SAN SALVADOR – Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, spoke out against the gap between the rich and the poor on the second day of a visit to El Salvador.
The Dalai Lama met with some 100 Salvadoran religious leaders — Catholic priests and representatives of the Protestant, Muslim and Jewish communities — at a Catholic church in western San Salvador.
He spoke out against the exploitation of the weak, and said that religion has a key role to play in personal peace and in promoting world peace.
The Dalai Lama, 69, arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday, when met with President Antonio Saca and thanked El Salvador for supporting his cause since the 1950s.
He also visited Congress, and kept his cool when the leftist mayor of San Salvador, Carlos Rivas, praised the Communist government in Beijing before handing him the keys to the city.
Rivas sought to draw parallels between China’s occupation of Tibet and resisting the strong US political and cultural influence in El Salvador.
The Tibetan religious leader, who won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, arrived in the Americas over the weekend.
He first visited Puerto Rico, then traveled to Costa Rica, where he gave a public presentation with former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias, the 1987 Nobel peace recipient.
The Dalai Lama travels to Guatemala on Friday, where he is scheduled to meet with Vice President Eduardo Stein and with 1992 Nobel Peace prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, as well as leaders of the Maya, Garifuna and Xinca native communities.
He later travels to Mexico.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule. In recent years has been trying to engage Beijing in negotiations over a potential return.
