Francisco Flores Pérez

Flores suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in January 2016 and died on January 30, 2016 in a private hospital in San Salvador after slipping into a coma after an emergency surgery. He just 55 prior to his cerebral hemorrhage.

Francisco Flores Perez was born on October 17, 1959 in Santa Ana, El Salvador to Ulises Flores and Maria Leonor Perez Flores. He has two siblings.

Upon completing his elementary education, he enrolled at the Escuela Americana in San Salvador where he graduated from. He then attended Hillyer College, under University of Hartford, to acquire a degree in sociology.

Subsequently, he gained admission at the Amherst College, in Massachusetts, United States and majored in political science. Following this, he moved to England to pursue a program in History and Literature at Trinity College, University of Oxford.

Returning to America, he attained Master’s degree in philosophy from the World University, California. Furthermore, he studied Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1983, Francisco Flores Perez returned to El Salvador. At that time, El Salvador was experiencing political unrest with the fourth year of civil war in progress. He started his career as professor of Philosophy at the University Dr. José Matías Delgado (UJMD).

Unlike others, Flores did not join the political bandwagon and instead limited himself to teaching only.

It was only by the end of the 1980s that Flores commenced his political career. In 1989, ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance) party won the March elections for Presidency of the Republic. Party chief, Alfredo Cristiani Burkard, appointed Flores as the vice minister for planning.

In course of time, he became the vice minister of the Presidency and in this capacity, he served as adviser of the President. It was during this time that he played a crucial role in establishing the State of the Peace Accords that was eventually signed by FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) thereby ending the war.

In March 1994, he was elected deputy of the Legislative Assembly. Under the new nationalist president, Armando Calderón, he served as the Executive Secretary of Information to the Presidency.

Flores’s tenure as the vice-minister of the presidency and advisor to the head of state was remarkable as it was during this time that the guerrilla group, FMLN ended the fighting, by consenting to the State of Peace Accords that was primarily established, planned and directed by Flores.

During his role as the President of the Legislative Assembly, Flores was successfully in bringing into effect the law of telecommunication, which brought overall improvement in all the sectors of telecommunication coverage. The agreement was given a green signal by the deputies of all the political parties, ARENA, PCN and PDC.

Flores is regarded as the architect of Salvador’s economy. Prior to his term as the President of El Salvador, colon, was currency of El Salvador. It was under his leadership that the US dollar replaced colon. Dollarization led to reduced interest rates, easier trade and easier integration on global economy.