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The Dozen Dissenters Make Demands Of Francis Fonseca
posted (July 27, 2015)
There's an open rebellion going on in the PUP and it's focused on leader Francis Fonseca. 12 Candidates have signed to a letter asking for a national convention - one that could unseat him as leader of the PUP. That letter was sent to the party chairman Henry Usher today - and it also asks for changes in the composition of the party's executive, and changes in policy-making decisions. But every action has a reaction, and this one has triggered an immediate backlash from the Fonseca faithful within the PUP. They are also making moves to isolate and neutralize the dissenting dozen.

We'll tell you all about it, but we start with the letter. It started to take shape last week after Tuesday's boycott of the meeting Fonseca called with members of the national executive and candidates. As we reported, 13 candidates did not attend that meeting - but even with that, Fonseca denied that there had been a boycott.

But, there was, and the dissenters, led by John Briceno, Dan Silva, Cordel Hyde and Jose Mai started having meetings in Cayo to discuss the broken state of their party and problems with the leadership. That culminated on Friday when one dozen of them signed the letter asking for a new convention which is long overdue.

Today, Cayo central Candidate Dan Silva posed a lengthy explanation on his Facebook page. He says, quote, "40 percent of our standard-bearers met in Cayo on Friday to discuss the state of affairs inside our great party. And we all concluded that something has to happen. We cannot continue as we have, pretending as if though all is well when we know that something is wrong. That something is that the people are not buying what we are presenting to them."

Silva continues, quote, "That has been very clear in three straight elections during the last six months, starting with the Cayo North bye-election in January. The people have been very clear every chance they have gotten. They are not impressed with our party; something is not right with us; we are still vulnerable to the labels of the past."

And with that swipe at the old guard which has become very prominent in this dispute, Silva moves unto business: "All 12 of us who have signed a letter we sent this morning to our party chairman and party leader agree that it is absolutely important that we call an urgent National Convention. It has been almost 5 years since we have gone back to the people in National Convention and that's a very serious violation of our Party's Constitution. It is also a first inside our great party." He adds warily, "what will happen when we are in government if we are prepared to violate our party's constitution like this when we are in Opposition?"

He concludes, grimly, quote, "You cannot ignore and violate the constitution of the party and the constitution of the nation whenever and however you wish....We must set a date for our National Convention at the earliest."

It's an unusually strong and plain-spoken message to put out there in the public - but the dissenting dozen feel they don't have much to lose. First, the PUP continues to be seriously cash strapped, and, as a consequence, many in that dozen are convinced that with the current inertia, the party stands an above average chance of losing the next general election - so, the wisdom is, if defeat is likely, better try something than do nothing.

But, dissent is a bitter pill for the Fonseca leadership to follow. And over the weekend, Fonseca's followers closed ranks - even activating the leader's cousin Ralph Fonseca to rope in those candidates who were being courted by the dissenters.

That effort culminated on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm at Dolores Balderamos Garcia's House on the Northern Highway where as many as 20 standard bearers were invited to what we are told is a solidarity meeting for Francis Fonseca. Our information says that Briceno, Hyde and Silva were not invited.

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