April 19, 2023, 1:10 PM
April 19, 2023, 1:10 PM
The mayor of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Jhonny Fernández, was accused by the councilor of the Autonomous Community (CA) Juan Carlos Medrano of being partying in Miami after broadcasting a video where he is seen walking on a yacht surrounded by women and drinks. Despite the fact that the mayor has already clarified that “they are images from the past”, municipal officials came out in his defense and They accused the opposition councilor of receiving “thousands of Bolivians” in per diem for your trips abroad.
In a press conference, the municipal director general Juan Carlos Solares indicated that the six trips that the mayor made since the beginning of his term were financed with his own resources. He even went further and stated that when Mayor Fernández is in the city “he does not even spend on gasoline”, since he travels in his personal vehicle.
On the contrary, Solares accused councilor Medrano of having repeatedly traveled abroad with municipal funds. “He has left with thousands of Bolivians in per diem. I ask, what has been the benefit for the Municipal Council?” questioned Solares.
According to the data released by the Mayor’s Office, the cost of trips abroad by councilor Medrano in 2022 amounts to Bs 86,822. In April, he traveled to a training course in Colombia with a ticket of Bs 6,608 and a per diem of 4,593, in addition to registration for the event that cost Bs 5,916. While, in October she traveled to South Korea with a ticket of Bs 44,648 and a per diem of Bs 25,056.
Faced with this situation, Solares affirmed that he will be pending the report of public accountability of the Municipal Council and will carry out special monitoring of Medrano. “We are going to know how many bills have been taken in favor of the city and how many TikTokThey have also been taken out,” the official joked.
In response, Medrano told EL DEBER that, on the two trips in which he participated, the budget was prepared and approved by UCS officials. Moreover, he stated that the four titular councilors from Fernández’s party participated in the training in Colombia and on the trip to South Korea he was accompanied by the president of the Council. He clarified that they all had the same amount for tickets and per diem.
“When we traveled we did it por attend training, on none of these trips have we gone on a spree for funWhat’s more, we have worked more than 14 hours a day,” said Medrano.
The opposition councilor believes that Solares launched this accusation against him to divert attention from the video of the mayor circulating on social networks. “Apparently the people who accompany him (in the video on the yacht) are municipal officials and I think that has him very worried,” he added.
In this context, he stated that he is on the trail of the names of the people who appear in the video and once i get them will request the migratory flow of the same to find out on what dates they left the country and to investigate whether the municipality participated in the payment of these tours.
“What must be asked of Mr. Solares is that the mayor renders an account of his six trips, that he has not done to this day and to know why he supposedly takes people,” Medrano remarked.
