Víctor Hugo Morales Zapata is a Costa Rican politician. He was a member of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC for its Spanish initials) and the third deputy for San José for the 2014 to 2018 assembly. He resigned the party in 2017.[1]
Morales was a student activist and member of the now defunct People's Revolutionary Youth Movement (Juventud del Movimiento Revolucionario del Pueblo).[2] Morales did not finish university studies.[3]
Morales was a director of Instituto Nacional de Fomento Cooperativo (The National Institute for Cooperativism) for twelve years and President for eight years.[4] In his roles, he promoted agricultural cooperatives.
Morales was a vocal opponent of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which he claims created many political enemies for him.[2] Morales was involved in helping Luis Guillermo Solís become PAC's presidential candidate and was originally tapped by Solís as a political advisory.[2]
In 1994, Morales was found guilty of falsification of documents and embezzlement.[5] The issue stemmed around payments for an airplane ticket to Spain. Morales disputes that he should pay interest on the ticket.[2] 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 and presidential candidate Luis Guillermo Solís.[5] 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."[5] Ottón Solís threatened to leave the party should Morales remain; however, he eventually said he was satisfied with the Ethics Commission hearings.[6] Through the matter, Morales claimed that Ottón Solís was persecuting him unjustly.[7]
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.[8]
Morales could not be removed from the party in time for the elections, therefore he was elected as a deputy.[9] There is still a possibility that Morales will not be seated with other PAC candidates in the assembly.[8]
