World
Guatemala body certifies Arevalo victory, hours after party suspended
The suspension plunged the centre-left politician’s presidency into uncertainty even before it’s officially begun.
Guatemala’s top electoral tribunal has declared Bernardo Arevalo the winner of the country’s presidential elections but his presidency was plunged into uncertainty even before it had officially begun after another government body suspended his Seed Movement party.
Arevalo, the centre-left son of a former president, won the second-round run-off against former First Lady Sandra Torres in a landslide, as Guatemalans voted in droves for change.
According to the official count, the 64-year-old former diplomat secured 60.9 percent of the valid votes cast against 37.2 percent for the right-wing Torres.
Officials from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Monday confirmed Arevalo as the winner and were then confronted with questions about a document from the electoral registry published in the media that ordered a temporary suspension of Seed’s legal registration.
During the election campaign, one of the most tumultuous in the country’s history, prosecutors had threatened to bar the party from the poll, prompting an outcry among people in Guatemala and in the international community.
“These are the official results and that’s what counts in Guatemala,” tribunal magistrate Gabriel Aguilera said.
It is not clear what the suspension might mean for the president-elect and the nearly two dozen Seed legislators who were elected to parliament. Arevalo is due to take office on January 14.
Tribunal head Irma Palencia said the citizens registry was a lower authority and that she had yet to be formally notified about the suspension order. She stressed that Arevalo was officially the winner.
The electoral registry moved to suspend Seed after the attorney general’s office opened an investigation into the party over alleged irregularities in the gathering of signatures for its formation.
It has three days to challenge the suspension, with any appeal elevating the issue to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
Some of the country’s elite see the rise of Arevalo, who campaigned on social progress and against corruption, as a threat.
Earlier this week, the Organization of American States’s human rights commission asked that Guatemala provide protection for Arevalo after reports emerged of a possible plot to kill him.
World
Italian state railways plans 1.3 bln euro investment in solar plant
World
Christmas in Puerto Rico is a 45-day celebration with caroling, festive decorations, family feasts and more
Christmas, Navidad in Puerto Rico, extends far beyond Dec. 25.
The island proudly proclaims itself as having the “longest holiday season in the world,” according to the website Discover Puerto Rico.
On average, the holiday festivities in Puerto Rico last about 45 days, per the source, commencing right after Thanksgiving, and stretching all the way through mid-January.
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The holiday season in Puerto Rico is full of rich traditions beloved by families.
One tradition those who visit Puerto Rico will immediately notice during the holiday season is decorations.
In Puerto Rico, decorations are typically put up by Thanksgiving, and kept up until the season concludes in mid-January, with opportune picture moments at every corner.
Parrandas, Christmas caroling, is a holiday staple.
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Carolers choose houses of family and friends to visit, typically starting around 10 p.m., performing aguinaldos (traditional Christmas songs), with not only their voices, but often with instruments as well, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
The group you begin caroling with is likely not the same group you end with.
In Puerto Rico, when carolers visit a house, they’ll often stop inside for conversation, food and drink before moving to the next residence.
Usually, the residences of the house visited will join the group for the next house, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
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A night of serenading loved ones can last quite a while, often stretching into the early morning hours of the following day, according to the source.
The biggest day of the holiday season in Puerto Rico actually isn’t Christmas, but instead, the night before.
In Puerto Rico, Dec. 24 is Nochebuena. On that day, loved ones gather for the exchange of gifts, caroling and a large feast.
Many families will also attend a midnight Mass on the day, known as Misa de Gallo.
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After Christmas passes, the festivities go on in Puerto Rico.
Another big event in the holiday lineup is Three Kings Day on Jan. 6, a holiday that “commemorates the visit that the Three Wise Men paid to Jesus after his birth,” according to Discover Puerto Rico.
On the eve of the day, children fill up a shoebox with grass to be left for camels to munch on while the Three Kings leave behind gifts for them, according to PuertoRico.com.
For a particularly festive Three Kings Day, Juana Díaz is the place to go, as it hosts the largest celebration in Puerto Rico for the holiday. In Juana Díaz, there is an annual festival and parade in honor of Three Kings Day that brings together over 25,000 people every year, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
Then, eight days later is Octavitas, a post-holiday celebration where families get together and celebrate one last time for the season.
The end of the holiday season is marked with the San Sebastián Street Festival.
This festival, spanning over multiple days, takes place in Old San Juan, and is filled with live music, dancing, shopping and parades.
World
Small plane crashes into Brazil town popular with tourists, killing 10
Twin-engine plane crashed in largely residential neighborhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff, authorities say.
A small plane has crashed into a tourist hotspot in southern Brazil, killing all 10 people on board and injuring more than a dozen people on the ground, officials have said.
The twin-engine Piper PA-42-1000 hit the chimney of a home and the second floor of a different house before crashing into a shop in a largely residential neighbourhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff from Canela, Brazil’s Civil Defense agency said on Sunday.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite told a news conference that the aircraft’s owner and pilot, Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, was killed along with nine members of his family.
Leite said that 17 people on the ground were injured, 12 of whom were still receiving treatment in hospital.
Galeazzi’s company, Galeazzi & Associados, confirmed that its CEO and Galeazzi’s wife and three daughters had died in the crash.
“Luiz Galeazzi will be forever remembered for his dedication to his family and for his remarkable career as a leader of Galeazzi & Associados,” the company said in a post on LinkedIn.
“In this moment of immense pain, Galeazzi & Associados is deeply grateful for the expressions of solidarity and affection received from friends, colleagues and the community. We also sympathize with all those affected by the accident in the region.”
Gramado, located in the Serra Gaucha mountains, is a popular destination for vacationers, especially during the Christmas season.
The crash comes a little more than a year after Brazil suffered its worst air disaster in nearly two decades when a twin-engine plane crashed in the southeastern city of Vinhedo, killing all 62 people on board.
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