We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
PRESIDENT HIGGINS WILL visit the tomb of murdered Catholic archbishop Oscar Romero on the final day of his visit to El Salvador today.
Archbishop Romero became a symbol of the country’s brutal and sustained civil war after he was shot dead in the city of San Salvador in 1980 as he was celebrating mass. He had been outspoken about horrific human rights abuses carried out by the ruling regime.
An estimated 75,000 people died between 1980 and 1992 in El Salvador’s civil war as the US-backed government and military killed and tortured its own population.
Michael D Higgins, who had previously visited the country in 1982, delivered a speech last night in which he spoke about memory and paying tribute to people who fought against the regime.
In it, he described how the country’s social fabric was torn apart by the conflict.
“Theirs was a struggle for greater social justice that included emancipation from poverty, access to land, and the basic means of livelihood for the poorest Salvadorans,” he said.
‘Why care?’ – some could be tempted to ask; ‘it is a thirty years old conflict.’ But for those who have lost a loved one, it does not matter how many years have passed. The questions and pain are always present, for there is no greater object of sorrow, nothing more upsetting than a human life not being allowed to bloom to its full potential.
The naming of each and every one of those who died or was made to ‘disappear’ is of the utmost importance. This is something I personally feel strongly about, and it is why I opened one of my poems from the 1980s, entitled Memory, with a line from French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, which simply said that ‘to be forgotten is to die twice”.
Later today he will also visit the Monument to Memory and Truth which commemorates all the people who died during the conflict.
The President will travel to Costa Rica tomorrow for the final leg of his 12-day official visit to Latin America. He is due to return to Ireland on 31 October.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What purpose does it serve to let Micky swan around South America? Living the life of luxury while he preaches his Socialist Bullshit here in Ireland? Be gone you fool, we don’t need a president
They don’t call them Champagne Socialists for nothing.
‘Micky Swan’…. I shall be using that in conversation today.
Couldn’t agree more, if we want to send out trade missions then lets send out experienced business people, not this pointless twerp.
Business people! You must be joking. Look where they got us with their greed.
And this little pointless junket cost us how much?, more than some struggling families have to live on in a year. Time to cull these wasteful political positions. I’ve no doubt the President is a genuine and honest man, but we simply cannot afford the baggage while being picked clean by an inept political system stretching back decades.
What a waste of time and money
Agree. A total waste of money, and Joe Costello – Minister for Nothing, along for the ride, visiting a banana plant- how apt coming from a Banana Republic!
Glad to see the mentalists didn’t let this go. Head of State in foreign visit shocker! These things have been going on since the days of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Calm down, lads. This is part of his job.
Small man makes big impression.
Seeing as impeachment of presidents is in the news today , when will this president be impeached for failure to protect our Constitution?
Wake up Dail Eireann or loose your jobs !
It seems el Presidente has been on a global junket since being elected. I would be interested to know how much travelling he has done compared to previous presidents.
Just hope he’s not stopped at Dublin airport with a load of coke in his hair bun.
our president looks like Doc out of back to the future :)
An awful lot of angry red hands supporting Higgins and his junket. Genuine question, what would they have done if he had to fly back to nationalise debt as he did when at a gig in Rome some time back?
I wonder will he bring us back a parrot?
*La ultíma día* surely??
have your say