In a devastating way. Pedro Sánchez is trying to cauterize the crisis opened by Francisco Salazar within the PSOE and the government. The attitudes of alleged sexual harassment suffered by the women who worked under his orders in Moncloa still took their toll this Sunday. … exit, that of his right arm, Antonio Hernández. The director of the political coordination department of the cabinet of the presidency of the government, until now, has been singled out by the complainants. as an “accomplice” and “concealer” of Salazar’s conduct against the women on his team.
His dismissal will be made official next Tuesday 9 in the Council of Ministers and the PSOE also confirms that will leave the Executive of the party in Andalusiawhere he was responsible for the Data, Analysis and Foresight Secretariat. Government sources consulted by ABC assure that it is “an agreed and shared rupture”.
They point out that, since Hernández became aware of the reported events, “he understood that it was not sustainable” to continue in office and “obviously since Moncloa, after knowing the facts, she acts with force. As always”, say the aforementioned sources. On the side of the Executive, however, it is emphasized that “he denies the facts and moves away so as not to harm the Government”.
The dismissal, announced by ‘eldiario.es’ and confirmed by ABC, was triggered this Sunday and was carried out in coordination with Sánchez’s chief of staff, Diego Rubio, and the first vice-president, María Jesús Montero, who, at the party level, also included it in her leadership in Andalusia. This also arises from this organic responsibility. The decision was made after learning that his name was included in complaints from Salazar’s victims and that he was attributed a role in covering up the abuse.
Sánchez assumes his “responsibility”
Sánchez is thus trying to erase all traces of Salazar in the leadership of Moncloa, the environment in which the events subject to an internal investigation took place, to project a strong message to a party in which a deep breach has opened due to the management of this affair. The president himself, this Saturday, during the celebration of Constitution Day in the Congress of Deputies, proposed an amendment and assumed “in the first person” responsibility for the mismanagement that was made.
However, Sánchez wanted to deny any “connivance” and attributed the failure to “a small error in the speed of processing” of the files. “I personally take responsibility for this error,” he insisted, specifying that it was an “unintentional error” due to the nascent nature of the anti-harassment commission – created last May – and affirming that, when the crisis broke out in July, “all responsibilities were withdrawn”. How are we going to doubt (the victims) if he were removed from all his organic functions? We made decisions and we were not complicit, but energetic,” he defended.
Salazar asked the victims to “show him their cleavage” and told them “what a beautiful ass those pants make you.”
In their complaints, the victims describe an “unfriendly” work environment, saying Salazar’s behavior “reeked of misogyny and slobbering in every comment disguised as a joke.” “His language was hypersexualized even when he said hello. “He would come out of his office bathroom half-dressed and only zip up when he was close to your face,” says one of the plaintiffs. These women reveal Salazar’s sentences in which He asked them to “show their cleavage” and in which there were expressions like “what a nice ass those pants made you.”
The atmosphere within the PSOE is one of “deep desolation” due to the lack of vigor in the first response. The unrest cuts across the core of feminism, but it also extends to federations where the potential electoral damage this crisis will bring is already visible, given that women’s votes are a fundamental niche for the party.
“It was very poorly managed,” admit government sources. The entourage of the first vice-president explains that these questions which concern “legal” end up being closely linked to deadlines, but they assume that “we have not supported the victims well and it cannot take all this time”. “More speed is needed,” they resolve.
“We were not at the top”, they admit to the government. “There were obvious deficiencies,” supposes another senior official. “We have not been diligent,” says a minister. This carousel of declarations demonstrates a clear change in attitude and how we have already become aware, which was not the case at the beginning, of the corrosive effect that this crisis can generate for a party defined by its feminist values.
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