Four ex-presidents with pasts in Panama for Arias transfer

Four Latin American ex-presidents, all carrying unedifying political baggage will be in Panama for the transfer of the remains of Former President Arnulfo Arias Madrid.

The announcement comes from former Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004) wjo was married to Arias who was elected president three times.

Confirmed  so far are Alvaro Uribe (Colombia), Rafael Calderón Fournier (Costa Rica), Fernando de la Rua (Argentina) and Francisco Flores (El Salvador). 

Uribe, who ruled between 2002 and 2010 – has remained in the eye of  international media sknce the end of his administration, in an investigation initiated in 2009 for allegedly spying on ??judges, opposition politicians, journalists and human rights defenders, and being involved with administration officials, specifically the Department of Administrative Security (DAS). 

Calderón Fournier (1990-1994), was sentenced to three years in prison for embezzlement in May 2011, by the Supreme Court of Costa Rica. The ex president will not go to jail, but will be on "probation." Calderon Fournier was sentenced along with other former officials and entrepreneurs for receiving kickbacks from a Finnish company for the purchase of $40 million in medical equipment by the Social Security Fund, which manages public hospitals. 

De la Rua was acquitted in 2009 in the criminal case on the murders of five protesters in the Plaza de Mayo at the hands of the federal police. The incident occurred between 19 and 20 December 2001, left 39 victims and marked the end of his rule.. Over the period of Flores (1999-2004) stand the allegations made ??against him by then Cuban President Fidel Castro for allowing a terrorist to live peacefully in his territory, referring to the activist Luis Posada Carriles, who masterminded an assassination attempt, which was aborted by the Panamanian authorities, during the celebration of the Tenth Ibero-American Summit in 2000

Moscoso said that almost everything is ready for the transfer on January 6 with  the departure of the remains from the Garden of Peace, through Ernesto T . Lefevre and Via Espana to the Metropolitan Cathedral. The next day (the remains of the leader Panameñista be taken on the Panamerican Highway to Penonomé, Cocle.

President  Ricardo Martinelli, has ordered state honors for the transfer of and a decree states that January 6 and 7 will be days of national reflection, wiith the national flag hoisted at half mast, between Panama City and Penonomé.