“The country’s right-wing, and we presume Arena, which will have to clarify, have launched a ‘Mano Negra’ [‘Black Hand’] campaign on social networks. This is a strictly coup-mongering movement…conspiring against State institutions… to discredit the government’s work”, the communications minister, Eugenio Chicas, said on 18 July. Chicas went on to draw a parallel with ‘Mano Blanco’ (‘White Hand’), a notorious anti-Communist death squad that was active during the civil war (1980-1992).
The president of Arena, Jorge Velado, responded to the FMLN’s accusations by saying that it was seeking “to distract attention from the country’s problems” rather than “confronting problems like insecurity, low economic growth and unemployment”. Velado said Arena had accused Chicas of calumny before the attorney general’s office, and sent a letter to the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, requesting that he dispatch a “special mission” to investigate the coup allegations.
Chicas responded by saying he had not specifically accused Arena of being behind the ‘Black Hand’ campaign [he did say he ‘presumed’ so though]. Chicas said that the ‘Black Hand’ campaign had used social networks to call for a mobilisation on 18 July to protest against the government. This did not take place as the ‘organisers’ called it off, but the FMLN mobilised members in San Salvador on the same day to demonstrate in support of the government.
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