Central America
Panama’s indigenous people compete to preserve traditional way of life
AFP
Climaco Dogirama wanted to honor his grandfather when he took part in the spear-throwing competition at Panama’s Indigenous Ancestral Games, which seek to preserve age-old customs.
“My grandfather used the spear to hunt. We only use it for sport … but we’re representing him,” he told AFP.
Dogirama, 37, from the Embera community, is one of 250 competitors from Panama’s seven recognized Indigenous ethnicities taking part in traditional athletic feats at the Games.
The major cultural festival transcends the simple quest for sporting success by helping to preserve a way of life.
“Many of us have lost (our traditions) and we’re recovering them again, we’re rescuing (our ancestors’) culture,” said Dogirama.
It is the third edition of the event that resembles the Scottish Highland Games and Basque rural sports competitions.
In Panama, contestants compete in archery, spear throwing, log carrying, tug-of-war, running, swimming and canoeing in Ngabe-Bugle, the largest of Panama’s five traditional Indigenous regions.
Cesar Cires, from the Ngabe tribe and president of the Indigenous Ancestral Games said the event “was born with the idea of disseminating, preserving and promoting our Indigenous cultures through ancestral sporting activities.”
“Our ancestors were warriors. We try to teach the new generations that once upon a time this was important.”
David Mezua, 18, who won the open water swimming event in the Caribbean Sea, said he was “proud to be Embera.”
“I’m happy … My grandfather was too and I don’t want to lose our culture, I want to keep it going,” said Mezua.
Kasey Shields, 16, who has a British father and Guna mother, won the women’s swimming discipline.
“I love swimming and even more so my Indigenous culture. I want to learn much more” about it, she said.
Cires said Panama competed in the last two editions of the World Indigenous Games in Brazil in 2015 and Canada two years later.
He said they will send a delegation to the third edition in Brazil next year,
The seven recognized Indigenous ethnicities in Panama are the Ngabe, Bugle, Guna, Embera, Wounaan, Bri bri and Naso Tjerdi.
Altogether they represent 12 percent of Panama’s 4.3 million population, according to the last official census in 2010.
According to the Denmark-based International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs, these communities “are facing a number of challenges, especially in relation to recognition of and rights to territories as well as forcible eviction.”
Central America
Nicaragua’s Ortega and Murillo Mourn Pope Francis, Acknowledge ‘Difficult’ Relationship
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, who also serve as co-leaders of the country, expressed their condolences on Monday following the death of Pope Francis, acknowledging that their relationship with the late pontiff had been “difficult” and “troubled.” Nicaragua officially suspended diplomatic ties with the Vatican during his papacy.
“Our relationship, as Nicaraguans who are believers, devoted and faithful to the doctrine of Christ Jesus, was difficult and troubled—unfortunately shaped by adverse and painful circumstances that were not always understood,” Ortega and Murillo wrote in a message of condolence.
“Despite the complexity and hardships, despite the manipulation we all know occurred, despite everything, we kept our hope alive through Christian faith,” they continued. “We understood the distance, and above all, the complicated and strained communication that prevented better relations. We also recognized the confusion caused by strident voices that disrupted any attempt at genuine interaction.”
Pope Francis had previously compared the Ortega regime to communist dictatorships and even to Hitler, a remark that further strained relations between Managua and the Holy See.
Central America
Cardinal Rodríguez to Attend Funeral of Pope Francis: “He Was Very Dear to Me”
Honduran Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez announced on Monday that he will attend the funeral services of Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 at his residence in Casa Santa Marta due to a stroke.
“We will be there throughout the novena and then, God willing, at the burial,” Rodríguez said in a phone interview with HRN Radio in Tegucigalpa, apparently calling from Spain.
He added that the last time he saw Pope Francis was in October 2024, during and at the end of that year’s synod, and that they remained in contact through email. “Sometimes, the Pope would even call me,” said Rodríguez, who was born on December 29, 1942, and was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II on February 21, 2001.
Rodríguez expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Pope Francis, saying: “He was a very dear person to me.”
However, he also shared a message of hope, pointing out that the Holy Father passed away during Easter: “This is a sign. He gave his life completely like the Lord Jesus, and though he died, we believe in faith that he has risen, now with Christ in eternal life.”
Rodríguez, who for ten years coordinated the Vatican’s Council of Cardinals, was one of the eight cardinals selected by Pope Francis to help govern the Catholic Church and reform the Roman Curia.
In January 2023, upon turning 80, Rodríguez stepped down as Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, and Pope Francis appointed Spanish priest José Vicente Nácher Tatay as his successor.
Central America
Senator Van Hollen Meets with Deported MS-13 Member in El Salvador; Trump and Bukele React
U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, representing the state of Maryland, held a meeting in El Salvador with deported MS-13 gang member Kilmar Ábrego García, a member of the criminal group classified by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.
“Kilmar Ábrego García, miraculously resurrected from the ‘extermination camps’ and ‘torture chambers,’ now sipping margaritas with Senator Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” wrote President Nayib Bukeleon X (formerly Twitter), sharing photos of Van Hollen, Ábrego García, and a lawyer sitting together at a Salvadoran hotel.
The deported gang member is seen wearing a plaid shirt and a flat-brimmed cap, seated at a table with glasses and coffee cups. The senator also shared images of the meeting on his own social media accounts.
Bukele reaffirmed that Ábrego will remain in El Salvador and will not be returned to the United States.
“Now that his health has been confirmed, he has earned the honor of remaining under the custody of El Salvador,” Bukele added.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the senator’s meeting with Ábrego on Truth Social, calling Van Hollen “a fool” for advocating for Ábrego’s return to the U.S.
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