During 2020, the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca) received 165 complaints for irregularities in the Bienesca program, which provides financial support to workers in the fishing sector, according to information provided for this publication by the agency's Legal Area.
In addition to telephone complaints, call reports to “The Commissioner's Mailbox” also recorded 64 complaints; 459 requests for corrections and changes; 647 related to registration and 2,843 clarifications, doubts, inquiries, and others. In total, 4,178 people were treated in connection with the Bienesca program.
The information does not include the reasons why the complaints and complaints were made, but since 2020, Conapesca has publicly reported on extortion and intermediary problems.
However, beneficiaries have also reported other types of irregularities such as lack of timely payment, problems with coverage and, mainly, irregularities with people enrolled in the register.
“I hope that as soon as this happens (the pandemic) the issue of supporting fishermen or those who work in fishing communities will return [...] that it is really the people who need the program because so many got involved, teachers, merchants, street vendors, taqueros, lawyers, of all kinds. We asked Conapesca to review the register,” says Raúl Leal Félix, president of the Guasave Federation of Fishing Cooperatives.
More complaints: intermediaries, lack of payments or problems with the register?
Since the press conference of June 11, 2020, the then head of the Commission, Raúl Elenes Ángulo, reported the existence of 300 complaints for attempts to withhold resources from the Bienesca program.
According to Elenes, “cooperative leaders and managers” were asking for part of the resource from beneficiaries. He spoke of administrative faults, abuses of trust and extortion. This also included the campaign “Don't let them take away what's yours” by Conapesca.
In addition, the then head of Conapesca pointed out that with these complaints it was possible to configure two types of crime, an administrative one that could revoke the directors of the cooperatives, and the other of a criminal nature for extortion, breach of trust and fraud. But no more was reported about it.
“Conapesca reiterates its interest in acting hand in hand with fish and aquaculture producers, and informs them that the only official strategy for the time being, which will begin in the near future, corresponds to the Welfare Support Program for Fishermen and Aquaculturists, Bienesca, which is equivalent to 7,200 pesos per beneficiary and will be delivered directly,” the Commission shared last January.
At the conference on July 28, 2020, it was reported that, from June 11 to July 20, 106 complaints and 56 more complaints were received for the Bienesca program.
The main states with complaints at the time were Veracruz with 27; Sinaloa with 20; Tabasco with 18; Guerrero with 12; Campeche with 9, and other entities with 20 (including Tamaulipas, Sonora, Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacán and Nayarit).
Although the number increased from 106 to 165, in the information provided for this publication, Conapesca only filed 27 complaints with a geographical location. Of the total, 15 were held in Sinaloa; in Guerrero there were six; Veracruz has three; Nayarit with two (one under the common jurisdiction and the other under the federal jurisdiction) and one in Campeche.
For its part, in the request for transparency with number 0819700001721, the response in February 2021 to the complaints of the previous year was that there were only six files before the Attorney General's Office.
José Luis Carrillo, president of the Federation of Central and Western Fishing Cooperatives, and Raúl Leal Félix, also a director in Guasave, agree that the problems of the program lie in the lack of payment.
“The system of cooperativism is very clear, since before 2020 they gave us a percentage, 40% sometimes up to 55%. Only the first year because it was a very low season, they gave us 85% of the program. In the cooperative sphere, we agreed at the assembly that it would be divided among all,” explains Leal Félix.
Does that mean that not everyone gets support? , he is asked. “Exactly, not everyone,” he replies.
For his part, José Luis Carrillo adds that although the program has been expanded much more, the registration process was not carried out correctly: “Perhaps due to the urgency and pressures of the pandemic, it made the standards not belong to the fishermen, because there are people who are not fishermen and are receiving the benefit.”
A pending audit In
view of the reported irregularities, the presidents of the Federation of Fishing Cooperatives agreed to an audit of the register with the General Directorate of Organization and Development of Conapesca.
According to Raúl Leal Félix, there is a commitment to do it by the end of 2021.
“They told us that at the end of the year there will be an audit of the register and that they will ask us to collaborate to detect those who are not fishing, who do not live in fishing fields, who are outsiders, well,” says the person in charge of Guasave.
For his part, José Luis Carrillo suggests that the Ministry of Welfare, responsible for the dispersion of the program, also participate.
“I believe that the program should be analyzed to avoid future effects. A new pattern of fishermen must be lifted, based on permits, based on concessions, based on states that have also done a little bit of regulation so that this starts to flow much faster.”
Although the delivery of Bienesca support was scheduled this year, using the Banco del Bienestar card, prior to the start of the electoral period in April, the beneficiaries still report non-payment and late delivery of cards.
Comentarios (0)