El Salvador: Ex-President Mauricio Funes Sentenced To Another 6 Years in Prison Over Tax Evasion

Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes was sentenced to another six years in prison for tax evasion. This follows his 14-year sentence for negotiating with gangs like MS-13, which the government is currently waging a massive crackdown against.

This is the second time in barely a month that the ex-president was sentenced, with the Associated Press noting the El Salvadoran prosecutors asked for a stiffer 8-year sentence against him.

The current administration under President Nayib Bukele has been trying to go after Funes for his negotiations with the violent street gangs that have plagued Central America. Critics say Funes's negotiations have only made these gangs bolder and more powerful.

Funes fled El Salvador and is now living in Nicaragua. He served the country as president from 2009 to 2014 before fleeing the country in 2019.

He is the second former El Salvador president to be sentenced for illegal activity during his administration. The first one was his predecessor, Tony Saca, who served from 2004 to 2009. He pleaded guilty to diverting more than $300 million in state funds.

Prosecutors alleged that Funes did not pay around $85,000 in taxes in 2014, which was his final year in office. The ex-president was also ordered to pay $200,000 in fines and interest in addition to the taxes he was accused of not paying.

Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes Granted Nicaraguan Citizenship by Daniel Ortega

Despite being a former El Salvadoran president, Mauricio Funes is now living in and a citizen of Nicaragua. He was granted citizenship by none other than dictator Daniel Ortega.

According to Infobae, he was granted Nicaraguan citizenship so he would not be extradited to El Salvador. He was not present during his trial, which was held in absentia.

Funes did not have an attorney representing him during the trial. However, he was assigned one ex officio so that the trial could proceed. El Salvador recently allowed trials to go through in absentia, and this led to the former president's first conviction and sentencing.

Currently, the ex-El Salvador president is serving the Nicaraguan government as an appointed official of Ortega's foreign ministry and is regularly seen by the dictator's side in public.

Mauricio Funes and El Salvador's Gang Problem

Under Bukele, El Salvador authorities have been cracking down on gangs like MS-13 and Barrio-18 intensely, besieging towns previously under gang control. These gangs have been causing problems all over Central America and the United States. Some have even taken over entire areas as violence escalated. Bukele declared a national state of emergency, which El Salvador has been under ever since.

However, as the gangs were still rising in power, Funes and his government made a deal with the gangs that saw crime go down in El Salvador for about two years. This truce was soon broken before he left office, with the gangs running rampant ever since.

Reuters pointed out that Funes's defense minister, David Munguia, was also sentenced for this deal. However, Munguia, who is now serving time in El Salvador, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He was arrested in 2020 and has called his arrest "political."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Inside El Salvador's gang crackdown - BBC News