The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, seeks to take a new step in trying to resolve the open crisis of the PSOE due to the case of Francisco Salazar. Sánchez decided to fire Antonio Hernández, number two of the leader denounced for sexual harassment and abuse of power by two workers from La Moncloa of the Anti-Harassment Office of the PSOE, from his position as director of the Political Coordination Department of the Office of the Presidency of the Government, as elDiario.es argued and this newspaper was able to confirm it from executive sources.
Hernández was considered Salazar’s right-hand man in the electoral analysis and strategy team at the Semillas building in the La Moncloa complex. According to government sources, Hernández’s departure was agreed with him and will become effective Tuesday in the Council of Ministers.
Salazar’s deputy will also leave the executive of the PSOE of Andalusia, where he was responsible for the Secretariat of Data, Analysis and Foresight of María Jesús Montero, first vice-president of the Government, deputy general secretary of the PSOE, regional general secretary and candidate in the Andalusian elections scheduled for June. The senior official dismissed by Sánchez was already part of Juan Espadas’ executive when he was secretary general of the PSOE of Andalusia. Its incorporation was proposed “from La Moncloa”, according to several federation sources. Hernández is the brother of Nieves Hernández, former municipal councilor and now councilor of the Provincial Council of Seville, chaired by Javier Fernández, who is also provincial secretary of the party. reports Lourdes Lucio. The former mayor was the spokesperson for the activist platforms that emerged in favor of Sánchez during the primary process in which he was re-elected as leader of the PSOE against Susana Díaz.
Sánchez broke his silence last Saturday on Paco Salazar affairwhich affects someone who was a very close collaborator of the president. Growing unrest within the party due to leadership inaction after allegations of harassment against Salazar became known forced the PSOE leader to issue an apology.
Salazar was part of Sánchez’s closest circle since 2017 and until in June several complaints of harassment of women against the Andalusian politician became known. In a congressional group, Sánchez recognized “in the first person” the responsibility for the “error” that the PSOE made by not contacting the victims for six months, despite the fact that two of them had filed their complaint in the channel provided for this purpose. The complaints were presented in July by two workers with membership cards at the La Moncloa complex, but the group did not prioritize their resolution.
This situation caused deep unrest within the party and many officials requested that the matter be brought before the public prosecutor’s office. Sánchez denied in Congress the “collusion” with Salazar and rejected that there was any intention in the “error of speed, in the interaction” with the victims. Since July, the Anti-Harassment Office has made no progress in their treatment and has not even contacted them. The consequence was a storm unleashed and fanned not by the right, but by party officials. Feminist leaders such as Adriana Lastra, former deputy secretary general, and Andrea Fernández, spokesperson for equality in Congress, were the first to demand a public explanation from Ferraz.
The president assured that the PSOE cannot take this matter to the public prosecutor’s office, as Lastra, who was part of the hard core of the leader, affirmed among many people, because it is not legally possible since these are anonymous complaints. It is the victims who must do it, he assured, but the PSOE will now accelerate the entire file and help them if they wish.
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