Even though a Texas judge ordered, on Friday, the suspension of the election of the directors of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and its assembly in Puerto Rico, more than 900 delegates from different states participated today in a meeting simulating an assembly and supported the candidacy for president of Juan Carlos Lizardi in a poll.
“At this time, that (the poll) would not be conducted or accepted as an official election, but it is evidence that the people, the members of LULAC, wanted to have their annual vote. We were not able to carry it out, although there are parliamentary processes,” said Lizardi, a Puerto Rican candidate for the presidency of LULAC who lives in New York.
The vote scheduled for today was stopped after the determination of Judge Thaira Merritt, of Dallas County, in response to a lawsuit by LULAC members who denounce that the New Progressive Party (PNP) has developed a scheme to control the organization in an illegal way. hostile.
According to José Lugo Varela, LULAC parliamentary adviser, at the time of the survey, only eight delegates raised their hands in support of the candidacy of the current president, Domingo García. Meanwhile, hundreds supported Lizardi.
García had planned to confront Lizardi, but did not appear at the activity, since he indicated, in a statement to the membership, that the assembly was canceled due to the court order. Yesterday’s election would define 12 leadership positions at LULAC, including the presidency.
“LULAC is not for sale, nor for rent, and we will not let the corruption of the PNP tarnish the good name of our organization. As president, my goal is to confront and resist any internal or external force that attempts to bring LULAC under its leadership through corrupt means,” Garcia said in written statements.
LULAC is an organization that promotes the defense of civil rights and other essential services for Hispanic Americans through community programs that operate in more than 1,000 councils throughout the United States.
The members of the entity that brought the lawsuit in Texas alluded to the ethical accusations made in the past decade against Elsie Valdés, Lizardi’s mother, for allegedly soliciting donations from government contractors to finance a trip to a LULAC conference. Lizardi defended her mother and said that, at that time, she was acquitted. “I would like you to present me with evidence,” said the Puerto Rican candidate.
Suspend CEO
For his part, Garcia indicated that yesterday he suspended LULAC’s national executive director, Sindy Benavides, indefinitely as a result of an ongoing investigation into “allegations of corruption and conspiracy in his capacity with other people who are trying to take control of LULAC for their own purposes.” unlawful political purposes.
What was signed by those present was a document, similar to an affidavit, in which they supported, “under penalty of perjury”, the election of Lizardi as national president of LULAC.
“Everything was against the elections to stop this process. A process that was stopped simply and simply because the current national president of LULAC did not have the necessary votes, he did not have the votes, not even close, not even to be re-elected, ”said Lizardi, for his part.
Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock assured that the current president had no chance of being elected. Likewise, he indicated that the delegates who attended from various parts of the United States invested resources to participate in the convention and culminate it by voting for a new directive.
“He (García) did not appear here to open the assembly. However, here there are around 900 to 1,000 delegates out of the 1,465 who had been certified yesterday (Friday). (…) The ‘temporary restraining order’ (TRO) prohibits the election, but it does not prohibit the assembly from meeting, so there would be no reason to suspend the assembly,” said McClintock, a member of LULAC.
He stressed that this is the first national convention to be held after the COVID-19 pandemic. The activity was on the third floor of the Puerto Rico Convention Center.