Mauricio Funes

Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena (born 18 October 1959) is a Salvadoran politician and former journalist who served as 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. 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, something that has deeply influenced president Funes. In this respect, Funes has mentioned his relationship to the Jesuits murdered by the Salvadoran military in 1989 as 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. Funes' brother was killed during the Salvadoran Civil War. His oldest son, Alejandro Funes Velasco, who was 27 years old, died after being murdered in Paris, where he was studying photography. Career in journalism Prior to his involvement with 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, 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.