World
Official leading search for thousands of missing people in Mexico resigns
Critics worry that the government may use statistics to give the appearance of progress in the search for Mexico’s disappeared.
The head of a commission charged with searching for tens of thousands of missing people in Mexico has stepped down, as critics accuse the government of trying to undermine the true scale of the disappearances.
Karla Quintana, head of the National Search Commission, did not elaborate on the motives for her resignation, saying only that she is leaving “in light of current circumstances”.
“The challenges surrounding the disappearance of people remain,” Quintana posted Wednesday on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter. “The State must continue to push for a comprehensive policy geared toward prevention, searching and fighting impunity.”
Escalating cartel violence has increasingly eclipsed large swathes of the country, with thousands of Mexicans reported missing this year alone.
Populist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s government has recently come under criticism for announcing it would carry out a census of the country’s disappeared. Critics say this is a tactic to manipulate numbers and “present a fictitious decrease” in those missing ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.
Hoy he presentado al Presidente mi renuncia al cargo de Comisionada Nacional de Búsqueda de Personas.
Dirigir la CNB, trabajar para mi país y para las personas desaparecidas y sus familias, construyendo un proyecto de Estado, ha sido un gran honor. pic.twitter.com/ObwaEm9JiB
— Karla Quintana O. (@kiquinta) August 24, 2023
More than 110,000 remain missing across the country, according to figures from Quintana’s commission — likely an undercount due to lack of reporting, distrust in authorities and endemic impunity. Many families of those who have disappeared have taken it upon themselves to seek justice, often with fatal consequences.
Lopez Obrador appeared to approve Wednesday’s departure; he appointed Quintana in 2019. When asked about the resignation at his Thursday morning news conference, he said it “closed a circle, and we are free”.
He added that his government continues to make progress in the search for the disappeared.
Last year, the special prosecutor leading an investigation into the notorious 2014 abduction of 43 students in southern Mexico resigned, citing disagreements with the Attorney General’s Office. International watchdogs said at the time that his unit lacked support to collect evidence and carry out judicial proceedings.
Meanwhile, human rights groups — including the Center for Human Rights Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez — expressed concerns about Quintana’s resignation, saying that moves by Lopez Obrador would “reverse advances” made in the effort to track down the missing and bring perpetrators to justice.
Quintana and her team’s work “put a previously languishing state institution on its feet”, shining a light on the “crisis of disappearances while facing resistance from prosecutors”, the centre said.
The number of disappearances exploded in 2006 when Mexican authorities declared war on the drug cartels. For years, the government looked the other way as violence increased and families of the missing were forced to become detectives.
Since then, cartels in the country have broken into factions and warred with each other for territory, only deepening the violence.
In 2018, a law was passed laying the legal foundations for the government to establish the National Search Commission. There followed local commissions in every state; protocols that separated searches from investigations; and a temporary and independent body of national and international technical experts supported by the United Nations to help clear the backlog of unidentified remains.
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.
The Christmas season in Puerto Rico typically lasts around 45 days. (iStock)
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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.
Coquito is a popular beverage enjoyed during the holiday season in Puerto Rico. Coconut, vanilla and rum are among the ingredients. (Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
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.
Gifts are primarily exchanged between loved ones on Christmas Eve in Puerto Rico. (iStock)
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.
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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