10, the opening of an expulsion process against the former candidate for issuing statements that supposedly damaged the image of the right-wing institute. Sánchez stated yesterday having felt “threatened and worn out” during the pre-electoral period with his candidacy, since in addition to having received threats there was also harsh criticism from high party authorities, who were looking for “political prominence.”
«Personal interest, political prominence, was more powerful than the national plan. They wanted prominence and they [partidos políticos de oposición y la sociedad civil] They had those disagreements of “that candidate is mine.” In reality, there was no consensus, it was an internal struggle between parties for prominence. “It was exhausting, I told them all the time,” he said.
He commented that ARENA members also took advantage of their “businessman status” to hold meetings abroad in luxury restaurants, where on one occasion he had to pay more than $1,800 for a dinner for approximately 12 people. “They were abusive,” said Sánchez.
«I paid every five of my campaign and I even supported many candidates who I saw potential […] deputies, mayors, Parlacen deputies, and now many of them are detractors and accuse me that I was to blame for the results we had, because I did not give them $30 million. In reality they were crazy proposals, all the ones they made to me were crazy, and being a sane person I was not going to agree to such atrocity,” he indicated.
He also denounced that apart from asking him for $30 million, social movements that initially promoted his presidential candidacy demanded $15 million from him for supporting him, and he even stated that he received threats from said groups to withdraw their support.
«Civil society also threatened me. We are going to take away our support, we are going to go with the candidate of that party […] “It was totally a disaster,” he added.
According to the former tricolor candidate, the instructions that the party gave him during the electoral campaign were “confusing” and the strategies they implemented made their image look bad to voters. «He did not use the party colors and people said “Joel is ashamed”, and no. The thing is that he was the same COENA who told me not to use it […] They were the COENA guidelines. The same party told me: Don’t wear a vest. “They questioned me, they made me look bad with the bases, it was a very hard and confusing campaign,” said Sánchez.
He assured that in ARENA he was even belittled for his physical appearance. «They wanted to see the messiah, they wanted to see someone prominent, tall, I think white, and blonde hair; and when they look at me, a Salvadoran like me, real, Cojutepecano, chubby and short, they began to throw elevated, astral postures at me,” he commented.
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2024-04-30 01:04:55