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                                                                                                                                                               News Briefs
WORLD NEWSTuesday 3 November 2015

Haitians mark annual Voodoo day of the dead

DAVID McFADDEN                   be the oldest grave. There, a better look didn’t buy his                                     sayer for advice on how
                                                                                                                              to increase his chances at
Associated      Press they lit candles and stoked performance. “Thief!” they                                                  winning bets at Haitian out-      Cuba and US firm
                                                                                                                              lets that play on New York       sign agreement on
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) small fires as they evoked shouted, as he spat out                                                 State Lottery numbers.            telecom roaming 
                                                                                                                              Vendors who set up shop in
                                                                                                                              the cemeteries did a brisk       LA HABANA (AP) — Cuba’s
                                                                                                                              business selling pictures of
                                                                                                                              Catholic saints alongside        state  telecommunica-
                                                                                                                              candles, rum, and rosary
                                                                                                                              beads. Voodoo, or Vodou          tions company and U.S.
                                                                                                                              as preferred by Haitians,
                                                                                                                              evolved in the 17th cen-         firm Sprint have signed an
                                                                                                                              tury when colonists brought
                                                                                                                              slaves to Haiti from West Af-    agreement for cellphone
                                                                                                                              rica. Slaves forced to prac-
                                                                                                                              tice Catholicism adopted         roaming service, the first
                                                                                                                              saints to coincide with per-
                                                                                                                              sonalities in the African re-    direct deal of its kind be-
                                                                                                                              ligions. Voodoo was sanc-
                                                                                                                              tioned as an official religion   tween phone companies in
                                                                                                                              in 2003 and it is practiced
                                                                                                                              widely across the country        both countries. The agree-
                                                                                                                              of 10 million inhabitants.
                                                                                                                              This year’ two-day celebra-      ment was announced
                                                                                                                              tion comes shortly before
                                                                                                                              Haitian officials are expect-    Monday at the Internation-
                                                                                                                              ed to announce the top
                                                                                                                              two finishers in a presiden-     al Fair of Havana, which
                                                                                                                              tial first-round vote. Elector-
                                                                                                                              al authorities say they plan     this year features about
                                                                                                                              to release the preliminary
                                                                                                                              results of the presidential      900 companies, a third of
                                                                                                                              vote on Tuesday, after the
                                                                                                                              Voodoo festival concludes.       them Cuban. About 70
                                                                                                                              Voodoo priest Pierre Saint
                                                                                                                              Ange cracked a rope whip         countries are represent-
                                                                                                                              on a crumbling tomb and
                                                                                                                              told onlookers not to “fight     ed, including the United
                                                                                                                              with guns or burn tires” in
                                                                                                                              coming days.                     States, with some 20 firms.
                                                                                                                              “We are asking for peace,”
                                                                                                                              he cried, standing near          The agreement will allow
                                                                                                                              three women with their
A woman in the role of a spirit known as a “Gede” dances during a Voodoo ritual in tribute to                                 faces smeared in white           Sprint subscribers visiting
Baron Samdi and the Gede family of spirits during Day of the Dead celebrations at the National                                paint.q
Cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. Day of the Dead traditions coincide with                                                              Cuba to send and receive
All Saints Day and All Souls Day on Nov. 1 and 2.
                                                                                                                                                               calls and text messages
                                                                                                 (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)
                                                                                                                                                               directly through the state

                                                                                                                                                               company Etecsa, which

                                                                                                                                                               has the monopoly for tele-

— Revelers streamed into         the spirit Baron Samedi, the   blood. Minutes later, the                                                                      communications service
cemeteries across Haiti on       guardian of the dead who       crowd perched atop the
Sunday and Monday bear-          is typically depicted with a   tombs gave respect to a                                                                        on the island. Verizon in
ing beeswax candles, food        dark top hat and a white       priestess with a purple scarf
offerings and bottles of         skull face.                    wrapped around her head                                                                        September began offering
rum infused with hot pep-        Some filled their mouths       as she danced in a spastic
pers to mark the country’s       with fiery rum and sprayed     manner and made a keen-                                                                        the first cellphone roaming
annual Voodoo festival           it over the tomb’s cross. As   ing lament.
of the dead. At Port-au-         if in a trance, one young      Other Haitians gathered                                                                        service in Cuba through
Prince’s sprawling national      man wrapped in a paisley       among the tombs to quiet-
cemetery, Voodoo priests         print sheet chewed up bits     ly remember dead relatives                                                                     the firm’s Pay-As-You-Go
and priestesses gathered         of a broken glass bottle,      and ask spirits to grant fa-
around a blackened mon-          but onlookers who scram-       vors or provide guidance.                                                                      International travel option.
ument that is believed to        bled on burial vaults to get   One man paid a sooth-
                                                                                                                                                               But the service is through

                                                                                                                                                               third companies, not di-

                                                                                                                                                               rectly through Etecsa.

                                                                                                                                                                Puerto Rico official
                                                                                                                                                               dies in crash; health

                                                                                                                                                                condition probed 

Argentina:                                                                                                                                                     SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
                                                                                                                                                               (AP) — A Puerto Rico leg-
  Candidate blames rival’s prospects for NYC ruling                                                                                                            islator who was injured in a
                                                                                                                                                               car crash died on Monday
Associated Press                 landscape by garnering 34      been going on for several                                     court, essentially ignores       morning, and authorities
BUENOS AIRES (AP) — The          percent of the vote in the     years. The spat has its ori-                                  Griesa’s rulings.                said they were investigat-
ruling party candidate           country’s presidential elec-   gins in the 2001-2002 finan-                                  Griesa’s ruling on Friday was    ing whether he had a med-
in Argentina’s upcoming          tion. Scioli, the chosen suc-  cial crisis, when the South                                   related to another group of      ical condition that contrib-
presidential election this       cessor of President Cristina   American nation defaulted                                     creditors that subsequently      uted to his death. Police
weekend blamed his top           Fernandez, got 37 percent      on $100 billion in debt. In                                   took Argentina to court. Us-     said Rep. Carlos Vargas
rival’s electoral possibilities  of the vote, much less than    2005 and 2010, the majority                                   ing the same logic, Griesa       Ferrer hit a newspaper ven-
for the decision by a New        polls had anticipated. The     of Argentina’s creditors ac-                                  ruled that Argentina can-        dor after he lost control of
York federal judge who           close finish forced a runoff   cepted lower-paying bond                                      not pay some bondholders         his car early Monday, then
ruled that the country owes      between the two men.           swaps. A group of creditors                                   while refusing to pay $6.1       crashed into a light pole in
an additional $6.1 billion to    “These are the first conse-    led by billionaire Paul Sing-                                 billion in claims by creditors   the San Juan suburb of Rio
foreign bondholders.             quences” of the possibility    er refused and took Argen-                                    who refused to swap their        Piedras. Dr. Israel Ayala, a
Official candidate Daniel        a Macri administration, said   tina to court. Griesa has                                     bonds for steeply discount-      spokesman for the hospi-
Scioli told a local radio sta-   Scioli. Calls and emails send  repeatedly ruled in favor of                                  ed replacements.                 tal where Vargas was de-
tion that U.S. District Judge    to Macri campaign officials    that group, saying Argen-                                     Both Scioli and Macri have       clared dead, told reporters
Thomas Griesa’s recent de-       seeking comment were not       tina can’t pay its creditors                                  promised to solve the dis-       they were performing oth-
cision was tied to the possi-    immediately returned.          without first paying the es-                                  pute, which has scared off       er tests to determine how
bility that opposition candi-    Scioli’s comments are likely   timated $1.5 billion that it                                  many would-be investors          he died because his injuries
date Mauricio Macri could        to raise eyebrows, if not      owes the creditors. Argen-                                    and kept Argentina on the        from the crash alone were
win in the Nov. 22 runoff.       some hackles, as the long-     tina has rejected that, and                                   margins of international         not severe enough to kill
Macri shook up the political     standing debt fight has        while continuing to fight in                                  credit markets. q                him. q
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