Víctor Hugo Morales Zapata
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Víctor Hugo Morales Zapata is a
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
n politician. He was a member of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC for its Spanish initials) and the third
deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...
for San José for the 2014 to 2018 assembly. He resigned the party in 2017.


Cooperative career

Morales was a student activist and member of the now defunct People's Revolutionary Youth Movement (Juventud del Movimiento Revolucionario del Pueblo). Morales did not finish university studies. Morales was a director of Instituto Nacional de Fomento Cooperativo (The National Institute for Cooperativism) for twelve years and President for eight years. In his roles, he promoted
agricultural cooperatives An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a producer cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activities. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural servic ...
. Morales was a vocal opponent of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which he claims created many political enemies for him. Morales was involved in helping
Luis Guillermo Solís Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera (; born 25 April 1958) is a Costa Rican politician and educator who was the 47th President of Costa Rica from 2014 to 2018. He is a member of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC). Solís led the field in the 2014 pre ...
become PAC's presidential candidate and was originally tapped by Solís as a political advisory.


Internal problems with PAC

In 1994, Morales was found guilty of falsification of documents and embezzlement. The issue stemmed around payments for an airplane ticket to
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. Morales disputes that he should pay interest on the ticket. In addition, Morales owes millions of colónes worth of debt to private and cooperative interests. When the fact was revealed at a national assembly, several prominent PAC members asked Morales to step down as a deputy candidate, including founding member
Ottón Solís Ottón Solís Fallas (born 31 May 1954 near Pérez Zeledón) is a Costa Rican politician. He graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Costa Rica in 1976 and gained a master's degree in economics from the University of Manc ...
and presidential candidate Luis Guillermo Solís. On 12 January 2014, PAC's Ethics Commission opened hearings on Morales. The issue caused a brief stir within the party, with Morales accusing Ottón Solís of having "elastic ethics." Ottón Solís threatened to leave the party should Morales remain; however, he eventually said he was satisfied with the Ethics Commission hearings. Through the matter, Morales claimed that Ottón Solís was persecuting him unjustly. Because he was administratively and bureaucratically a member of PAC, he was still allowed to run under the party's banner and remain during national and local assemblies.


Election as deputy

Morales could not be removed from the party in time for the elections, therefore he was elected as a deputy. There is still a possibility that Morales will not be seated with other PAC candidates in the assembly.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales Zapata, Victor Hugo Living people Members of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica Politicians from San José, Costa Rica Citizens' Action Party (Costa Rica) politicians Costa Rican socialists Year of birth missing (living people)