In a feminist party such as the PSOE there are little doubt about how it should be acted at the testimonies of several women in the face of sexist, inadequate behaviors, of abuse of power and sexual harassment that have precipitated the departure of Francisco Salazar, one of the strong men of Pedro Sánchez, of the socialist dome.
At least it is thus among some of the women who integrate the dome of the party, where zero tolerance, credibility and protection of victims and constancy “to banish the macho, patriarchal and rancid culture” must be the only way to follow. Inside and outside the PSOE. Without excuses or composites. And there are some because, in the case of Salazar, among the ranks of the PSOE there have been exceptions such as Pilar Alegría, who described his colleague as “exemplary companion” and “full man” when this Saturday elDiario.es He had already published the resounding testimonies of two women who had worked with him. Then, he was forced to clarify his words.
Alegría was not the only one that, as in Moncloa or Ferraz, doubted the veracity of the testimonies, spoke of adjustment of accounts or attributed avisas intentions to the fact that the complaints occurred the same day that Sanchez intended to inject a chute of morality to the depressive troop, after the entry into prison of Santos Cerdán, former number three of the PSOE. The reason fell for his own weight because, when Pedro Sánchez arrived on Ferraz Street, the president of the party, Cristina Narbonne, had already sent her testimonies similar to those published by this newspaper of socialist women who proved that “inappropriate behavior of Salazar with her collaborators, and with some of her co -religionists, was a fairly extended rumor” in the party.
In fact, the information revealed by Eldiario.es on Saturday ran like a gunpowder trail for all instances of the PSOE. From all territorial federations and from all levels of organic or institutional representation, even at the highest level the messages were piled up. Among party companions, they celebrated that a person like Salazar, with a reputation of inappropriate behaviors with the wounded women where he stepped on, did not access his new position of responsibility in the party and was forced to resign that of the Moncloa. There were those who identified in the testimonies published by this newspaper identical expressions to which Salazar used to use with other women.
Why did no one alert? Why weren't the internal channels of complaints? For the first question there is no answer, but this newspaper has been able to corroborate that some verbal complaints about Salazar's macho behaviors that were not taken into account were raised because they were neither made by the official channels nor were they given the importance they had. For the second, the answer is simple: women do not always feel safe or find precise protection to denounce their stalkers, and less in the workplace against a hierarchical superior. And this is something, as much as it is denounced, not even in the most feminist party in the universe they seem to have understood, according to some of the comments that are also heard in the PSOE.
In the case of Paco Salazar, his figure with respect to his subordinates represented much more than that of a simple boss. Because Salazar was until Saturday an almighty man in the PSOE and in the government. Man of the president's greatest confidence and empowered in positions of maximum responsibility, who know how the palm of his hand the gears of the party and the executive portray him as the person who really held the territorial power between the socialist ranks and had the ability to progress or derail political careers at will. He had all the power, but a minimal public exposure that kept him practically anonymity.
“His immense ancestry with Pedro Sánchez and that almost unlimited capacity of influence helped create around him a mantle of impunity that no one or almost no one dared to drill,” according to the majority of women who worked under their orders and who have been contacted by this newspaper. And that is why the hypothesis of denouncing their behaviors, according to the PSOE workers, did not even go through the head of most of them for fear of reprisals. Many regret, for example, that the anonymous complaints tab on the internal channel of the party did not exist or enabled until Saturday night.
However, in some cases they did move informal complaints to people of responsibility among the socialist ranks by some of those affected or their environments. But they were movements that did not reach anything and that no one for sure dares to ensure that they even reached the ears of Pedro Sánchez. That organically in the PSOE Salazar had above as direct leaders to people like José Luis Ábalos, first, or Santos Cerdán, later, also contributed to the feeling that it was “a armored man” because for a long time they were close friends and members of the inseparable political clique that surrounded Sanchez on his return to the General Secretariat in 2017.
The fact is that at the Socialist Headquarters, early on Saturday, there was an intense debate between those who defended a kind of compound with a temporary exit and not of all the positions of Salazar, and who immediately settled the debate with a closed defense of zero tolerance and the need drastic decision about it. Among the doubts of a president that his team describes again in 'Shock', the pressure of several women of the dome, especially that of María Jesús Montero or Cristina Narbonne, was decisive for Salazar to renounce all his positions, including that of Secretary General of Institutional Coordination in Moncloa. The cessation will be approved in the Council of Ministers next Tuesday and published the next day at the BOE.
“Our opinion was unanimous and expeditious. We had no doubt,” says a leader of the federal executive who treasures decades of feminism and defends that machismo is a scourge that must be fought “in a normative and culturally regulatory way.”
The new Secretary of Organization, Rebeca Torró, has given priority to the investigation of Salazar and reinforced the internal denunciation channels to guarantee the anonymity of the victims. “Pedro Sánchez is aware that this is a flank to be taken of macho behaviors among their companions of rows.
