Although the festive season is fast approaching and with it the promise of the traditional political truces, in which political rivals lay down their weapons and submit to the spirit of the season, Vice President and Presidential hopeful Milagros Ortiz Bosch has made a blistering attack on President Hipolito Mejia. Ortiz Bosch told her supporters that “the President is mistaken if he thinks I am a fool who doesn’t know what’s going on in the country.” She was reacting to the contents of a letter written by Mejia in which he describes her, Rafael “Fello” Subervi and Enmanuel Esquea Guerrero as having “run away” from the 21 December primary convention. The three say withdrew their participation in protest of the alleged fraudulent activities of the President’s supporters. Ortiz Bosch was critical of the President’s priorities: “He says he supports social security, yet he stopped it in favor of the Pan American Games. He says he is fighting for small-account holders, but he returned the money to the richest depositors: 80% of the money belonged to the very rich.” The Vice President also defended the decision to withdraw from Sunday’s primary. “We wanted a transparent and clean convention, which was dismantled because we had the vision and took the risk, and the organizing committee could not proceed with just one man, despite pressures to the contrary.” The Vice President said she was satisfied that the fraud had been detected before the event, and not as is usually the case, in the aftermath. She said that the pre-candidates opposed to Presidential re-election had always tried to find the way that would benefit both the party and the nation. “Rest assured that there are paths and there is victory, we have defeated fraud and deceit, I am full of faith and optimism and am sure that step by step we will win this battle.”