Samuel Joaquín Flores: Who Was He? How Did He Die?

HBO’s ‘Unveiled: Surviving La Luz Del Mundo’ delves into the gorgeous sexual abuse allegations levied in direction of the leaders of La Luz Del Mundo, a Mexican Christian megachurch. With just about the entire victims being minors, the family that primarily based and led the group received right here into the spotlight for being the perpetrators of the abuse.

This comprises Naasón Joaquín García, the minister AKA the Apostle, who was lastly apprehended and sentenced for fairly a couple of counts of sexual abuse, rape, and trafficking. Apart from him, the docuseries choices his father, Samuel Joaquín Flores, who led the church till his dying and confronted associated allegations. Now, when you want to know further about Samuel’s life and the way in which he died, we’ve obtained you lined!

Who Was Samuel Joaquín Flores?

Born on February 14, 1937, Samuel Joaquín Flores was the youngest of eight siblings. His father, Aaron Joaquin Gonzalez, primarily based La Luz Del Mundo in 1926. It is a non-trinitarian Christian group, which interprets to Church of the Living God. Samuel served as a minister inside the church, whereas his father led the congregation as a result of the Apostle. When Aaron died in June 1964, his 27-year-old son took over the group’s reigns and have grow to be the second Apostle.

In 1962, Samuel married Eva García López, and the couple had eight youngsters, collectively along with his successor, Naasón. Under Samuel’s dynamic administration, La Luz Del Mundo grew exponentially, reaching spherical 72,000 members by 1972 and touching 4 million in 1993. He engaged in a lot of philanthropic actions and social corporations, along with establishing tutorial institutions and hospitals and cultural and social duties. This strengthened the congregation’s faith inside the church and multiplied their respect and love for his or her Apostle.

Not merely that, the church shortly began growing to totally different worldwide areas open air Mexico, and by the highest of Samuel’s tenure in 2014, there have been a lot of followers in fifty worldwide areas. However, points took a shocking flip inside the 90s, when 31-year-old Amparo Aguilar, a former congregation member, alleged that Samuel had raped her inside the 70s when she was a minor. Along with three totally different accusers, all ex-members of the group, Amparo approached the state and federal authorities spherical 1997 and filed a criticism.

Later, two totally different former La Luz Del Mundo followers, Moisés Padilla and Fernando Flores, moreover went public with their sexual abuse accusations in direction of Samuel. Surprisingly, though the prosecutor’s office did get hold of Amparo’s criticism, no formal movement was taken, reportedly on account of just about twenty years had handed as a result of the alleged abuse occurred. Nevertheless, Samuel blatantly denied the entire accusations in direction of him, and your complete matter was buried.

How Did Samuel Joaquín Flores Die?

Samuel Joaquín Flores died at 77 on December 8, 2014, in his home in Hermosa Provincia, Guadalajara. While the explanation for his dying was not shared, he reportedly handed away peacefully, surrounded by his family and members of the family. Since Guadalajara houses the world headquarters of La Luz Del Mundo, quite a few followers from in every single place on this planet attended Samuel’s funeral, a large-scale public event. Thousands of congregation members grieved his dying, and even the Governor of State and the Municipal President received right here to pay their respects.

Samuel’s son, Naasón Joaquín García, who succeeded him as a result of the third Apostle of the church, was shockingly arrested in 2019 following a lot of allegations of sexual abuse, rape, and trafficking. In February 2020, former La Luz Del Mundo member Sochil Martin moreover sued the church and its leaders for sexually abusing her for 22 years. She claimed she was compelled as a minor to serve Samuel as a sexual servant for a couple of years till his dying. She extra claimed that his son adopted swimsuit and continued abusing her.

Interestingly, Alondra Ocampo, who was arrested with Naasón and charged with sexually abusing minors and grooming them to be abused by him, made an explosive declare in her testimony. She alleged that Samuel had raped her when she was eight, expressing the way in which it had traumatized her life and made her contemplate that abuse was common. Nevertheless, whereas Naasón was convicted for his crimes in 2022, all allegations in direction of Samuel sadly keep unanswered, given the scarcity of proof on account of his dying.