Mauricio Funes

Mauricio Funes
Mauricio Funes (2008)
President of El Salvador
In office 1 June 2009 – 1 June 2014
Vice President	Salvador Sánchez Cerén
Preceded by	Antonio Saca
Succeeded by	Salvador Sánchez Cerén
Personal details
Born	(1959-10-18) 18 October 1959 San Salvador, El Salvador
Political party	Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (2007-2014) Independent (2014-Present)
Spouse(s)	Vanda Pignato (Separated)
Alma mater	Central American University
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena (born 18 October 1959) is a Salvadoran politician who was President of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014. He won the 2009 presidential election as the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) political party and took office on 1 June 2009.

Early life and education

Funes was born in San Salvador. He received his High School Diploma (Bachillerato) from the Externado San José,^[1] and studied at Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas"(UCA) but did not graduate.^[2] Both Externado and UCA are Jesuit institutions, something that has deeply influenced president Funes. In this respect, Funes has mentioned his relationship to the murdered scholars of UCA as of particular significance in his professional and personal development.^[3] In 1994 he was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot prize from Columbia University for promoting press freedom and inter-American understanding.^[4]

Funes' brother was killed during the Salvadoran Civil War.^[5] His oldest son, Alejandro Funes Velasco, who was 27 years old, died after being attacked in Paris, where he was studying photography.^[6]

Career in journalism

Prior to his involvement with politics of El Salvador, Funes was a journalist who hosted a popular interview show on television.^[7] He made appearances on Channel 12 and CNN en Español,^[8] 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 considers himself to be center-left.^[5]

Political career

Funes was nominated to be the FMLN candidate on 28 September 2007 and competed against the Nationalist Republican Alliance's candidate Rodrigo Ávila, a former deputy director of the National Police. Funes won the 2009 presidential election with 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), as well as the first FMLN party leader not to have fought in the Salvadoran civil war. His swearing-in on 1 June marked only the third time in the country's history that a governing party peacefully transferred power to the opposition.

His presidential campaign was highlighted by statements endorsing moderate political policies.^[9] He has promised to better programs such as health care in rural areas and crime prevention.^[10] Political opponents stated that Funes' 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".^[7] Funes has also promised to keep the U.S. dollar as El Salvador's official currency (dollarization took place in 2001 under President Francisco Flores Pérez).^[10]

Since coming to power, Funes' administration has 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,^[11] the abolition of public health care fees,^[12] the introduction of free shoes,^[11] meals and uniforms for schoolchildren, the distribution of property titles to hundreds of families,^[13] the introduction of monthly stipends and job training for those living in extreme poverty, and pensions for the elderly.^[14] In addition, investments have been made in improving school infrastructure,^[15] a presidential decree has been made against discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation in the public services, two working groups on indigenous affairs have been created as a means of bringing about better representation of the interests of El Salvador’s indigenous communities,^[16] a community health plan has been introduced,^[17] improvements have been made in teacher’s salaries, and measures have been introduced to combat illiteracy.^[18]

Upon his inauguration on 1 June 2009, Funes resumed Salvadoran diplomatic relations with Cuba. El Salvador previously suspended diplomatic relations with Cuba 50 years ago due to the Cuban Revolution.^[19]

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 3 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.

Funes has been criticized^[20] for lack of a plan to fight El Salvador’s increased crime in El Salvador. In response, the President has ordered the deployment of the army to cooperate with police authorities in their fight against crime.^[21] More recently, there have been reports of newly formed Death Squads operating in El Salvador, due in part to a lack of response of the police.^[22]

In January 2010, after a public denouncement of Funes’ former cabinet member Francisco Gómez, local Salvadoran media uncovered plans whereby almost all government publicity and advertising were to be carried, without any previous public solicitation (as required by Salvadoran Law), by advertising agency Polistepeque, S.A. de C.V. Some advisers to the president are members of its board of directors, and allegedly Funes himself has some participation through stock in that agency.^[23]

The President reacted to these accusations by stating that no other advertising agency in El Salvador has 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.^[24][25]

Personal life

He was married to Vanda Pignato, the former First Lady of El Salvador who was involved in the Workers' Party in Brazil.^[26] They have one son, Gabriel. In October 2014, Funes publicly acknowledged that he and Pignato had separated.^[27]

Corruption Allegations

On February 10, 2016, the El Salvador Supreme Court ruled that Funes would face a civil trial for charges of illegally laundering more than $700,000 in personal bank accounts.^[28] Nicaragua has granted political asylum to Mauricio Funes, who is being accused of illicit enrichment in El Salvador.^[29]

References

External links

Wikinews has related news: El Salvador elects leftist president Funes

• MauricioFunes.org – Official Mauricio Funes Website
• Official Campaign Website (Spanish)
• Biography of Mauricio Funes by CIDOB (in Spanish)
• First President from the Left Elected in San Salvador by Katie Kohlstedt, 6 June 2009
• El Salvador Rising by Tom Hayden, The Nation, 15 June 2009
• El Salvador’s 'Date with History' by Oscar Faria, Workers World, 2 July 2009

Heads of state of El Salvador
Federal Republic of Central America (1821–41)	Barriere Delgado Filisola Codallos Junta Consultiva Prado J. Rodríguez Prado J. V. Villacorta Prado Cornejo J. D. Villacorta Cornejo Morazán J. San Martín Prado J. San Martín C. Salazar G. Salazar Escolán Silva Espinoza F. Gómez Vigil T. Menéndez Vigil T. Menéndez Cañas Morazán Silva Cañas Ramírez
Republic of El Salvador (1841–1931)	Lindo Marín J. J. Guzmán Palacios Malespín J. E. Guzmán Palacios Aguilar Medina Quirós Vasconcelos R. Rodríguez Vasconcelos Quirós Dueñas J. M. San Martín Dueñas V. Gómez J. M. San Martín Dueñas Campo Zepeda Santín J. E. Guzmán Peralta Barrios Dueñas González del Valle Zaldívar F. Menéndez Ezeta Gutiérrez Regalado Escalón Figueroa M. Araujo C. Meléndez Quiñónez C. Meléndez Quiñónez J. Meléndez Quiñónez P. Romero A. Araujo
Military presidents (1931–1980)	Hernández Martínez A. Menéndez Hernández Martínez A. Menéndez Aguirre Castaneda Revolutionary Council Osorio Lemus Military junta Cordón Rivera Sánchez Hernández Molina C. Romero Revolutionary Government junta
Salvadoran Civil War (1980–1992)	Magaña Duarte Cristiani
Post-Civil War (since 1992)	Cristiani Calderón Sol Flores Saca Funes Cerén