Salvadoran president to go to trial

I can't help but think that the recent progress in the fight against corruption in El Salvador is largely driven by politicians and the FGR office's desire to prove to the Salvadoran people and the international community that their institutions are strong enough to go after alleged criminals without greater international involvement. They do not need the CICIG or OAS. That's not such a bad thing.

A judge on Thursday ordered El Salvador’s former President Francisco Flores to stand trial for allegedly siphoning off $10 million donated by Taiwan more than a decade ago.

Flores will face charges of embezzlement of public funds, money laundering and other illicit activities, Judge Miguel Ángel García told him in a long-awaited ruling.

The 56-year-old former head of state, who governed from 1999 to 2004, is accused of misappropriating money Taiwan had given ostensibly to help Salvadoran victims of a 2001 earthquake. He remains under house arrest.

The trial also could implicate other members of Flores’ National Republican Alliance party. The allegations against Flores were first publicly made in 2013 by then-President Mauricio Funes. Flores voluntarily turned himself in the following year to respond to the allegations, which he denies.

It doesn't hurt that Luis Martinez is looking for another term as fiscalia.