El Salvador’s former president Mauricio Funes was sentenced to 14 years in prison for having negotiated a truce with some criminal organizations responsible for violence and murders during his mandate. Funes, a leftist, was in government of the small Central American country between 2009 and 2014 and was found guilty of conspiracy and failure to fulfill public duties. According to the prosecutor’s office, which the judges agreed with, in 2012 he had made concessions to criminal groups asking in exchange for a reduction in violence with the aim of benefiting his own party in view of the elections and at the same time allowing the organizations to strengthen economically .
Funes has always denied any accusation. Since he has been living in political asylum in Nicaragua for some time, the trial took place in absentia. Instead, former Defense Minister David Munguía Payés was sentenced to 18 years in prison, found guilty of his involvement in negotiations with criminal groups.
Funes is the second former president of El Salvador to be convicted of a fait accompli during his tenure. Antonio Saca, president between 2004 and 2009, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018 for embezzlement and money laundering, for having stolen the equivalent of around 280 million euros in public funds for himself and his party centre-right. Funes remains indicted in another investigation in which he is accused, among other things, of misappropriating public funds and trafficking in illicit influences.
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