Armando Calderón Sol

Armando Calderón Sol (June 24, 1948 – October 9, 2017) was President of El Salvador from June 1, 1994, to June 1, 1999, representing the Nationalist Republican Alliance. He was the first president elected in El Salvador after twelve years of civil war.[1]

Armando Calderón Sol
41st President of El Salvador
In office
June 1, 1994 – June 1, 1999
Vice PresidentEnrique Borgo Bustamante (1994-1999)
Preceded byAlfredo Cristiani
Succeeded byFrancisco Flores Pérez
Personal details
Born(1948-06-24)June 24, 1948
San Salvador, El Salvador
DiedOctober 9, 2017(2017-10-09) (aged 69)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Cause of deathLung cancer
Political partyARENA
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Aguirre de Calderón
RelativesMilena Calderón Sol de Escalón (sister)
Professionpolitician

Biography

Born in San Salvador in 1948,[2] Calderón attended the exclusive primary and secondary school Colegio Externado San José, graduating in 1966. In 1977, Calderón received a graduate degree in Jurisprudence and Social Sciences from Universidad Nacional de El Salvador. He was a lawyer, a businessman, and one of the founders of ARENA (September 1981).

Mayor of San Salvador

As Mayor of San Salvador from 1988 to 1994 he built the Monument to "Hermano Lejano" at the end of the Comalapa Highway and Blvd. Los Proceres and also built the bust monuments along the Proceres Boulevard. He promoted physical exercise and initiated a cyclist's circuit in the San Jacinto neighbourhood on Avenida Cuba.

President of El Salvador
Former Presidents and First Ladies of El Salvador at Embassy of the United States, June 2009.

When he ran for president in 1994 he won the presidential office during the runoff elections against the leftist candidate, Dr. Ruben Zamora from the CD-FMLN coalition.

Calderón is acknowledged in the press for restoring the status-quo after the civil war, which ended on January 16, 1992. He advocated the privatization of state owned telephone companies and pension funds to stimulate the economy and modernize the country's infrastructure. He is also known for having promoted reforms to make El Salvador competitive in the maquila industry, removing trade barriers across the board, including removing protection for local agriculture. This had the unintended consequence of disrupting small scale farming, driving migration to larger cities (and abroad, especially the U.S.) and creating a cheaper labour supply for the maquilas.

Calderón is also credited with the integration of former guerrillas combatants back into civilian life. He is also known for having initiated the privatization of the telecommunications company ANTEL, and the electrical works CAESS (Compañía de Alumbrado Electrico de San Salvador), public hospitals and pension funds. He followed president Alfredo Cristiani's neoliberal approach, and his structural adjustment programs.

Last years

Calderón Sol died on 9 October 2017 of lung cancer[3] at a Houston, Texas, hospital at the age of 69.[4][5]

References
  1. Sam Roberts (October 13, 2017). "Leader of El Salvador after its civil war". Globe and Mail. New York Times News Service. p. S9.
  2. Clements, John (5 October 1998). "Clements' Encyclopedia of World Governments". Political Research, Incorporated – via Google Books.
  3. "Políticos reaccionan en redes sociales ante muerte de Armando Calderón Sol". AP. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  4. "Noticias de Costa Rica". La Nación, Grupo Nación.
  5. "Fallece expresidente Armando Calderón Sol". www.laprensagrafica.com.
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