Francisco Flores
Francisco Guillermo Flores Pérez (Santa Ana, October 17, 1959-San Salvador, January 30, 2016) was a Salvadoran political scientist, philosopher and politician who served as President of the Republic of El Salvador from June 1, 1999 to June 1, 2004 as well as honorary former president of the right-wing Alianza Republicana Nacionalista party.
He was under house arrest for the disappearance of millionaire donations made by the Republic of China (Taiwan) during his period as President of the Republic and as a presidential candidate, during the presidency of Chen Shui-Bian who was accused of acts of corruption.
Beginnings in politics
She was born in Santa Ana on October 17, 1959, into a wealthy conservative mestizo family. He studied at the American School of El Salvador and then philosophy at Amherst College in Massachusetts, United States, and political science at the World University. In addition to studies of oriental philosophy in India with the own thought of Hinduism.
He entered the political world after the assassination of his father-in-law José Antonio Rodríguez Porth, the Private Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic in the government of Alfredo Cristiani (1989-1994).
He successfully began his political career in the ARENA political party as Minister of Planning. Later as Vice Minister of the Presidency of the Republic with functions as advisor to the Head of State, and directed the Government Action Plan to execute the Peace Accords of January 16, 1992 that ended the armed struggle between the FMLN and the Government of The Savior.
In the general elections of March 20, 1994 for President of the Republic, deputies and members of municipal councils, Flores was elected Deputy for the Legislative Assembly and then President Armando Calderón Sol elected him Secretary of Information of the Presidency of the Republic.
Presidency (1999-2004)
Candidacy
On March 29, 1998, ARENA announced that Flores would be its candidate for the March 7, 1999 presidential elections. On June 1, 1999, at the age of 39 (until then, he was the head of The youngest state in El Salvador, he would later be matched by his successor, Elías Antonio Saca, who was also elected as President of the Republic at the age of 39), Flores was named President of the Republic of El Salvador, being the third from the ARENA party to he obtained the position consecutively, succeeding his co-religionist Armando Calderón Sol.
Economic policy
Flores Pérez stood out for his fidelity in the application of the neoliberal model, he changed the legal currency of the country from the Salvadoran colon to the US dollar as currency of exchange on January 2, 2001, by means of the Monetary Integration Law (promoted by his government and approved by the Legislative Assembly in November 2000), which implied the dollarization process of all economic and financial transactions within a period of six months.
Crime
His tenure was marked by an unprecedented increase in the homicide rate, which doubled between 2002 and 2006.
International politics
On January 13 and February 13, 2001, he had to face the catastrophes caused by two earthquakes that affected more than the entire department of La Libertad. Many Salvadorans in the United States living illegally were then benefited from a temporary work permit which was granted by the President of the United States. It is estimated that 250,000 Salvadorans benefited from Temporary Protected Status (TPS). President George W. Bush said after the 2001 earthquakes in his speech before President Flores that he was his friend, and that is why all Salvadorans were also his friends. President Flores responded that he thanked the US president for the disinterested gesture of friendship towards Salvadorans in the United States, since El Salvador does not have natural resources but only the good working hand of Salvadorans.
The Flores government stood out for its support for the occupation of Iraq by the United States and the dispatch of Salvadoran troops, being the Latin American country that provided the most political and military support to the US government, and it was also one of the few leaders that recognized the de facto government of Pedro Carmona in Venezuela. Another member of his party, Elías Antonio Saca, replaced him as President of the Republic on June 1, 2004.
A relevant point in Flores' actions that is remembered is the occasion at the Summit of Presidents in the Republic of Panama, when Flores directly accused Fidel Castro of having bloodily participated in the civil war that had El Salvador for twelve years. Castro responded by accusing Flores of providing protection in Salvadoran territory to Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles and saying that the Cuban government had supported the FMLN during the armed conflict in El Salvador. The Flores-Castro confrontation at that summit gave the Salvadoran president decided support from the United States. As for the population of El Salvador, President Flores' performance at the summit was judged divided by opponents and supporters.
Later political career
After his term in office, and having to his credit the approval of the president of the United States, George W. Bush, and with the support of the acting government of his country, chaired by Saca, Flores presented the candidacy to opt for for the post of Secretary General of the OAS whose rivals would be the Mexican Luis Ernesto Derbez and the Chilean José Miguel Insulza, but when the scant support by a necessary majority of the member countries became evident, he opted to resign his candidacy. He later began directing the & # 34;International Freedom Foundation & # 34; with headquarters in the United States and whose president is the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, and its purpose would be to "fight" against the Marxist-Leninist ideology in Latin America.
He was the main political adviser to the electoral campaign of the candidate for the ARENA party, the mayor of San Salvador Norman Quijano, until his separation two days before the first round of the 2014 presidential elections.
In October 2021, his name was mentioned in the Pandora Papers. He was the beneficiary of several companies created in Panama in 2005 and in the British Virgin Islands in 2006.
Judicial process
Research
At the end of 2013, the Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador began an investigation to reveal whether there were links between Francisco Flores and a case of alleged embezzlement and illegal negotiations in which the Italian company ENEL and the Commission were related Ejecutiva Hidroeléctrica del Río Lempa (CEL), for which a file was opened for him, and bank searches were carried out and although no payments from the ENEL company were found, transfers were found that the Embassy of Taiwan in El Salvador had made in a US bank, the existence of a Suspicious Operation Report from the International Bank of Miami is also reported.
With this information, at the beginning of September 2013, the Prosecutor's Office detailed in a report that Francisco Flores received three checks (for 4, 5 and 1 million dollars), the Suspicious Operation Report was made by the International Bank of Miami because the justification for the operation was the financing of his political campaign, a fact that raised suspicions since in El Salvador there is no presidential re-election, in addition the destination of the money was to a bank in the Bahamas, a recognized tax haven.
The Financial Investigation Unit of the El Salvador Prosecutor's Office made a request to the United States Department of State, in which they requested that a property in North Miami Beach, Florida, owned by the family of former President Flores, be investigated. in addition to information about the "América Libre Institute", a think tank founded by Francisco Flores and whose board of directors is made up of multiple Salvadoran politicians and businessmen such as Juan José Daboub, José Ángel Quirós, Miguel Ángel Simán, Rafael Barraza and Arnoldo Jiménez.
The case gained notoriety when, in November 2013, Mauricio Funes, president of El Salvador at that time, made public on his radio program that he had a copy of the document in which Francisco Flores was being investigated, a fact that was pointed out by numerous members of ARENA as a political persecution, Flores was later summoned by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador to answer a series of questions about it, Francisco Flores agreed to attend the first two appearances, but refused to attend the third, for which reason that the Assembly decided to convene him under duress and asked the National Civil Police of El Salvador to locate the former president. Flores justified his absence by accusing the commission of imputing him to crimes when it is not one of its powers,
Due to Flores's refusal to attend and the impossibility of the police to locate him, the Assembly decided to prepare a report to send it to the Attorney General's Office, which highlights six crimes that Francisco Flores could potentially have committed and around $95 million dollars that could have been used irregularly.
Accusation
On Thursday, May 1, 2014, the Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador formally charged him with the crimes of embezzlement, illicit enrichment and disobedience to authority; In addition, he requested the arrest warrant against the former official.
INTERPOL Red Notice
On the morning of Friday, May 9, 2014, INTERPOL posted on its website the red notice of former President Flores, to proceed with his capture in the 190 countries associated with this organization.
House arrest
Francisco Flores voluntarily appeared on the morning of Friday, September 5, 2014, at the courts of San Salvador in the company of his lawyers.
After the special hearing was held, Judge Levis Italmir Orellana ordered house arrest while the investigations continued, a decision that was harshly criticized by some Salvadoran officials.
Arrest
Finally, on Friday, September 19, 2014, a notorious day in the history of El Salvador, Francisco Flores was transferred to bartolinas of the Anti-Narcotics Division of the National Civil Police (DAN) after the Chamber 1 of the Criminal will revoke the house arrest against the former president.
Medical complication
On Thursday, October 30, 2014, he is transferred from the offices of the Anti-Narcotics Division to a private hospital due to thrombosis in his right leg, which implies the risk of imminent death, due to a pulmonary embolism or cardiac arrest, although at first, the police authorities had managed the information to send him to the Rosales National Hospital, a fact that was not possible by decision of the judge, Levis Italmir Orellana.
Return to house arrest
On Monday, November 24, 2014, the First Investigating Court of San Salvador allowed Flores to return to his home until the process against him was finalized.
Second time arrest
On Thursday, December 3, 2015, former President Francisco Flores was sent by order of the Seventh Investigating Court to the bartolinas of the Anti-Narcotics Division of the National Civil Police (DAN) for the crimes of embezzlement and illicit enrichment; but a Criminal Chamber revoked the detention[citation required], returning to house arrest and going to public hearing, which would take place on January 18, 2016.
In October 2021, his name was mentioned in the Pandora Papers. He was the beneficiary of several companies created in Panama in 2005 and in the British Virgin Islands in 2006.
Death
On January 24, 2016, the former president was admitted to the Women's Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery, after suffering a stroke due to an arterial obstruction. Doctors diagnosed him with a blood clot in an artery that immobilized the right side of his body and kept him unresponsive to stimuli. As a result of the obstruction, Flores suffered a stroke and cardiac arrest. The former president remained in a coma and connected to a respirator. After being hospitalized for six days, he died at 9:50 p.m. on January 30, 2016 from an ischemic stroke.