The former president of El Salvador was found guilty of conspiracy, breaching obligations under the truce negotiated with gangs in 2012. Mauricio Funes was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes was sentenced to 14 years in prison for crimes committed after a negotiated truce with gangs during his tenure.
A criminal court in El Salvador also sentenced David Munguía Payés, former Minister of Justice and Security, to 18 years in prison, the Attorney General of El Salvador announced through the social network Twitter.
Funes, who He was tried in absentia after a legal reform that now allows this circumstancehe became the second head of state in the Salvadoran democratic stage to receive a prison sentence.
#Last minute I Former President Mauricio Funes has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and David Munguía Payés, former Minister of Justice and Security, has received a sentence of 18 years in prison.
Over there @FGR_SV presented abundant evidence proving the guilt of the former employees. pic.twitter.com/cs9W5rdDGt
— Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador (@FGR_SV) May 29, 2023
The Public Ministry explained that Funes was convicted of illicit association and breach of his obligations under the truce negotiated with gangs in 2012. Between 2012 and 2014, Mara Salvatrucha (MS13), Barrio 18 and other minor gangs maintained an armistice, to reduce the number of homicides, which was supported by the Funes government.
According to the Public Ministry, this truce provided favors to these groups, such as prison benefits for detained leaders, public investment in communities under their control and reduce the presence of the security forces in the neighborhoods dominated by these structures.
Funes denied, after declaring before the Public Ministry in 2016, that his government has granted perks to detained gang leaders in exchange for a reduction in homicides.
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The former Security Minister of Funes, General David Munguía Payes, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his participation in the negotiations. Munguía Payés said that his sentence is political and added that none of the witnesses confirmed that he gave “any order to violate the laws in prisons.”
El Salvador has prosecuted Funes, 64, who ruled from 2009 to 2014, for other alleged crimes in at least half a dozen cases. In 2015, the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador ruled that gangs are terrorist organizations. The current president, Nayib Bukele, was accused of making the same type of deal with the gangs.
In December 2021, the United States Treasury said that the Bukele government secretly negotiated a truce with the leaders of the country’s powerful street gangs. The arrested gang leaders received privileges in exchange for stopping the killings and providing political support to Bukele’s party, according to the US government.
Former attorney general Raúl Melara had promised at the time to investigate the allegations, but when Bukele’s party dominated the midterm elections and seized control of Congress, the new deputies ousted Melara.
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The truce was reportedly broken when gangs killed 62 people in a single day in March 2022. Bukele responded by suspending some fundamental rights and waging an all-out war against the gangs that continues.
Source: Observadora
