Mauricio Funes, the former President of El Salvador, passed away late Tuesday at the age of 65. He had spent his final years in Nicaragua to evade multiple criminal charges. According to a statement from Nicaragua’s Health Ministry, Funes died after battling a serious chronic illness.
Funes served as the President of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014. In his last nine years, he lived in Nicaragua under the protection of President Daniel Ortega, who granted him citizenship and helped him avoid extradition to El Salvador.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Nicaragua confirmed that Funes’ family decided to bury him in Nicaragua.
Funes had several unresolved legal issues in El Salvador, including charges of corruption and making deals with street gangs, resulting in sentences totaling 28 years. Despite these charges, he never served time in prison.
A former journalist, Funes rose to power with the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a left-wing political party that originated from El Salvador’s civil war. The party had been a dominant force in the country’s politics for 30 years but lost all its seats in Congress after last year’s elections.
On Wednesday, Funes’ political party released a statement praising his legacy, saying, “Mauricio Funes, as both an investigative journalist and a powerful influencer of public opinion, enjoyed significant support from the Salvadoran people and the international community, both during his presidency and in his earlier career.”
Current Labor Minister Rolando Castro acknowledged Funes’ contributions, stating on X (formerly Twitter) that his “skills and contributions as a journalist are undeniable,” though he also recognized his “mistakes in public office.”
Funes was born on October 18, 1959, in San Salvador. He started his career as a teacher in Catholic schools but later gained recognition as a war correspondent. He also hosted a popular interview program that tackled controversial subjects, interviewing several world leaders. Funes worked at two television stations and was a CNN correspondent from 1991 to 2007, earning numerous awards for his work.
The FMLN, El Salvador’s left-wing party, approached Funes and offered him their candidacy, which he accepted. He won the 2009 presidential election, defeating Rodrigo Ávila from the conservative National Republican Alliance (ARENA), a party that had been in power since 1989.
Funes was seen as a fresh face, someone not directly involved in the civil war, as the FMLN sought to reinvent itself with a less aggressive image. At the time, Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez praised Funes for his determination and his willingness to confront El Salvador’s problems.
However, by the end of his presidency, Funes faced widespread corruption allegations. In 2016, he fled to Nicaragua, always claiming that the charges were politically motivated and part of a campaign against him. Despite his denials, he was tried in absentia six times, with convictions in each case.
In May 2023, Funes was sentenced to 14 years in prison for negotiating a truce with gangs during his presidency in exchange for offering privileges to imprisoned gang leaders to reduce the homicide rate. His most recent conviction came in June 2024, when he was sentenced to eight years for accepting an airplane as a bribe related to a construction contract for a bridge project. Additionally, he was being prosecuted for allegedly embezzling $351 million in government funds.
Several former officials from Mauricio Funes’ administration, as well as his ex-wife Vanda Pignato, his children, and various former associates, have also faced prosecution for corruption. Funes’ former security minister, David Munguía Payés, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in negotiating the gang truce.
Despite the controversies surrounding Funes’ presidency, his party, the FMLN, won the presidency again with Salvador Sánchez Cerén, who served as president from 2014 to 2019. Sánchez Cerén had been one of the five guerrilla commanders during El Salvador’s civil war.
In recent years, Funes and current President Nayib Bukele have frequently clashed on social media, exchanging insults. Bukele has led efforts to prosecute Funes, particularly for his negotiations with gangs.
Bukele himself faced accusations of negotiating with gang leaders but strongly denied these claims. He later launched a massive crackdown on gangs in a years-long offensive.