Ex-guerrilla sworn in as El Salvador’s president

Former guerrilla leader Salvador Sanchez Ceren has been sworn in as the president of El Salvador, becoming the first ex-guerrilla to lead the Central American nation.

During the inauguration ceremony on Sunday, Sanchez Ceren vowed to govern the country “with honesty, austerity, efficiency and transparency.”

“After long years of fighting for justice and democracy in my country, I receive the presidential sash with humility and profound respect, with a commitment to exercise the presidency for all Salvadorans,” he said.
Sanchez Ceren was elected president on March 9 but was officially announced as El Salvador’s president- elect on March 16 after the Supreme Electoral Court rejected the losing National Republican Alliance’s (ARENA) petition to annul the results of the election due to alleged vote fraud.

The 69-year-old leader, who has previously served as vice president, succeeded President Mauricio Funes also from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) party, who was ineligible to run for a consecutive second term.

Sanchez Ceren was nominated as a candidate in a bid to shore up a country struggling with rampant crime and high poverty.

Tackling gang violence is among the challenges that the new president is up against. Across the country, criminal groups, with an estimated 60,000 members, control whole neighborhoods and run drug trafficking as well as extortion rackets.

The country is also facing a mounting government debt burden and a high poverty rate that stands at more than 40 percent of the population.

El Salvador was gripped by a bitter civil war between 1979-1992, in which Sanchez Ceren was one of the top guerilla commanders. The conflict left 76,000 people dead.