El Salvador's ex-president Antonio Saca freed after ten years in prison
The ARENA party politician had been convicted of embezzlement and money laundering. He admitted diverting more than $300 million in public funds.
Archive image · Photo: Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison, U.S. Air Force / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
El Salvador's former president Elías Antonio Saca has been released after serving a ten-year sentence for corruption. The 61-year-old politician of the right-wing ARENA party, who governed from 2004 to 2009, reported to court on Thursday to formally register his release. In September 2018 he was sentenced to five years for embezzlement and five for money laundering after confessing to diverting and laundering more than $300 million in public funds. He was ordered to repay $260 million to the state.
The plea deal spared Saca a possible 30-year sentence. He was arrested in 2016 at his son's wedding. His lawyer, Mario Machado, said Saca had served his sentence in full without early-release benefits. Saca is one of four Salvadoran presidents to face corruption charges; his successor Mauricio Funes fled to Nicaragua and died there in 2025.