Former president of El Salvador, Francisco Flores, is reported to be in a coma after a brain hemorrhage and is expected to undergo emergency surgery this weekend. His lawyer, Yanira Ticas, said on Monday that Flores, 56, was found unconscious in his home on Sunday night and taken to the hospital.
"He was unconscious, but with vital signs, when he was transported [to the hospital]," said Jose Cisneros, police chief in San Salvador, the nation's capital,reports La Prensa Grafica. Flores' lawyer said that the stroke has left him paralyzed "from his head to his feet," but according to TeleSUR this has not yet been confirmed by doctors.
This is the third instance in the past 18 months that Flores has been rushed to hospital with critical health issues. Since November 2014, he has been treated for thrombosis, or blood clotting, in the circulatory system.
Flores was president from 1999 to 2004. In 2014, he turned himself in to authorities for charges of embezzlement and financial misconduct. He has since been living under house arrest, under accusations of misappropriating $15 million (USD) that was donated to the country by Taiwan for earthquake relief during his term in office, TeleSUR explains.
He has been charged with diverting $5 million into a private bank account and using the remaining $10 million for his right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party, as the Latin Correspondent explained. Flores denies the charges, saying that El Salvador has maintained "a privileged relationship" with Taiwan because it supported the nation's request for United Nations membership, according to the BBC.
Flores' trial was set to begin on Jan. 18, but on Jan. 7 it was postponed indefinitely after the attorney general of the Republic was unable to confirm the presence of witnesses who have relocated to Costa Rica, according to TeleSUR.
