President Mauricio Funes of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front took office a year ago in El Salvador. The former TV journalist was elected on the ticket of the FMLN, this after a 12-year civil war and after the former Marxist revolutionary group turned into a mainstream political party. The right wing Arena Party had ruled the country since the end of the civil war. How’s Funes done in his first year in office? Reporter Ambar Espinoza addresses that question as we plan our reporting trip to Central America.

Mixed reviews of Mauricio Funes’ first year in office

An article in the Los Angeles Times says Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes is under fire for failing to tackle corruption and halt rising violence and drug trafficking. It cites an editorial by the El Salvador-based online newspaper, El Faro, that says Salvadorans are not better off than they were a year ago and a poll by the Institute of Public Opinion at the University of Central America in San Salvador that shows 60 percent of the population says violence has increased with the new government. Read the article here.

Yet a research project by the Center for Democracy in the Americas found that Mauricio Funes and his party are “truly governing the country.” In an advanced edition of the project’s report, researchers do not ignore the immense challenges before Funes and what he hasn’t been able to accomplish so far. But they also recognize and point to several achievements by Funes and his administration officials: they responded swiftly and effectively to natural disasters, provided school uniforms, supplies, shoes, and hot meals to all public school students, and secured loans from the International Monetary Funds to prevent bankruptcy and keep the country afloat for the next four years. You can read the advance copy here.