In 2010 President Mauricio Funes continued to follow a moderate left-wing political line. He issued an official apology for crimes committed by the former right-wing government in the country’s long and vicious civil war. Salvador gained a sluggish economic recovery in 2010 after it was hit by the deepest recession of the past two decades. It suffered from a trade deficit and its foreign direct investment was still on the decline. The Funes government failed to contain rampant crime. Public security was viewed as a major concern among local people. Diplomatically the United States remained to be Salvador’s most important partner. In the meantime Salvador was strengthening the relations with Brazil and other left-wing Latin American governments.