The resignation of the secretary of Organization of Movimiento Sumar, Laura Moreno, has opened a serious internal crisis in the formation. In her farewell letter, the leader launches harsh accusations against the general coordinator, Lara Hernández, and reveals that she is undergoing an internal investigation after being reported for alleged abusive treatment of five workers.
The closest circle to the coordinator flatly rejects any inappropriate conduct or harassment towards party employees and places these complaints within the framework of a campaign to erode Hernández's figure, just as the call for a new general assembly of Sumar is being finalized.
It is planned that the highest leadership body of Movimiento Sumar, the Coordinating Group, will analyze a proposal this Thursday to set the congress assembly for July 11. The internal complaints and reports show a strong division between two blocs competing for control of the party ahead of that meeting.
The tensions are not limited to the departure of Laura Moreno, appointed in April of last year. It has also become known that the former secretary of Communication, David Comas, left the Executive several weeks ago, in a context of continuous departures at the top.
In a letter to which Europa Press has had access, the now former head of Organization maintains that her resignation is due to "injustices" within Sumar, "lack of respect" towards members of the formation, and her "exclusion" from internal spaces, responsibility she attributes directly to Hernández.
From the leadership, they tell Europa Press that Laura Moreno communicated her decision to leave the position on May 25 and made it effective this Monday, specifying that in September she will return to her position as a Language and Literature teacher. Provisionally, her tasks in the Organization Secretariat will fall to Fabio Cortese, a member of the Executive and coordinator of Sumar in Madrid.
Accusations of fraud and internal conflict
The outgoing leader has also sent a letter to the members of the Coordinating Group, the main command body, in which she assures that Hernández excluded her from the talks for the integration of Sumar into the Por Andalucía coalition for the March 17 elections.
She also states that her internal situation worsened when she defended the need to appoint a substitute for the co-coordinator position left vacant by deputy Carlos Martín, and denounces that "instructions" were issued to isolate her politically.
Moreno goes further and speaks of "fraud" in the election process for the regional leadership in the Valencian Community. She adds that there is an internal investigation promoted by six party officials against the coordinator for "worrying" behavior towards certain employees, referring to a possible case of workplace harassment.
The former Organization Secretary considers that the objectives of the organizational model approved at last year's assembly have not been met and admits that she would not have accepted the position had she known about this deviation beforehand. "We are being born. What has happened is intolerable and cannot happen again, but it does not have to be a death sentence," she warns.
Accusations of a maneuver against 'yolandismo'
In contrast, sources close to Lara Hernández maintain that the coordinator has been suffering for months from a "political operation" to discredit her since the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, renounced being an electoral reference in February. They assure that a critical sector intends to erase the remnants of "yolandismo" that survive in Sumar's bodies and remove her from the coordination.
Regarding the internal investigation, they explain that the complaint is being processed in a generic commission on harassment and has been signed by six political and organic leaders of Sumar. They add that Hernández has provided documentation that, according to her circle, would demonstrate that she has not exercised any demeaning treatment towards the staff, and they do not rule out taking legal action for the moral damage caused.
They also deny that fraud occurred in the election of the Valencian leadership and argue that it was merely a correction of the registry, so, in their opinion, Moreno's own statement reflects a political disagreement and not irregularities.
In this context of internal conflict, the Sumar Coordinating Group will debate the regulations for its next congress on Thursday, with the proposal to hold it on July 11. In that assembly, the leadership bodies will be renewed and the strategy will be defined after Yolanda Díaz's renunciation of being a candidate, along with the intention of renewing the alliance with IU, Más Madrid, and the Comuns.
Since its creation, Sumar has already faced several resignations from its Executive, such as those of former MEP María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, former parliamentary spokesperson Íñigo Errejón, writer Elizabeth Duval, and Yolanda Díaz herself as the organic leader of Sumar (although she continues in the leadership as a permanent guest) after the European elections.
More criticism and call for Hernández's resignation
Duval, precisely, through a message on the social network 'X', has accused Hernández of "violating the statutes" for months and maintains that she should leave office, as well as renounce running in the assembly after "an investigation into workplace harassment" and being "accused of fraud in internal primaries by her own former Organization Secretary".
Sumar sources explained months ago that the debate about the assembly involves deciding between maintaining the formula of consensus and unity from the previous two meetings or opening the door to a confrontation between internal sensitivities.
In that scenario, it is contemplated that the assembly could become a space for dispute between two sectors: one aligned with coordinator Lara Hernández and another linked to the environment of the parliamentary spokesperson in Congress.
Martínez Barbero herself has not ruled out in statements on 'RNE' the option of running for the assembly, stating that the decision must be made collectively and that she will be available for whatever the organization determines.