Former Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes Passes Away

Former president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, is reported to have died late on Tuesday in Nicaragua. He was 65. Funes had been living in the country since 2016 following corruption charges made against him at home. A government statement appeared on the official government website from Nicaraguan officials confirming the former president's death. Funes died of "a serious chronic illness," as stated by officials, without disclosing further information on the illness that led to his death.

About nearly a decade ago, Funes left El Salvador for Nicaragua after the prosecutors of El Salvador initiated a criminal investigation on accusations of corruption and issued five warrants against him. Born in October 1959 in San Salvador, Funes taught in Catholic schools following a literature degree at the Jesuit University of Central America (UCA). He soon became a prominent journalist who received journalistic awards.

Funes started as a war correspondent and worked for CNN, though he was most popular for in-depth interviews with politicians and efforts to expose corruption on his popular interview show. After nearly two decades in journalism, Funes retired in 2009 to run for president representing the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which was formed during El Salvador's 1979-1992 civil war. The FMLN had been the dominant force in Salvadoran politics for many years until President Nayib Bukele's New Ideas party disrupted the traditional two-party system and took control of all branches of government.

Throughout Funes's five-year presidential term, there were numerous social, educational, and health programs in place, but there was a dirty stain in the administration: the questionable gang truce, in which his government reportedly offered incentives to gang leaders if they agreed to reduce the murders. At the end of 2014 when his term finally ended, there were numerous judicial actions filed against Funes for his alleged embezzlement of millions, bribery, money laundering, bribery, tax evasion, and leaking classified documents.
Funes described the charges as political persecution by the Salvadoran right and fled to Nicaragua with his family in 2016. He was granted Nicaraguan citizenship, which protected him from extradition. In May 2023, Bukele's government, which itself faced accusations of striking deals with gangs like MS-13, sentenced Funes to 14 years in prison in absentia for his involvement in the gang pact.

In 2014, the FMLN, under President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, remained in control. However, in 2019, the populist and authoritarian-leaning Bukele achieved a landslide victory, widely interpreted as a strong repudiation of the FMLN. In the congressional elections held last year, the FMLN failed to secure a single seat.