Salvador Sánchez Cerén

Salvador Sánchez Cerén (; born 18 June 1944), also known by his Leonel González, is a Salvadoran former politician, guerrilla commander, and school teacher who served as the 42nd president of El Salvador from 2014 to 2019. He took office on 1 June 2014, after winning the 2014 presidential election as the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). He previously served as the 49th vice president under Mauricio Funes from 2009 to 2014. He was also an FMLN guerrilla leader during the Salvadoran Civil War and is the first former rebel to serve as El Salvador's president. .

As President, he oversaw a ban on metal mining for environmental reasons , switching diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China , and a partial abortion legalization , but also a high homicide rate , for which he was heavily criticized. He left office deeply unpopular, with his approval rating dropping from 37% in 2015 to 22% by 2018. On June 1, 2019, he was replaced by Nayib Bukele. He has since moved to Nicaragua with his family, with an arrest warrant from Salvadoran authorities for illicit enrichment, embezzlement, and money laundering.

Early life

Salvador Sánchez Cerén was born in Quezaltepeque, El Salvador, on 18 June 1944. His father was Antoino Alfonso Sánchez, a carpenter and artisan, and his mother was Dolores Hernández, a food vendor. Sánchez Cerén was one of twelve children. His surnames were erroneously registered as "Sánchez Cerén" rather than "Sánchez Hernández" using his maternal grandmother's surname rather than his mother's as per Spanish naming customs. The error was never corrected.

In Sánchez Cerén's youth, he attended the José Dolores Larreynaga Schooling Center for his primary and secondary education. Beginning at the age of 16, he attended the Alberto Masferrer Superior Normal School and studied to become a public school teacher; he graduated in 1963. In December 1965, he joined the National Association of Salvadoran Educators (ANDES 21 de Junio), the country's first teachers' union.

In 1983, Sánchez Cerén became the leader of the Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces after its previous leader, Cayetano Carpio, committed suicide in Managua, Nicaragua. Sánchez Cerén also became one of the members of the FMLN General Command.

Political career

In the 2000 legislative election, Sánchez Cerén was elected as a deputy of the FMLN in the Legislative Assembly from the San Salvador Department. Coralia Margarita Polh Alvarado was elected as his alternate deputy. He was re-elected in 2003. He was re-elected for a third time in 2006; Francisco Rubén Alvarado Fuentes was his alternate.

Between 2001 and 2004 he served as the general coordinator of his party. From 2001 to 2004, Sánchez Cerén and Schafik Hándal (the leader of the FMLN during the civil war) were the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Current (CRS), the FMLN's "orthodox and radical" ("") faction in the Legislative Assembly. Quijano denounced the result of the election as being fraudulent and called on the armed forces to intervene in the situation, although he later denied calling for such an intervention or coup d'état. The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) ratified Sánchez Cerén's victory on 13 March 2014 and rejected ARENA's calls for a recount.

Sánchez Cerén became the first former guerrilla commander to become president of El Salvador; he was the third to run for the presidency after Facundo Guardado in 1999 and Hándal in 2004. Sánchez Cerén was also the second former guerrilla to become the president of a Latin American country democratically after Uruguay's José Mujica in 2010. but have had to contend with the right-wing opposition which has blocked the reforms in parliament.

In April 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to forbid the mining of metal on its territory, for environmental and public health reasons.

In August 2018, his government decided to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, ending El Salvador's relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan).

During Sánchez Cerén's presidency, around 23,000 Salvadorans were the victims of homicides, for an average of 13 homicides per day.

Post-presidency

In December 2020, Sánchez Cerén and his family left El Salvador for Nicaragua. On 22 July 2021, Salvadoran attorney general Rodolfo Delgado ordered Sánchez Cerén's arrest on charges of embezzlement, illicit enrichment, and money laundering up to $530,000. A few days later, on 30 July 2021, the Nicaraguan ministry of the interior granted Nicaraguan citizenship to Sánchez Cerén, his wife (Margarita Villalta de Sánchez), and three of his children.

Personal life

Sánchez Cerén married Villalta in 1968. The couple has four children: Antonio, Claudia, Fátima, and Ivett.

Electoral history

Year Office Party Main opponent and party Votes for Sánchez Cerén Result Swing Total % 2009 Vice President of El Salvador FMLN Arturo Zablah ARENA 1,354,000 51.32 1st N/A Gain 2014 President of El Salvador FMLN Norman Quijano ARENA 1,315,768 48.93 1st N/A Runoff N/A 1,495,815 50.11 1st N/A Hold