4540781 ACR 20-75, "Salvador Sanchez Ceren Recognition Resolution of 2013"

A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION

 

20-75

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

June 26, 2013

 

 

To recognize the years of public service and leadership of Salvador Sánchez Cerén to

            El Savador, and declare June 19, 2013, as “El Dia De Salvador Sánchez Cerén” in the District of Columbia. 

 

 

            WHEREAS, Salvador Sánchez Cerén (born June 18, 1944, in Quezaltepeque,             department of La Libertad, El Salvador) is a Salvadoran politician and former teacher;

 

            WHEREAS, after graduating from Alberto Masferrer—a school for teachers—with a degree in primary education, he taught for 10 years in public and rural schools in his hometown;

 

            WHEREAS, he became politically active in the late 1960s as a member of ANDES 21 de Junio, the national teachers union, participating in several demonstrations against El Salvador's military dictatorship;

 

            WHEREAS, in the 1970s he joined the Fuerzas Populares de Liberación "Farabundo Martí" (FPL), one of the 5 left-wing organizations that later merged to form the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (“FMLN”);

 

WHEREAS, with the start of the Salvadoran Civil War in 1980, Sánchez Cerén adopted the pseudonym Commander Leonel González, as he was also appointed to the position;

 

            WHEREAS, in 1984, Salvador Sánchez Cerén became a Commanding General of the FMLN, until the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992, when the guerrillas surrendered their weapons and became a legal political party;

 

            WHEREAS, in 2000, Salvador Sánchez Cerén was elected deputy for the FMLN in the Legislative Assembly and was re-elected in 2003 and 2006;

 

WHEREAS, between 2001 and 2004, he served as the general coordinator of his party; and

    

            WHEREAS, in 2006, following the death of Schafik Handal, Salvador Sánchez Cerén   succeeded Handal as head of the FMLN in the legislature.

 

            RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Salvador Sánchez Cerén Recognition Resolution of 2013".  

 

            Sec. 2.  The Council of the District of Columbia recognizes and honors Salvador Sánchez Cerén for his outstanding contribution and invaluable service, and hereby declares June 19, 2013, as “El Dia De Salvador Sánchez Cerén” in the District of Columbia.   

 

            Sec. 3.  This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.