President Higgins visits Archbishop Romero's tomb (original) (raw)
Updated / Saturday, 26 Oct 2013 22:32
President Michael D Higgins concludes his official visit to El Salvador
On the last day of his visit to El Salvador, President Michael D Higgins has visited the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered by then government forces in 1980.
He also visited an exhibition featuring projects helped by Irish Aid
President Higgins' first engagement was at the country's Wall of Remembrance on which up to 30,000 names of the dead and disappeared are inscribed.
He described it as a moving experience and a monument to the need not to forget.
He then visited the tomb of Oscar Romero at the Cathedral in San Salvador where dozens lost their lives when his funeral was attacked by the army.
President Higgins praised the role of the church in the region which he said preached a message of Christ that was one of rights and equality.
Irish Aid has provided over €7m over the last nine years to projects managed by the Salvadorean government and President Higgins toured an exhibition featuring some of them.
He met one man now in his 30s who he had first met as a small child in a refugee camp on an earlier visit.