# Mauricio Funes

Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena (18 October 1959 – 21 January 2025) was a Salvadoran politician and journalist who served as the 79th president of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014. Funes won the 2009 presidential election as the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party and took office on 1 June 2009.
Funes and his immediate family lived in exile in Nicaragua from 2016 until his death because of allegations of criminal actions during his tenure. In July 2023, he was placed under sanctions by the U.S. State Department following his conviction in absentia for negotiations related to the gang truces he made while in office, illicit enrichment, and tax evasion. Funes died in exile in Nicaragua in 2025.

## Early life and education

Funes was born in San Salvador. He received his high school diploma (bachillerato) from the Externado San José, and studied at Universidad Centroamericana but did not graduate. Both Externado and UCA are Jesuit institutions, and Funes has mentioned his relationship to the Jesuits murdered by the Salvadoran military in 1989 as being of particular significance in his professional and personal development. In 1994 he was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot prize from Columbia University for promoting press freedom and inter-American understanding.

## Career in journalism

Prior to his involvement with the politics of El Salvador, Funes was a journalist who hosted a popular interview show on television. He made appearances on Channel 12 and CNN en Español, where he worked as a correspondent from 1991 to 2007, and also hosted local news programs which were critical of previous governments. He was a reporter during the Salvadoran Civil War and interviewed leftist rebel leaders. It was during this time that he became more sympathetic to leftists in El Salvador, and he considered himself to be center-left.

## Campaign and presidency

Funes was nominated to be the FMLN candidate on 28 September 2007 and competed in the 2009 presidential election against the Nationalist Republican Alliance's candidate Rodrigo Ávila, a former deputy director of the National Police. Funes received 51.32% of the popular vote, thus winning election in a single round. He was the country's second left-leaning president (the first being Arturo Araujo in 1931), as well as the first FMLN party leader not to have fought in the Salvadoran civil war. His swearing-in on 1 June was the first peaceful transition of power since the end of the Civil War.
His presidential campaign was defined by statements endorsing moderate political policies. He promised to improve programs such as health care in rural areas and crime prevention. Political opponents stated that Funes's election would herald an era of Venezuelan influence but he insisted that "integration with Central America and strengthening relations with North America will be the priority of our foreign policy". Funes also promised to keep the U.S. dollar as El Salvador's official currency (dollarization took place in 2001 under President Francisco Flores Pérez).

### As President

After coming to power, Funes's administration implemented a wide range of social reforms designed to combat poverty and inequality, including the institution of various poverty alleviation programs in the most impoverished communities, the abolition of public health care fees, the introduction of free shoes, meals and uniforms for schoolchildren, the distribution of property titles to hundreds of families, the introduction of monthly cash transfers and job training for those living in extreme poverty, and pensions for the elderly. In addition, investments were made in improving school infrastructure, a presidential decree was issued against discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation in the public services, two working groups on indigenous affairs were created as a means of bringing about better representation of the interests of El Salvador's indigenous communities, a community health plan was introduced, teachers' salaries were increased, and measures were introduced to combat illiteracy.
Upon his inauguration on 1 June 2009, Funes resumed diplomatic relations with Cuba. El Salvador previously suspended diplomatic relations with Cuba 50 years ago due to the Cuban Revolution.
In November 2009, President Funes had to face the natural disaster that greatly affected communities in Cuscatlán, San Salvador and San Vicente as a result of the rain brought by Hurricane Ida. A community in San Vicente called Verapaz disappeared because it was buried by huge rocks that fell from the nearby volcano. Civil Protection, which is the government entity in charge of handling catastrophes, rehabilitated public schools in which refugees stayed for more than three months while they found a place to stay from family or friends. The Army and the Red Cross of El Salvador rescued many people from the communities.
A pension was created for soldiers and guerrillas maimed during the civil war. On the anniversary of the peace agreement, Mauricio Funes acknowledged on behalf of the state the participation of the Armed Forces in war crimes and apologized to the victims. He was criticized by the leader of the right-wing opposition, Armando Calderón, who said that "the State should never apologize".
Funes was criticized for lack of a plan to fight El Salvador's increased crime. In response, the President ordered the deployment of the army to cooperate with police authorities in their fight against crime. More recently, there were reports of newly formed death squads operating in El Salvador, due in part to a lack of response of the police.
In January 2010, after a public denouncement of Funes's former cabinet member Francisco Gómez, Salvadoran media uncovered plans whereby almost all government publicity and advertising were to be handled, without any previous public tendering process (as required by Salvadoran Law), by advertising agency Polistepeque, S.A. de C.V. Some advisers to the president were members of its board of directors, and allegedly Funes himself had some participation through stock in that agency. In response, Funes said no other advertising agency in El Salvador had the experience or capacity to manage government publicity and advertising, despite the fact that El Salvador has many local and international advertising agencies such as BBDO.
In 2016, Funes denied giving perks to gangs during the 2012–14 truce.

## Criminal charges

On 10 February 2016, the Salvadoran Supreme Court ruled that Funes would face a civil trial for charges of illegally laundering more than $700,000 in personal bank accounts. Nicaragua granted Funes political asylum, who was accused of illicit enrichment in El Salvador. Mauricio Funes was not able to justify personal transactions of over $600,000. The formal accusation against Mauricio Funes stated that he and his family increased their assets without justification for an amount of over US$728,000. The income of the President of El Salvador in 2015, one year after Mauricio Funes left office, was US$5,181.72 per month. On 28 November 2017, El Salvador's second civil court found Funes guilty of illegal enrichment. The sentence was against Mauricio Funes and his son who was with him in Nicaragua under asylum protection, ordering that they had to restitute $420,000 to the state. As of 2019 Interpol has twice rejected the arrest request against Mauricio Funes.
On 29 May 2023, Funes was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison because of negotiations related to the gang truces he made while in office. On 6 July, he was sentenced to an additional six years for tax evasion. In July 2023 he was placed under sanctions by the U.S. State department.

## Personal life

Funes's brother was killed by police during the Salvadoran Civil War. His oldest son, Alejandro Funes Velasco, was murdered in Paris in 2007 aged 27.
Funes was married to Vanda Pignato, who served as his first lady and as secretary of social inclusion in his cabinet. They had one son, Gabriel. In October 2014, Funes publicly acknowledged that he and Pignato had separated. The political asylum granted to Mauricio Funes by the Government of Nicaragua included his partner, Ada Mitchell Guzmán Sigüenza, as well as his three sons. In July 2019, Funes (along with his wife and two sons) became a naturalized citizen of Nicaragua, where he and his immediate family remained in exile beginning in 2016.

### Death

Funes died following a "serious chronic illness" at a hospital in Managua, Nicaragua, on 21 January 2025, at the age of 65. He experienced a heart attack on 8 January and was subsequently hospitalized. His family decided that he would be buried in Nicaragua.