Francisco López
Francisco López García (1927 – ) was Presidente of Florida-Caribbea between 1970 and 1983, and a reformer with a mixed record.
Administration
López began his career in the Floridean army. He saw his first military action in 1946, during the invasion of the Cruzan Islands. In 1967, he was a brigadier general. He joined with other generals and colonels disatisfied with Presidente Villanueva's administration. He seized command of the rebellion, and made an alliance with the Seminole, promising to respect their territory and return greater autonomy.
In 1970, Miami was captured after a bloody battle, and the rebels proclaimed López to be Provisional President. Fearing the potential for the Seminole to turn on him, he persuaded them to merge their militia into the national army in 1972. In 1974, after being elected to the Presidency in a landslide victory (there were no other candidates) for a three-year term, he revived the dormant doctrine of Destino Castiliano, "liberating" Jamaica, and five years later, Bahamas.
The Great Reform
In 1980, at the start of his third term, he proclaimed the Great Reform, intended to eliminate corruption within the government, and to better centralize the nation. The Reform had a decidely mixed record. The peso floridiano was restabilized, and the economy began growing. The most corrupt officials were dismissed, and a small measure of democracy was restored. On the negative side, however, the Seminole Nation was disbanded forcefully by the National Army, which used chemical and biological weapons against the Seminole.
In 1983, López surprised his nation and the world by announcing that the presidential election would be fully contested. It seems that López grossly overestimated the degree of support he truely had among the people. The 1983 election was closely contested, with no one winning a majority. He was defeated in a run-off election by the reformist Villa-Lobos.
Retirement
During the Villa-Lobos administration, López kept a low profile, leaving the nation in 1995 for Mejico. López later claimed to have not authorized the use of biological/chemical weapons agains the Seminole, and apologized to the remaining leaders of the Seminole Underground
Florida War
Villa-Lobos came out of retirement to blast the Grand Coallition for its "brutal dismemberment" of F-C. He enjoys popularity among many Floridians, and there is a movement to have him elected the first Presidente of the Republic of South Florida.
| Preceded by: Vicente Villanueva |
 Presidente of Florida-Caribbea 1970 – 1983 |
Succeeded by: Villa-Lobos |
