Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena is a Salvadoran politician and former journalist who served as the 41st 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. Since 2014, Funes and his immediate family have been living in exile in Nicaragua due to allegations of criminality during his tenure. In July 2023, he was placed under sanctions by the U.S. State Department due to his conviction in absentia for negotiations related to the gang truces he made while in office, illicit enrichment, and tax evasion.

The president of El Salvador, officially titled President of the Republic of El Salvador, is the head of state and head of government of El Salvador. He is also, by constitutional law, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of El Salvador. The office was created in the Constitution of 1841. From 1821 until 1841, the head of state of El Salvador was styled simply as Head of State.