Óscar Ortiz

Óscar Samuel Ortiz Ascencio (born 14 February 1961) is a Salvadoran politician who served as the 36th Vice President of El Salvador from 2014 to 2019. Previously he was the Mayor of Santa Tecla. He was first elected to that position in 2000, and he was re-elected in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012.

Ortiz is a member of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), the main left-wing party in El Salvador.

Ortiz was born in San Alejo on 14 February 1961. During El Salvador's civil war from 1980 to 1992, Ortiz was a combatant with the Popular Liberation Forces - Farabundo Martí (FPL), one of the five organizations that comprised the FMLN. He was thought of as less ideological than other guerrilla commanders. He was eventually wounded in combat in 1983 and went to Nicaragua for medical treatment, before coming back to El Salvador in 1987. He was member of parliament for the FMLN from 1994 to 2000. He has been considered one of the most successful Salvadoran mayors for his 13-year-long tenure in Santa Tecla (2000–2013), a post which he left when selected as candidate for the vice presidency in the 2014 presidential election.