Contreras-Sweet leads U.S. delegation at El Salvador inauguration
Since becoming head of the federal Small Business Administration in April, Maria Contreras-Sweet will be leading the U.S. delegation at the presidential inauguration of Salvador Sanchez…
Since becoming head of the federal Small Business Administration in April, Maria Contreras-Sweet will be leading the U.S. delegation at the presidential inauguration of Salvador Sanchez Ceren of El Salvador on June 1, in her first international trip.
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Other members of the delegation on behalf of President Obama include U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador Mari Carmen Aponte, Counselor of the Department of State Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., Special Assistant to the President Ricardo Zuniga, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere John D. Feeley.
Sanchez Ceren, of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), narrowly won the presidential election over the right-wing candidate, Norman Quijano. Sanchez Ceren won by just over 6,000 votes in the March election, a razor-thin margin that created a controversial divide in the already-unstable country.
After Sanchez Ceren was announced the winner of the runoff election, he tweeted: Twenty-two years after peace accords [that ended the war], democracy has come to El Salvador to stay.
Sanchez Ceren will become the first guerilla fighter to govern this Central American country.
He built his campaign on a promise of improving social programs and forming an inclusive government, despite the fact that his opponents view him as an extreme leftist.