Former mayor of Centro, Humberto de los Santos Bertruy, publicly denounced Governor Javier May Rodríguez and the Morena party for orchestrating a political campaign to deny his organization, “Unión Democrática por Tabasco” (Democratic Union for Tabasco), registration as a local political party.
Bertruy told Telereportaje that the Commission of the Tabasco Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute (IEPC) has yielded to external pressure and submitted a proposal rejecting its registration. The politician asserted that blockades began on November 30th, including the use of police forces to prevent assemblies in Huimanguillo and Centro, and threats were made against those supporting the organization of the events.
“The pressure started on November 30th. – Who’s pressuring the institute? – Well, the government. They realized we’d already done our homework and that we now have a secure political party. And the latest thing that happened, and this is what people from the institute are telling us, is that Morena representatives arrived with government authorization and said, ‘Well, so what are you going to do about Unión Democrática?’ ‘Well,’ someone said, ‘everything’s fine.’ ‘No,’ they said, ‘there’s a way.’ ‘In what way?’ ‘In this, in this, in this, and in this.’ – So, is this IEPC commission following instructions from Morena and the government? – It’s under pressure because they want them to return what they took from this year’s budget… and they’re wrong because they’re not going to get anything back. Because they don’t have any money. They’ve saddled the state with debt; the debt is over 10 billion pesos in a year and a half, Emmanuel. And how can they say the finances are in good shape?” Are they healthy and robust if they keep borrowing money?
Regarding the legal requirements, Bertruy called the IEPCT commission’s reports “lies,” asserting that his team addressed all 36 observations made, and even denounced that institute personnel asked him to replace documents they themselves had misplaced.
“What we find excessive is their claim that the registration should be denied. They were supposed to submit their report, period. They’re lying about their report. That’s why we’ve brought the files for each of the reports we submitted monthly. For example, they say there’s a report we didn’t submit. That’s a lie; we have it right here. The worst part is that we have proof they contacted us, asking us to please bring them the documents we had because they had lost them. They made 36 observations, including one related to the bank account. We responded to every observation in a timely manner. Except for the one I’m mentioning, there was no dialogue whatsoever. When we responded to the observation, they didn’t say anything to us. Legally, when you provide a response, and the authority doesn’t reply or doesn’t issue an observation within a certain time, the matter is considered settled.”
Despite the adverse outlook, the former mayor remains hopeful that the full State Council of the IEPC will reverse the commission’s decision; otherwise, he warned that he will take the case to the highest electoral authorities.
“We had to inform them in writing about every place where we held assemblies, to see if it met the conditions for the assembly. And they told us, ‘Go ahead.’ Well, when we told them about the Hemophilia group, that we were going to hold an assembly there, why didn’t they tell us, ‘Hey, it can’t be done there’? If they tell us it can’t be done at Hemophilia, then we don’t do it. Right now, we know we have every chance of winning the process. I think the Council can still come out on good terms with Tabasco, because there were three council members on the Commission, and so there are four left, and if they decide to go against what the commission’s report says, we’ll save them. – From the Electoral Tribunal, will you go to the Regional Chamber, and from there to the Superior Chamber? – To the Superior Chamber, if necessary.”
In closing, Bertruy recalled that he had collaborated closely with current Governor Javier May in the past, and even with former President López Obrador, but noted that the relationship had fractured due to recent repressive actions.
“Javier May, along with Octavio Romero, asked me to meet with them and even asked for my support. At the end of 2013, Andrés Manuel López Obrador came to visit. Javier May told AMLO, ‘Sir, I want to tell you that Humberto is helping Morena a lot.’ And Andrés Manuel said to me, ‘Hey, Humberto, thank you very much, I really appreciate it.’ ‘You don’t have to thank me,’ I told him. – But what happened to the relationship? – Well, I don’t need any more proof than what happened on March 21st, when our colleague was arrested. – Is Javier May the one preventing the new party from being formed? – Well, they say the Governor is the one who knows everything. – So you would be holding Javier responsible? – Of course, the Governor and the party. – Has your opinion of him changed then? – Well, I think that’s my opinion and that of thousands and thousands of others.”
Source: xevt
