( Spanish) – Niagara Falls will be illuminated on Saturday in the colors of the Costa Rican flag to commemorate 203 years of independence, the Central American country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
The event will begin at 8:15 pm (Costa Rica time, 10:15 pm ET) when the colors white, blue and red will be projected for 15 minutes onto one of the world’s most popular natural attractions, with a drop of approximately 50 meters.
The ceremony also aims to symbolize the ties of friendship between Costa Rica and Canada, Costa Rican authorities added.
Costa Rica’s interim chargé d’affaires in Canada, Víctor Porras, extended an invitation to Costa Ricans to “join in this celebration and share in this moment of national pride,” according to a statement from the country’s foreign ministry.
The lighting will be broadcast live and can be viewed at the following link: EarthCam – Niagara Falls – The Falls Cam
As part of the celebrations, the Independence Torch, one of the national symbols of Costa Rica, began its primary journey this Friday, the Ministry of Public Education reported in a statement.
Authorities reported that the journey began in the hands of Dubank Ruiz Chávez, a tenth-grade student at the Colegio Técnico Profesional de Barrio Irvin, the first of the nearly 22,000 students who will carry the fire on the main route.
The young man received the torch from the hands of the Minister of Education, Anna Katharina Müller Castro, in a bilateral event held on the border line in Peñas Blancas, on Nicaraguan soil, with the participation of the Minister of Education of Nicaragua, Mendy Arauz Silva.
The students will travel 378 kilometers from Peñas Blancas to the city of Cartago. There are also secondary routes “that will brighten up the streets, educational institutions and communities of the country,” the press report added.
The torch celebration has been held since September 14, 1964, thanks to the initiative of Alfredo Cruz Bolaños, a Costa Rican physical education teacher, who promoted the so-called “Independence Torch Race” to commemorate the journey of the news that was originally given in 1821 in Guatemala, where independence was announced and would echo in other Central American countries, ending in Costa Rica.
With reporting by ‘s Djenane Villanueva.
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