On 000000002009-05-31-0000May 31, 2009Mauricio Funes named David Victoriano Munguía Payés as head of the Ministerio de la Defensa Nacional de El Salvador and Jose Atilio Benitez Parada as deputy defense minister.
From 000000002011-11-23-0000November 23, 2011 to 2013 José Atilio Benítez Parada was Minister of Defense of El Salvador in the cabinet of Mauricio Funes.
From 000000002014-05-05-0000May 5, 2014 to 000000002015-04-24-0000April 24, 2015 he was ambassador in Madrid.
Since 000000002015-04-24-0000April 24, 2015 he is accredited as ambassador in Berlin with coaccredición in Warsaw, Prague and Ankara.