Costa Rica: Torch Will Pass Through City

Costa Rica

Torch Will Pass Through City
Around 6 p.m. Monday


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


The independence day holiday begins Monday when the torch of liberty passes through San José and ends up in Cartago.

The Parque Central will be the site of a downtown ceremony. The torch of liberty or antorcha is scheduled to arrive in the hands of runners about 6 p.m. That's the time when those gathered will sing the Himno Nacional. As the torch leaves for Cartago carried by youthful runners, the municipality is putting on a musical show at 7 p.m. A major ceremony is planned for Cartago with government officials.

The Municipalidad de San José also plans a 9 a.m. ceremony Tuesday on the south side of Parque Central where central government officials also will meet to extoll liberty. Tuesday is a legal holiday although a lot of individuals and government workers are using vacation time to make the weekend a four-day one.

Friday is Sept. 11, the anniversary of attacks with hijacked planes by mostly Saudi nationals. It is the eighth anniversary.

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama observe moment of silence to mark the day at 8:46 a.m. EDT (12:46 GMT). the moment when the first jet hit the first World Trade Tower.

Ceremonies were held in many places, as well as at the sites in New York, Washington and in the eastern state of Pennsylvania where nearly 3,000 perished in the attacks. There was no official public ceremony in Costa Rica.

In New York City, Americans gathered for a solemn ceremony to remember those killed in the terrorist attacks on the twin towers. Under a steady cold rain, family members read the names of victims at the place known as ground zero, where the two World Trade Center towers once stood.

Holding photos of their loves ones, some cried. Others tossed roses into a pool of water at the site where a permanent memorial will stand. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said "While there is pain in remembering the loss, there is sweetness in remembering their lives."

Nearly 3,000 people from more than 90 countries were killed after a group of 19 terrorists hijacked the planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon near Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.

In Washington, President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama led the nation in a moment of silence at the White House on the minute (8:46 a.m. EDT/1246 GMT) the first jet struck the World Trade Center eight years before.

Later at the Pentagon, Obama consoled some of the family members of the 184 people killed there.

"Let us renew the true spirit of that day. Not the human capacity for evil but the human capacity for good - not the desire to destroy but the impulse to save and to serve and to build," Obama said.

People gathered in the countryside near Shanksville, Pennsylvania where United Flight 93 crashed, killing 40 people aboard. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke of the passengers who fought hijackers, forcing the plane down here, possibly sparing the White House or U.S. Capitol.