The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) appointed Vilma Casanova Fuertes as “general secretary” of the Rivas Mayor’s Office, to assume power of the Commune after the dismissal of the mayor Wilfredo López Hernández and his former vice mayor Esperanza NúñezTwo local sources reported.
The appointment of the new municipal official occurred on July 12, one day after the FSLN councilors accepted the “resignations” of López and Núñez in a session that lasted only thirty minutes, and in which they appointed Ana Birmania Rueda as the new deputy mayor and Mario Rodríguez as the secretary of the Council.
In the last item on the agenda of the extraordinary meeting, the creation of the “position of general secretary” slipped, who would supposedly be appointed by the new deputy mayor Ana Birmania Rueda.
“The position (of the deputy mayor) is decorative. What actually happened was that the FSLN politicians told her that she would be named Vilma Casanova and she did so. Initially, it was said that it would be the political secretary Reymundo Membreño who would occupy the new position, but it burned with the departure of the former mayor, because he was involved in the investigation process and they preferred the new official, “they added.
Although the document that allowed the creation of the general secretariat, in which the functions of the position are indicated, is not known, the sources recalled Fidel Moreno in Managua, general secretary of the capital commune, and the person who makes the decisions in the institution above, even, the mayor Reyna Rueda.
“The Council can create auxiliary positions, perfectly like appointing a manager of the mayor’s office, but it will be necessary to see what rank the lady will have. If she is going to be the mayor behind the throne, which is what Fidel Moreno does in Managua, it is an outrage,” said municipalist Silvio Prado, who insisted that in local legislation the municipal government always rests with elected officials.
According to official media, Casanova Fuertes served as director of the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS) in Rivas before her municipal appointment. She is the sister of Silvio and Luis Casanovas Fuertes, who fell in combat on July 26, 1983 during the first Sandinista government. The Insurance delegation bears the name of her brothers.
For Prado, the case of the deposed mayor shows that corruption in the Ortega regime is seen as “a sin and not a crime” in a case that, due to the state’s partisan intervention, should be seen as a scandal. “They see it as a minor offense that deserves sanctions, being removed from office, having their accounts seized, their cars being seized, much less taking them to court. They do this because it got out of hand, ”he said.
Prado added that with the case of the deposed mayor the crap has come to the surface, but it is clear that it is just “the tip of the iceberg”, given that the control systems are subject to the government party and the mayors usually have a free hand. .
“The central government has sent out the message that you can steal, you can commit acts of corruption as long as it is under control. He (López Hernández) stretched out and put his hands beyond what was allowed, without giving someone what was due. He stole without permission, ”concluded the municipalist.
The mayor of Rivas intervenes
Casanova’s appointment put an end to a municipal crisis that began last February in Rivas. Then, the mayor’s office was intervened by the Nicaraguan Institute for Municipal Development (INIFOM), under orders from the Executive, to carry out an investigation for alleged corruption.
After six months under scrutiny, it was unofficially noted that the management of the former mayor Lopez He had $10,000 missing, which he allegedly promised to return. However, the sources assure that the former official is in his house and there is little chance that he will be charged in court.
Under the banner of the FSLN, Wilfredo López Hernández led the municipality of Rivas for 14 years. He was one of the officials who enthusiastically supported the concession of the interoceanic canal in Nicaragua, the 50 billion dollar megaproject that became a failure of the Ortega-Murillo Administration, after they promised to lift the country out of poverty by delivering the concession in 2013 to the Chinese businessman Wang Jing.
The investigation into the alleged acts of corruption in the Rivense Commune also demonstrated the FSLN’s double standards in the fight against corruption. When the scandal of former mayor Wilfredo López Hernández broke out five months ago, they discovered Other irregularities in the upper echelons of the Judiciary that were ignored.
While the focus of the government party was focused on the former mayor, neither the authorities of the Judicial Power nor the Police said anything about the reasons for the interrogation in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance in Managua of the magistrate Ileana Pérez, one of the closest officials of the presidential couple
According to sources cited by CONFIDENTIALthe officers asked Judge Pérez about a property that once belonged to a drug trafficker and was registered in the name of a brother of hers, who worked as a judge in the department of Rivas and was transferred to the north of the country after the discovery of the crime. scandal.
Pérez continued in his position, as did his brother. Subsequently, the Supreme Court of Justice re-elected her last June 14 as President of the Civil Chamber.
For the former mayor of Rivas, what followed was an investigation process that was toughened from the leadership of the ruling party. INIFOM, the ruling party, participated in it through the political secretary of the FSLN in Managua, Fidel Moreno, the deputy minister of agriculture, Isidro Rivera, and the commissioner of the FSLN in Rivera, Reymundo Membreño.
