From the L.A. Times
President Barack Obama completed here (after much delay and out of view of the public) what could arguably have been the most dramatic gesture of his swing through Brazil, Chile and El Salvador: The U.S. leader Tuesday evening made a pilgrimage to the crypt of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Salvadorans rally in honor of Archbiship Romero - slain at the altar
Revered in much of the region, the cleric was slain in 1980 by death squads working for the side in El Salvador's civil war that the U.S. government came to support against leftist guerrillas.
On the first visit by a U.S. president to Romero's tomb, Obama was accompanied by Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, elected in 2009 as the candidate representing those guerrillas, now recast as a political party.
Housed in a rather austere lower chamber of the Metropolitan Cathedral, Romero's tomb is a frequent shrine of prayer and supplication for Salvadorans and other faithful from around the world.
Obama appeared solemn and lighted a candle alongside the tomb, as did Funes, who paused and crossed himself.
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