El Salvador ex-president under house arrest
Source: Al Jazeera
El Salvador ex-president under house arrest
Francisco Flores, accused of misappropriating $15m from Taiwan for quake relief efforts, had earlier handed himself in.
Last updated: 06 Sep 2014 06:47
A court in El Salvador has ordered the house arrest of a former president after he turned himself in ahead of his trial on corruption charges.
Francisco Flores, who was president of the Central American country from 1999 to 2004, will be allowed to remain
under house arrest for the duration of the trial, judiciary spokesman Ulises Marinero said on Friday.
Flores, who had been on the run since January and was believed to have been in Panama, had turned up unexpectedly with his lawyer at a San Salvador court earlier on Friday.
He is accused of misappropriating $15m donated by Taiwan for earthquake relief efforts in 2001.
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/09/el-salvador-puts-ex-president-house-arrest-20149655351713.html
Posted by Brendan Fischer on August 16, 2012
U.S.-Funded War in El Salvador Casts Shadow over Romney/Ryan Campaign
Amidst reports that Mitt Romney launched Bain Capital with funds from investors tied to 1980s Salvadoran death squads, his new running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is getting foreign policy briefings from a man who actively covered-up some of the worst atrocities committed by those same death squads. The GOP's vice-presidential candidate also earned his political stripes working under neoconservative Republicans who funneled billions in U.S. aid to those military hitmen. Though the war in El Salvador was just one chapter in history, Romney and Ryan's relationship with that war may provide a snapshot into their worldview.
Between 1979 and 1992, an estimated 75,000 people were killed in the conflict in El Salvador and countless others were "disappeared" or displaced, an astonishing number for a country the size of Massachusetts. A United Nations Truth Commission estimated that the right-wing, military-led government was responsible for 85 percent of the violence while the left-wing insurgency fighting against vast economic and political inequality, including farmers, teachers, priests and union activists, was responsible for only 5 percent. Much of the violence was attributable to clandestine military or paramilitary death squads, which committed countless assassinations and acts of brutal violence against suspected political dissidents.
Recent reports suggest that some of the same members of the Salvadoran oligarchy that backed the death squads gave Romney the startup funds for Bain Capital.
More:
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11710/us-funded-war-el-salvador-casts-shadow-over-romneyryan-campaign
