Portal:Latin America/Featured article/2006
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[edit] Days the Months of 2006
- Day 1
Hurricane Mitch was one of the deadliest and most powerful hurricanes ever observed, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (290 km/h). The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season. At the time, Mitch was the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever observed in the month of October, though it has since been surpassed by Hurricane Wilma of the 2005 season. The hurricane also tied for the fourth most intense Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, but it has since dropped to seventh.
Mitch formed in the western Caribbean Sea on October 22, and after drifting through extremely favorable conditions, it rapidly strengthened to peak at Category 5 status, the highest possible rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. After drifting southwestward and weakening, the hurricane hit Honduras as a minimal hurricane. It drifted through Central America, reformed in the Bay of Campeche, and ultimately struck Florida as a strong tropical storm.
Due to its slow motion from October 29 to November 3, Hurricane Mitch dropped historic amounts of rainfall in Honduras and Nicaragua, with unofficial reports of up to 75 inches (1900 mm). Deaths due to catastrophic flooding made it the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history; nearly 11,000 people were killed with over 8,000 left missing by the end of 1998. The flooding caused extreme damage, estimated at over $5 billion (1998 USD, $6 billion 2005 USD).
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- Day 2
Cochineal is the name of both an expensive crimson or carmine dye and the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), from which the dye is derived. The cochineal insect is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico.
A primarily sessile parasite, the cochineal insect lives on cacti from the genus Opuntia, feeding on moisture and nutrients in the cacti. The insect produces carminic acid to deter predation by other insects. Carminic acid can be extracted from the insect's body and eggs to make the dye. Cochineal is primarily used as a food colouring and for cosmetics.
After synthetic pigments and dyes such as alizarin were invented in the late 19th century, natural-dye production gradually diminished. However, current health concerns over artificial food additives have renewed the popularity of cochineal dyes, and the increased demand has made cultivation of the insect profitable again.
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- Day 3
This is a list of the bird species recorded in the archipelago of Puerto Rico which consists of the main island of Puerto Rico, two island municipalities off the east coast (Vieques and Culebra), three uninhabited islands off the west coast (Mona, Monito, and Desecheo) and more than 125 smaller cays and islands. The avifauna of Puerto Rico includes a total of 349 species, of which 166 (47.56%) are accidental, 42 (12.03%) are introduced by humans and 16 (4.58%) are endemic. Around 120 of these species breed in Puerto Rico while the majority of the others overwinter in the archipelago. This list does not include extinct species.
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- Day 4
Portuguese (português ) is a Romance language, of the Indo-European family. It originated in what is today Galicia (in Spain) and northern Portugal. It is the official language of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe, co-official with Chinese in the Chinese S.A.R. of Macau, and co-official with Tetum in East Timor.
Portuguese is ranked sixth among the world's languages in number of native speakers (over 200 million), and first in South America (186 million, over 51% of the population). It is also a major lingua franca in Africa. It spread worldwide in the 15th and 16th century as Portugal set up a vast colonial and commercial empire (1415–1999), spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macau in China. In that colonial period, many Portuguese creoles appeared around the world, especially in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Portuguese is often nicknamed The language of Camões, after the author of the Portuguese national epic The Lusiads; The last flower of Latium (Olavo Bilac); and The sweet language by Cervantes.
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- Day 5
The struggle between church and state in Mexico broke out in armed conflict during the Cristero War (also known as the Cristiada) of 1926 to 1929. This was a popular uprising against the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917.
The struggle between church and state in Mexico broke out in armed conflict during the Cristero War (also known as the Cristiada) of 1926 to 1929. This was a popular uprising against the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917.
After a period of peaceful resistance, a number of skirmishes took place in 1926. The formal rebellion began on January 1, 1927 with the rebels calling themselves Cristeros because they felt they were fighting for Christ himself. Just as the Cristeros began to hold their own against the federal forces, the rebellion was ended by diplomatic means, in large part due to the efforts of U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow.
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- Day 6
The military history of Puerto Rico dates back to the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadores battled against the native Tainos. The island was ruled by the Spanish Empire for four centuries, during which the Puerto Ricans defended themselves against invasions from the British, French, and Dutch. The island was invaded by the United States during the Spanish-American War, and Spain officially ceded it under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris which ended the war. It is now a United States territory and Puerto Ricans, as citizens of the United States, have participated in every major conflict involving the United States from World War I onward.
Over 1,225 Puerto Ricans have died while serving for the United States. The names of those who perished in combat are inscribed in "El Monumento de la Recordacion" (Monument of Remembrance), which was unveiled on May 19, 1996 and is situated in front of the Capitol Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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- Day 7
A South American cyclone is a tropical cyclone that affects the continent of South America or its countries. The continent is rarely affected by tropical cyclones, though most storms to hit the area formed in the North Atlantic Ocean. Typically, strong upper level winds and its proximity to the equator prevents North Atlantic impacts. No tropical cyclone has ever affected the Pacific side of South America, while conditions are typically too hostile for many storms to hit the area from the South Atlantic Ocean. Based on climatology, northern Venezuela and Colombia have a 1 to 5% chance of a hurricane strike in any given year, while all locations south of 10º N have less than a 1% chance of a direct hit. A total of 37 tropical cyclones have affected the continent since 1588.
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- Day 8
The flag of Mexico is a vertical tricolor of green, white and red with the coat of arms charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meaning of the colors has changed over time, these three colors were adopted by Mexico following independence from Spain during the country's War of Independence. The current flag was adopted in 1968, but the overall design has been used since 1821. The current law of national symbols that governs the use of the national flag has been in place since 1984.
Throughout history, the flag has changed eight times, as the design of the coat of arms and the length-width ratios of the flag have been modified. However, the coat of arms has had the same features throughout: an eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, is perched on top of a prickly pear cactus; the cactus is situated on a rock that rises above a lake. The coat of arms is derived from an Aztec legend that their gods told them to build a city where they spot an eagle and a serpent, which is now Mexico City. The current national flag, the "Fourth National Flag", is also used as the Mexican naval ensign by ships registered in Mexico.
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- Day 9
The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season in recorded history, shattering previous records on repeated occasions. The impact of the season was widespread and ruinous with at least 2,280 deaths and record damages of over $100 billion USD. Of the storms that made landfall, five of the seven major hurricanes that did so—Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma—were responsible for most of the destruction. The Mexican states of Quintana Roo and Yucatán and the U.S. states of Florida and Louisiana were each struck twice by major hurricanes; Cuba, The Bahamas, Haiti, Mississippi, Texas, and Tamaulipas were each struck once and in each case brushed by at least one more. The most catastrophic effects of the season were felt on the United States' Gulf Coast, where a 30-foot (10 meter) storm surge from Hurricane Katrina caused devastating flooding that inundated New Orleans, Louisiana and destroyed most structures on the Mississippi coastline, and in Guatemala, where Hurricane Stan combined with an extratropical system to cause deadly mudslides.
The season officially began on June 1, 2005, and lasted until November 30, although it effectively persisted into January 2006 due to continued storm activity. A record twenty-eight tropical and subtropical storms formed, of which a record fifteen became hurricanes. Of these, seven strengthened into major hurricanes, a record-tying five became Category 4 hurricanes and a record four reached Category 5 strength, the highest categorization for hurricanes on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Among these Category 5 storms were Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, the former the costliest and the latter the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record.
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- Day 10
Hurricane Claudette was the third tropical storm and first hurricane of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. A fairly long-lived July Atlantic hurricane, Claudette began as a tropical wave in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It moved quickly westward, brushing past the Yucatán Peninsula before moving northwestward through the Gulf of Mexico. Claudette remained a tropical storm until just before making landfall in Port O'Connor, Texas, when it quickly strengthened to a strong Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Forecasting of its path and intensity was uncertain throughout its lifetime, resulting in widespread and often unnecessary preparations along its path.
Claudette was the first hurricane to make landfall in July in the United States since Hurricane Danny in the 1997 season. The hurricane caused one death and moderate damage in Texas, mostly from strong winds, as well as extensive beach erosion. Because of the damage, President George W. Bush declared portions of South Texas as a Federal Disaster Area, allowing the affected citizens to apply for aid. Claudette also caused significant rainfall and minor damage in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo as a tropical storm, as well as minor damage on Saint Lucia before developing into a tropical cyclone.
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- Day 11
Cape Horn (Dutch: Kaap Hoorn; Spanish: Cabo de Hornos; named for the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile. It is widely considered to be the southern tip of South America. Cape Horn is the most southerly of the great capes, and marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage; for many years it was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried trade around the world. However, the waters around the cape are particularly hazardous, due to strong winds, large waves, and icebergs; these dangers have made it notorious as a sailors' graveyard.
Today, the Panama Canal has greatly reduced the need for cargo ships to travel via the Horn. However, sailing around the Horn is widely regarded as one of the major challenges in yachting, and a number of recreational sailors continue to sail this route, sometimes as part of a circumnavigation of the globe. Several prominent ocean yacht races, notably the Vendée Globe, sail around the world via the Horn, and speed records for round-the-world sailing follow the same route.
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- Day 12
The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is a major ship canal that traverses the isthmus of Panama in Central America, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The construction of the canal was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken. It has had an enormous impact on shipping, as ships no longer have to travel the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 9,500 kilometres (6,000 mi), well under half the distance of the previous 22,500 kilometre (14,000 mi) route around Cape Horn.
Although the concept of a canal in Panama dates back to the early 16th century, the first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership. After this attempt collapsed, the work was finally completed by the United States, and the canal opened in 1914. The building of the 77 kilometre (48 mi) canal was plagued by problems, including disease (particularly malaria and yellow fever) and massive landslides. As many as 27,500 workers are estimated to have died during construction of the canal.
Since opening, the canal has been enormously successful, and continues to be a key conduit for international shipping. Each year the canal accommodates the passage of more than 14,000 ships, carrying more than 203 million tonnes of cargo. By 2002 about 800,000 ships had passed through the canal.
- Day 13
Salsa music is a diverse and predominantly Caribbean and Latin genre that is popular across Latin America and among Latinos abroad. Salsa incorporates multiple styles and variations; the term can be used to describe most any form of popular Cuban-derived genre, such as chachachá and mambo. Most specifically, however, salsa refers to a particular style developed by the 1960s and '70s Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants to the New York City area, and stylistic descendants like 1980s salsa romantica. The style is now practiced throughout Latin America, and abroad; in some countries it may be referred to as música tropical. Salsa's closest relatives are Cuban mambo and the son orchestras of the early 20th century, as well as Latin jazz. The terms Latin jazz and salsa are sometimes used interchangeably; many musicians are considered a part of either, or both, fields, especially performers from prior to the 1970s.
Salsa is essentially Cuban in stylistic origin, though it is also a hybrid of various Latin styles mixed with pop, jazz, rock, and R&B. Modern salsa remains a dance-oriented genre and is closely associated with a style of salsa dancing.
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- Day 14
Hurricane Dennis was an early-forming major hurricane in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Dennis was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season. In July, the hurricane set several records for early season hurricane activity, becoming both the earliest formation of a fourth tropical cyclone and the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever to form before August, according to available records.
Dennis hit Cuba twice as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and made landfall on the Florida Panhandle in the United States as a Category 3 storm less than a year after Hurricane Ivan did so. Dennis caused at least 89 deaths (42 direct) in the U.S. and Caribbean and caused $2.23 billion (2005 US dollars) in damages to the United States, as well as an approximately equal amount of damage in the Caribbean, primarily on Cuba. (image courtesy of UWisc CIMSS.)
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- Day 15
Chagas disease (also called American trypanosomiasis) is a human tropical parasitic disease which occurs in the Americas, particularly in South America. Its pathogenic agent is a flagellate protozoan named Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to humans and other mammals mostly by hematophagous assassin bugs of the subfamily Triatominae (Family Reduviidae). Those insects are known by numerous common names varying by country, including benchuca, vinchuca, kissing bug, chipo, barbeiro,etcetera. The most common insect species belong to the genera Triatoma, Rhodnius, and Panstrongylus. Other forms of transmission are possible, though, such as ingestion of food contaminated with parasites, blood transfusion and fetal transmission.
Trypanosoma cruzi is a member of the same genus as the infectious agent of African sleeping sickness, but its clinical manifestations, geographical distribution, life cycle and insect vectors are quite different.
The disease was named after the Brazilian physician and infectologist Carlos Chagas, who first described it in 1909, but the disease was not seen as a major public health problem in humans until the 1960s. He discovered that the intestines of Triatomidae harbored a flagellate protozoan, a new species of the Trypanosoma genus, and was able to prove experimentally that it could be transmitted to marmoset monkeys which were bitten by the infected bug.
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- Day 16
Sylvanus Griswold Morley (June 7, 1883–September 2, 1948) was an American archaeologist, epigrapher and Mayanist scholar who made significant contributions towards the study of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in the early 20th century. He is particularly noted for his extensive excavations of the Maya site of Chichen Itza. He also published several large compilations and treatises on Maya hieroglyphic writing, and wrote popular accounts on the Maya for a general audience. To his contemporaries he was one of the leading Mesoamerican archaeologists of his day; although more recent developments in the field have resulted in a re-evaluation of his theories and works, his publications (particularly on calendric inscriptions) are still cited. In his directorship of various projects sponsored by the Carnegie Institution he oversaw and encouraged a good many others who would go on to establish notable careers in their own right. Overall, his commitment and enthusiasm for Maya studies would generate the interest and win the necessary sponsorship and backing to finance projects which would ultimately reveal much about the Maya of former times.
His involvement in clandestine espionage activities at the behest of the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence was another, surprising, aspect of his career, which came to light only well after his death.
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- Day 17
The President of Venezuela (Spanish: Presidente de Venezuela) is the English political nomenclature that designates both the head of state and head of government of Venezuela. The current presidential term is for six years with one possibility of immediate reelection, and with the constitutionally guaranteed recourse of holding a popular recall referendum anytime within the last three years of a presidential term.
The designation "President" encompasses only those persons who were sworn into office as President of Venezuela following Venezuela's declaration of independence from Spanish colonial rule, which took effect on July 5, 1811. Due to the profound turmoil of the South American Wars of Independence and the reign of the republic of Gran Colombia over what is now Venezuela, this designation also effectively excludes heads of state or government in Gran Colombia; thus Simón Bolívar is not considered the first president of Venezuela. The list overall only focuses on heads of state governing Venezuela after Venezuela's separation and declaration of independence from Gran Colombia (in early 1830). The list includes interim caretaker as well as regular serving presidents, and democratically-installed presidents as well as those installed by other means (e.g.; Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Pedro Carmona Estanga).
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- Day 18
Operation Auca was an attempt by five Evangelical Christian missionaries from the United States to make contact with the Huaorani people of the rainforest of Ecuador. The Huaorani, also known as the Aucas (the Quechua word for "savage"), were an isolated tribe known for their violence, both against their own people and outsiders who entered their territory. With the intention of being the first Protestants to evangelize the Huaorani, the missionaries began making regular flights over Huaorani settlements in September 1955, dropping gifts. After several months of exchanging gifts, on January 2, 1956, the missionaries established a camp at "Palm Beach", a sandbar along the Curaray River, a few miles from Huaorani settlements. Their efforts culminated on January 8, 1956, when all five—Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian—were attacked and speared by a group of Huaorani warriors. The news of their deaths was broadcast around the world, and Life magazine covered the event with a photo essay.
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- Day 19
The national anthem of Mexico (Spanish Himno Nacional Mexicano) is a musical composition that was officially adopted in 1943. The song's lyrics, which allude to Mexican victories in the heat of battle and cries of defending the homeland, were composed by poet Francisco González Bocanegra in 1853, after his fiancée locked him in a room. In 1854, Jaime Nunó arranged the music which now accompanies González's poem. The anthem, consisting of ten stanzas and a chorus, entered into use on September 16, 1854. From 1854 until its official adoption, the lyrics underwent several modifications due to political changes in Mexico. Unofficially, the anthem is sometimes called "Mexicanos, al grito de guerra" (Spanish for "Mexicans, at the cry of war") and is also the first line of the chorus.
On November 12, 1853, President Antonio López de Santa Anna announced a competition to write a national anthem for Mexico. The competition offered a prize for the best poetic composition representing patriotic ideals. Francisco González Bocanegra, a talented poet, was not interested in participating in the competition. Under false pretenses, his fiancé lured him to a secluded bedroom in her parents' house, locked him into the room, and refused to let him out until he produced an entry for the competition. After Francisco received approval from his fiancée and her father, he submitted the poem and won the competition by unanimous vote.
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- Day 20
Hurricane Nora was the fourteenth named tropical cyclone and seventh hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season. The September storm formed off the Pacific coast of Mexico, and aided by waters warmed by El Niño, eventually peaked at Category 4 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
Nora intensified and weakened quickly before taking an unusual path, which lead it to make landfall twice as a hurricane in Baja California. After landfall, its remnants affected the Southwestern United States with tropical storm-force winds, torrential rain and flooding. Nora is blamed for two direct casualties in Mexico, as well as substantial beach erosion on the Mexican coast, flash flooding in Baja California, and record precipitation in Arizona. Nora persisted far inland, it was only the third known tropical cyclone to reach Arizona while tropical.
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- Day 21
The military career of Hugo Chávez spans the seventeen years (1975–1992) that the current President of Venezuela spent in the Venezuelan army. Leader of what he refers to as the "Bolivarian Revolution", Chávez is known for his democratic socialist governance, his promotion of Latin American integration, and his radical critique of neoliberal globalization and United States foreign policy.
Born July 28, 1954 in rural Sabaneta, Chávez entered military service upon his graduation from the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in 1975. Chávez thereafter held a variety of post, command, and staff positions. At the same time, he was increasingly drawn into leftist political movements, eventually becoming involved in electioneering and political conspiracy. Chávez led a violent 1992 civilian-military coup which sought to overthrow what he saw as a corrupt oligarchy. Although the coup ultimately failed—ending Chávez's military career—it also brought Chávez into the national spotlight and set the stage for his future rise to political power.
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- Day 22
In Article 18 of the Law on the National Arms, Flag, and Anthem (Ley Sobre El Escudo, la Bandera y el Himno Nacionales) there is a listing of dates that the Mexican flag is flown by all branches of government. Civilians are also encouraged to display the national flag on these days. Many of the dates listed in the law denote significant events and people that shaped of Mexican identity and the course of its History. There also have been occasions where official flag day notices that been announced in the Official Journal of the Federation, but later revoked. One such case was that November 1 was declared a holiday to hoist the national flag in 1991, but was later removed from the list four years later from another order published in Diario Oficial de la Federación.
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- Day 23
The jaguar (Panthera onca) (Brazilian Portuguese: onça pintada) is a New World mammal of the Felidae family and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the tiger, lion and leopard of the Old World. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and lion, and is the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Mexico (with occasional sightings in the southwestern United States) across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina.
The spotted cat most closely resembles the leopard physically, although it is of sturdier build and its behavioural and habitat characteristics are closer to those of the tiger. While dense jungle is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrain. It is strongly associated with the presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys swimming.
The jaguar is a largely solitary, stalk-and-ambush predator, and is opportunistic in prey selection. It is also an apex and keystone predator, playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of prey species. The jaguar has developed an exceptionally powerful bite, even relative to the other big cats. This allows it to pierce the shells of armoured reptiles and to employ an unusual killing method with mammals: it bites directly through the skull of prey between the ears to deliver a fatal blow to the brain.
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- Day 24
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna commonly known as Che Guevara or el Che, was an Argentine-born physician, Marxist revolutionary, politician, and leader of Cuban and internationalist guerrillas. As a young man studying medicine, Guevara traveled "rough" throughout Latin America, bringing him into direct contact with the poverty in which many people lived. Through these experiences he became convinced that only revolution could remedy the region's economic inequality, leading him to study Marxism and become involved in Guatemala's social revolution under President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán.
Sometime later, Guevara became a member of Fidel Castro's paramilitary 26th of July Movement that seized power in Cuba in 1959. After serving in various important posts in the new government and writing a number of articles and books on the theory and practice of guerrilla warfare, Guevara left Cuba in 1965 with the intention of fomenting revolutions first in the Congo-Kinshasa (later named the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and then in Bolivia, where he was captured in a CIA-organized military operation.
After his death, Guevara became an icon of socialist revolutionary movements worldwide. An Alberto Korda photo of Guevara has received wide distribution and modification.
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- Day 25
The Elfin-woods Warbler (Dendroica angelae), or Reinita de Bosque Enano (Spanish name), is a bird endemic to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico where it is a local and uncommon species. Discovered in 1968 and described in 1972, it is the most recently described species of New World warbler (Parulidae family). The species name, angelae, is a tribute to Angela Kepler, one of its discoverers. An insectivore, it feeds by gleaning small insects off leaves.
Due to its small populations and restricted habitats, conservation efforts were begun in 1982 to protect this species but, as of 2005, the warbler was still in need of protection. The species is not in immediate danger as the majority of its habitat is protected forest, but introduced species, such as rats and mongooses, habitat reduction, and natural disasters represent potential threats to the population.
The Elfin-woods Warbler is one of 29 species in the Dendroica genus of the Parulidae family, the New World Warblers. It was first observed in 1968 by Cameron and Angela Kepler while conducting observations on two Puerto Rican endemic birds, the Puerto Rican Parrot and the Puerto Rican Tody. On May 18, 1971, a specimen was captured in the Caribbean National Forest, which at the time was believed to be its only habitat. A year later Kepler and Parkes described and named the species making it the most recent warbler (Dendroica spp.) discovered in the New World. Also, it is the first species described in the West Indies since 1927 and the first Puerto Rican species described in the 20th century.
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- Day 26
The Okeechobee Hurricane or Hurricane San Felipe Segundo was a deadly hurricane that struck the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida in September of the 1928 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the first recorded hurricane to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale in the Atlantic basin; it remains the only recorded hurricane to strike Puerto Rico at Category 5 strength, and one of the ten most intense ever recorded to make landfall in the United States.
The hurricane caused devastation throughout its path. As many as 1,200 people were killed in Guadeloupe. Puerto Rico was struck directly by the storm at peak strength, killing at least 300 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. In south Florida at least 2,500 were killed when storm surge from Lake Okeechobee breached the dike surrounding the lake, flooding an area covering hundreds of square miles. In total, the hurricane killed at least 4,075 people and caused around $100 million ($800 million in 2005 US dollars) in damages over the course of its path.
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- Day 27
Mário Raul de Morais Andrade (October 9, 1893 – February 25, 1945) was a Brazilian poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian and critic, and photographer. One of the founders of Brazilian modernism, he virtually created modern Brazilian poetry with the publication of his Paulicéia Desvairada (Hallucinated City) in 1922. He has had an enormous influence on Brazilian literature in the 20th and 21st centuries, and as a scholar and essayist—he was a pioneer of the field of ethnomusicology—his influence has reached far beyond Brazil.
Andrade was the central figure in the avant-garde movement of São Paulo for twenty years. Trained as a musician and best known as a poet and novelist, Andrade was personally involved in virtually every discipline that was connected with São Paulo modernism, and became Brazil's national polymath. He was the driving force behind the Week of Modern Art, the 1922 event that reshaped both literature and the visual arts in Brazil. After working as a music professor and newspaper columnist he published his great novel, Macunaíma, in 1928. At the end of his life, he became the founding director of São Paulo's Department of Culture, formalizing a role he had long held as the catalyst of the city's—and the nation's—entry into artistic modernity.
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- Day 28
Right whales are baleen whales belonging to the family Balaenidae. There are four species in two genera: three species in Eubalaena, and one species in Balaena (the Bowhead Whale, B. mysticetus).
Right whales can grow up to 18 m (60 feet) long and weigh up to 100 tonnes. Their rotund bodies are mostly black, with distinctive white callosities (skin abrasions) on their heads. They are called "right whales" because whalers thought the whales were the "right" ones to hunt, as they float when killed and often swim within sight of the shore. Populations were vastly reduced by intensive harvesting during the active years of the whaling industry. Today, instead of hunting them, people often watch these acrobatic whales for pleasure. The four right whale species live in geographically distinct locations. Around 300 Atlantic Northern Right Whales live in the North Atlantic, while the North Pacific has approximately 200 Pacific Northern Right Whales. About 7,500 Southern Right Whales are spread throughout the southern part of the Southern Hemisphere. Finally, between 8,000–9,200 Bowhead Whales are distributed entirely in the Arctic Ocean.
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- Day 29
Located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico was key to the Spanish Empire since the early years of conquest and colonization of the New World. The smallest of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico was a major military post during many wars between Spain and other European powers for control of the region during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
In 1898, during the Spanish-American war, Puerto Rico was invaded and subsequently become a possession of the United States of America. The first part of the twentieth century was marked with the struggle to obtain greater democratic rights from the United States. The Foraker Act of 1900, which established a civil government, and the Jones Act of 1917, which granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, paved the way for the drafting of Puerto Rico's Constitution and the establishment of democratic elections in 1952.
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- Day 30
The following are known battles of the Mexican-American War. This list includes all major engagements and most reported skirmishes. Included also are two major engagements, the Battle of Palo Alto, and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, which took place prior to the official start of hostilities between the two countries.
The Mexican-American War lasted from 1846 until 1848. It grew out of unresolved border disputes between the Republic of Texas and Mexico after the annexation of the former by the United States during the Texas Revolution of 1836. Before 1836, Anglo settlers in Texas (which was then a part of Mexico) had increasingly desired to align with the United States and its ongoing westward expansion. Texas was admitted into the United States on 1845 and as a consequence, tension with Mexico increased over the disputed border.
The U.S. government claimed that the southern border of Texas was the Rio Grande; Mexico maintained it to be the Nueces River. The U.S. Congress declared war on May 13, 1846, while Mexico did so on May 23. Most of the formal fighting effectively ended on October, 1847, soon after General Winfield Scott and his forces had stormed Mexico City. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848 in which Mexico, under pressure, surrendered a vast tract of land to the United States for the sum of USD $15 million.
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- Day 31
Hurricane Irene was a hurricane that produced moderate damage across southern Florida during the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. The ninth tropical storm and the sixth hurricane of the season, Irene developed in the western Caribbean Sea on October 13 from a tropical wave. It moved northward, hitting western Cuba before attaining hurricane status. Irene struck Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, moved across the state, and moved northward over the Gulf Stream. It approached the Carolinas but remained offshore. Irene turned eastward, and rapidly intensified to reach Category 2 Hurricane Status before becoming extratropical due to cooler waters.
The hurricane first produced heavy rainfall across western Cuba, causing four deaths and damage. Irene was a wet Florida hurricane in October, similar to many hurricanes of the 1930s and 1940s. The hurricane produced 10 to 20 inches (255 to 510 mm) of rainfall in the Miami metropolitan area, causing urban flooding unseen since Tropical Storm Dennis in 1981. Despite being only a Category 1 hurricane, Irene caused 8 indirect deaths and $800 million (1999 USD) in damage across Florida.
The hurricane produced flooding and caused one death in the northwestern Bahamas. In North Carolina and Virginia, Irene produced heavy rainfall of over 10 inches (255 mm), adding more flooding after previous Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd. The flooding closed many roads, and caused rivers to crest past their banks, though damage in the area was relatively minor.
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