SANTIAGO, Chile -- The miners who have been trapped under northern Chile for over a month are set to play a major part as the country celebrates the bicentennial of its independence on Saturday.
The 33 miners - 32 Chileans and one Bolivian - are set to mark the bicentennial 700 meters underground by hoisting a flag and singing the national anthem at noon.
Their families outside the mine plan to do the same simultaneously on the surface above. Relatives of the miners will hoist a flag that has the signatures of those who are trapped underground.
The miners are to be sent festive food complete with the traditional meat pies, called empanadas. They are also set to eat meat with salads and fruit compote.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera is to visit the mine Sunday, to honor not just the trapped miners and their families but also the rescue teams that are working to get them up to the surface in an effort that is expected to take at least until late October.
The miners have been trapped since the shaft they were working in collapsed on Aug. 5. After 17 days of isolation in which many believed the miners had not survived, rescue teams on the surface reached them through 4-inch-diameter shafts drilled after the accident. Through those ducts, the workers are receiving water, food, oxygen and messages, as well as telephone, power and television lines.
In Santiago, an ecumenical service at the cathedral is set to mark the bicentennial Saturday. At night, there is set to be a show to honor Chilean music, while a military parade is to take place Sunday.
Some relatives of the miners will be special guests in these celebrations.
An assembly of illustrious locals declared Chile's independence from Spain on Sept. 18, 1810, independence was later secured at the Battle of Maipu, on April 5, 1818.
In 1810, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico also started down the road that would end three centuries of Spanish rule in the Americas. Ecuador in 1809 and Uruguay and Paraguay in 1811 were also part of this trend.
