Francisco Macias, President of Equatorial Guinea 1968-1979, remembered as one of the most brutal dictators in history, overthrown in a coup by his nephew and executed, killed 50-400k people… kids were looked after in N. Korea b/c of friendship with Kim Il-Sung until 2007, one daughter moved to S Korea since Korean is her mother tongue, he was sentenced to death 101 times, no local soldiers would do the execution so they had to hire Moroccans
- His nephew Teodoro Obiang is still President (since 1979), had some $700m at Riggs, acquired by PNC in 2004 after multiple scandals including also full knowingly banking for Pinochet… chairman Albritton writing to thank Pinochet for having “rid Chile from the threat of totalitarian government” source
- Albriton sold Politico for $1bn in 2021
- Riggs was Washington’s largest independent bank and its most gilded. Since its founding in 1836, the bank had served 21 presidents and their families and had financed the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska. The bank’s flagship branch sat across Pennsylvania Avenue from the Treasury Department, a geographical metaphor for its proximity to power. source
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