SEXGATE ROLLS INTO EL SALVADOR

“IT’S a shame. These people are shameless. They don’t care about us, they don’t care about our well-being,” she said.

“Each time we tried to report it nothing happened. We’re without hope in a way. FESFUT, CONCACAF, FIFA, no one is taking action.

“I know some of the girls that just wanted to play football. Others just wanted to referee because we love it, we love football.

“But in these conditions, I mean, I won’t give sex or be dating someone for a career. But that’s how these people think.

“They think they can do what they want with us because the system they built is protecting them.”

Sounds familiar?

Of course, that’s what female referees, who claimed they were abused by ZIFA officials, said a few months ago.

That’s what one of the El Salvadorian referees, who over the years have accused Rodolfo Sibrián for actively using his position to get sex in exchange for being appointed referee for domestic and international matches, is saying.

She was talking to Josimar on the condition of anonymity.

“The case of Vilma Montes was dreadful. She got no support from the federation. They protected Sibrián, who’s now back at FESFUT. “They’re so proud of it. That makes me sick.” Vilma Montes is a former FIFA referee and one of the top female referees in El Salvador.

In August 2017 she sued the former vice-president of the referees’ commission, Rodolfo Sibrián, for sexual harassment.

Sibrián is one of the most experienced referees in El Salvador and Central America and has for years been accused by several women of sexual harassment and sextortion.

Despite these allegations, he remains in position as one of the most influential referee instructors at FESFUT and still holds a FIFA certificate as a referee instructor.

Six months before the lawsuit, Vilma Montes told three senior members of the federation of her experiences with Sibrián, but nothing happened.

Vilma Montes also sent a letter to FESFUT’s executive committee without any action being taken.

Then she decided to try her case in court.

But 18 months after initiating the lawsuit, Montes abandoned the case because her health had seriously deteriorated and suffered a serious depression.

“There is an institutionalised culture of ignoring claims of sexual harassment.”

Cristian Villalta isn’t hesitating.

As a leading journalist for the daily newspaper La Prensa Gráfica, he has extensively covered the case of sexual harassement and sextortion in Salvadorian football.

“I can’t explain how and where this indolence was born, if it’s only a lack of empathy, ignorance or something worse.

“Nevertheless, there is a history of inaction regarding several claims through the years during different administrations.”

Allegations of sexual harassment don’t start or end with Rodolfo Sibirian.

In November 2019, La Prensa Gráfica published an investigation with the statements of several players from the women’s national team accusing the technical director, Elmer Guidos, and two members of the coaching staff, David Hernández and Carlos Cortez, for sexual harassment and sexual discrimination.

In December 2019, an official complaint for sexual harassment and attempted aggression was made against four officials at FESFUT.

Three of the men, Ricardo Alvarado, Franco Rodríguez, Emerson Véliz, are former players and the fourth man, Nelson Chicas, is a referee.

The plaintiffs were two female coaches that followed a programme organised by the FESFUT to obtain a Class C coaching license.

The situation was so tense that the police were called to the federation’s office building and arrested one of the teachers, Emerson Véliz.

He spent three days in custody before getting released.