January 6, 2023, 4:00 AM
January 6, 2023, 4:00 AM
The mayor of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Jhonny Fernández, will now keep his distance from the conflict and the regional demand for Governor Luis Fernando Camacho to be released. The edile authority insisted that he will dedicate himself to managing.
“Let’s hope that this complicated situation can be overcome quickly. I am not going to waste my time on political issues; I am going to dedicate myself only to doing management, to helping people, because that is what is needed, an authority that thinks of the people and helps them. That’s why they elected me mayor,” Fernández said in a contact with journalists.
“We repudiate the arrest (and the manner) of Luis Fernando Camacho and we demand that his constitutional rights as a citizen be respected. We hope that the competent authorities present a report on what happened with the governor of Santa Cruz”, the mayor had written on December 28 via Twitter.
Three days later and in response to reports of police abuse in containing the protests that took place at Cristo Redentor, Fernández demanded that these irregularities be investigated. The authority has not yet ruled on the initiative of opposition councilors to cut off the resources provided by the Mayor’s Office in favor of the Police. The Council will meet this Friday in an extraordinary session to discuss that proposal.
Fernández traveled yesterday to a school in District 8 (Plan Three Thousand), together with the fumigation team. He secured several measures with a view to school management that begins in February.
Earlier, the councilor, Maykol Negrete (UCS), said that the mayor’s house was attacked. He denounced vandalism and assured that “there was vandalism.” “If there are protests against the mayor, let it be at the mayor’s office and not at home.”
But the spokesman for the Legal Affairs Directorate, Bernardo Montenegro, denounced that “they tried to link the mayor” with a delivery of food to the police. “This is part of a whole conspiracy that has been taking place against the management of the mayor, Jhonny Fernández”, Montenegro affirmed, who also denounced “the purpose of all this, outside of destabilizing it and causing a fire and attacking the people who were in the house of Mayor Fernández.”
For the spokesman, “it is clear that all the attacks that have been taking place are being orchestrated from the Palmasola prison by the former mayor Angélica Sosa”. He did not provide further details about the accusation.
For opposition councilor Juan Carlos Medrano, these statements have to do with the fact that 2023 is the year in which a recall can be considered. Medrano said that the mayor’s management was marked by abuses of power and by the “Strong alliance between the UCS and the MAS, which seeks to prevent inspection.”
The councilor of the Autonomous Community (CA) questioned that, in the reported cases of corruption, whatthe main perpetrators are not apprehended, but lower ranking officials. However, he stressed that it is the first time that the Santa Cruz council members have managed to have people in jail due to their participation in acts of corruption that are being investigated.
