Obama visits tomb of slain Salvadoran archbishop

[Judi Lynn]

Obama visits tomb of slain Salvadoran archbishop
March 23, 2011 - AP

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — President Barack Obama stood, eyes closed, in a personal moment of silence before the tomb of slain Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, whose fight for the poor during El Salvador's bloody civil war made him a national hero — and an international figure in human rights.

The visit Tuesday in the final hours of Obama's five-day swing through Latin America was a symbolic gesture that some called U.S. recognition of Romero's cause.

Obama toured the national cathedral with Monsignor Jose Luis Escobar Alas, the current archbishop, and paid respects to a man ordered killed 31 years ago by an official in El Salvador's U.S.-backed army.

Romero, now on a path to potential sainthood in the Vatican, spoke out against repression by the Salvadoran army during the 12-year civil war that killed at least 75,000 people. He was fatally shot in the heart March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel.

More:
http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/133197/Obama-visits-tomb-of-slain-Salvadoran-archbishop-.html?isap=1&nav=5030