A group of 10 PRD senators sat down with the party’s ex-president Hatuey Decamps yesterday, with the aim of unifying the PRD’s membership. The meeting with Decamps, who was unseated from the head of the party after refusing to support Hipolito Mejia’s bid for re-election, took place at the home of Senator Celeste Gomez Martinez in the capital city, said Senator Vicente Castillo (PRD-Peravia) to Hoy newspaper. Castillo also said that the members of the Senate’s PRD block would become the party’s front line and could greatly contribute to fortifying the PRD family.
Nevertheless, Senator Castillo also expressed his view that party unity should be achieved by leaving some members behind because of questionable, improper actions during the Mejia government that have tainted them. While Castillo did not identify who these undesirables were, he said that they hold no appeal, neither to the party nor to society, and could not be involved in the upper ranks of a rejuvenated PRD organization.
Just as the PPH faction of the PRD, composed of Mejia loyalists, had met yesterday, Castillo said another faction was planning to hold a party-wide convention that would revamp the party’s structure. While the event wouldn’t be the most “elegant” of affairs, said Castillo, it would serve to stimulate PRD unity and elect its new leaders.
Decamps reportedly said to those present at yesterday’s encounter that he is willing to collaborate on any project that would resolve the PRD’s internal conflicts and that the senators could count on his assistance when needed. Castillo said that Decamps demonstrated his support for and adherence to the party’s rules and principles, and that “he would fight to the finish alongside all PRD members.”