Last Friday, September 26, El Salvador’s President Salvador Sánchez Cerén addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations, calling on the international community to take on the major issues facing humanity, including mass migration, climate change, food security, and world peace.

President Sánchez Cerén insisted on acting according to the principles of social justice, solidarity and equality, and called for reforming international financial systems and mechanisms for international aid. Sánchez Cerén declared that the world must adopt “a vision that responds to the needs of the people, in which all human beings have a dignified and full life, [living in] democracy and enjoying the right to sovereignty and self-determination to choose our path towards peace and development.”

The president recognized that like all developing countries, El Salvador’s primary challenges are reducing poverty and social inequality and ensuring that families can lead safe and healthy lives. He highlighted the initiatives enacted by his government during its first 100 days in office to confront these challenges, noting achievements in access to water and education, along with reductions in extreme poverty, illiteracy and the maternal mortality rate, calling on the UN and other international bodies to continue supporting these efforts.

Regarding international affairs, Sánchez Cerén condemned the US blockade against Cuba, and expressed support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the face of Israeli attacks on Gaza.

As the second leftist leader ever elected in El Salvador, the president’s first participation at the UN General Assembly marked a historic event for the man who represented the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrilla during the UN-facilitated negotiations and peace process that ended the country’s Civil War (1980-1992).