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Esta página no está disponible en español. Governor Announces Changes In Three Kings Day Celebration After Newborn Dies Waiting For Gifts At La Fortaleza
Governor Announces Changes In Three Kings Day Celebration January 7, 2003 SAN JUAN (AP) – Gov. Sila Calderon announced that starting 2004, she would change the way gifts are handed out to children who arrive to La Fortaleza from all over the island to take part of the Three Kings Day celebration in Old San Juan. Calderon made her statement after handing out presents to people who gathered in front of the executive mansion, where a one and a half month-old baby died. "I have determined that starting next year people will be forbidden to stay the night in the streets on the eve of the event," the governor said. Calderon added that people wouldn’t be allowed to stand in line in front of La Fortaleza during the night of Jan. 5 nor in the morning of Jan. 6. She also said government officials would make adjustments to shorten the wait of people who come to Old San Juan to receive presents for their children. "I would like to express how sad I am for the unfortunate loss of a child," Calderon said. "Probably this new-born child who had a serious health problem should have never been exposed to this event," she said.
Newborn Dies At Three Kings Day Celebration By FRANK GRIFFITHS January 6, 2003 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - An infant boy died while he and his family waited with thousands of other people Monday to receive gifts from Puerto Rico's governor during a popular Three Kings Day celebration. The nearly 2-month-old baby, Anthony Xavier Rivera Mangual, had begun to vomit and his mother gave him water, government spokesman Luis Torres Negron said. The mother told authorities her baby then went into convulsions and appeared to have suffocated, Negron said. The death tainted what was otherwise a much-awaited celebration for thousands of children and their parents, who lined up outside the mansion of Gov. Sila Calderon to receive free toys from electric cars to board games. Thousands slept out on the sidewalks, some on pieces of cardboard, to hold their spots in line. In response to the death, the governor banned camping out and forming lines the night before. "From next year on it will be prohibited to sleep on the streets overnight before the activity," Calderon said. "I also learned today that other couples left 12 children alone in an apartment to get in line before dawn," she said. The newborn baby came with his family in the morning and had been waiting for nearly three hours with his 17-year-old mother, 2-year-old sister, 3-year-old brother and grandmother, officials said. Some officials cited mistakes. "Of the 11 ambulances they had there providing service, none arrived on time," Heriberto Sauri, of the Emergency Management Agency, told the Puerto Rican broadcaster WAPA radio. A paramedic who arrived first tried to revive the baby in the back seat of a police car, the nearest emergency vehicle in the crowded streets, officials said. The baby was pronounced dead at a hospital. Community activist Jaime Altieri said planning for such celebrations needs to be re-evaluated. Many festivities in the narrow streets of colonial Old San Juan "create a real problem of security and logistics in dealing with emergencies," he said. Authorities said the baby was hospitalized three weeks ago with a fractured skull after falling from a car. "Possibly, this newborn child who had a situation of critical health never should have been exposed to this activity," Calderon said, expressing her condolences. Authorities took custody of the other two children until a final cause of death is determined, Negron said. The Jan. 6 celebration is common in Latin America and marks the Bible's account of three wise men arriving at the manger where Jesus was born. The distribution of toys at the governor's mansion is a decades-old tradition in the U.S. Caribbean territory. The government spent more than $600,000 on the celebration, officials said.
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