A court in El Salvador has sentenced former President Maurício Funes to 14 years in prison for his involvement with local criminal groups and gangs and his failure to fulfill his obligations to the country. The sentence was handed down on Monday (29). In addition to Funes, his former defense minister, David Munguia, received 18 years in jail.
“We were able to verify that these two former officials, who had an obligation to protect Salvadorans, traded their lives in exchange for electoral favors, acting as gang members,” said El Salvador’s Attorney General, Rodolfo Delgado.
For El Salvador prosecutors, former minister David Munguia also participated in criminal association and failed to fulfill his State obligations in promoting the truce plan negotiated with gangs in the country in 2012. Upon leaving the hearing, Munguia stated that “ believed that his sentence was politically based and that the accusations were unfounded”.
Outside El Salvador, former president Maurício Funes, who ruled the country between 2009 and 2014 and is currently under the protection of Nicaragua’s dictator Daniel Ortega, from whom he received “Nicaraguan citizenship”, did not comment on the conviction.
In 2016, in the midst of an investigation into corruption and illicit enrichment, Maurício Funes, fearing a conviction, asked the Nicaraguan regime for asylum for him and his family, and was granted. According to the Constitution of Nicaragua, citizens of the country cannot be extradited, which practically frees Funes from serving the sentence.
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