CATALAO, Brazil (AP) — Santa Claus braved the sticky heat of the Amazon rainforest this weekend, taking two boats to bring gifts to children in a village near the Brazilian city of Manaus.
The visit was arranged by Amigos do Papai Noel, a Brazilian charity that has been taking gifts to children in the Amazon rainforest for the past 26 years.
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Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, waves as he arrives on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, presents a gift to a young resident after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, joins young residents in a pick up soccer game after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to the children, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, is embraced by a young resident after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
A young Amazonian resident strikes a ball towards Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, who gave the ball to the boy after Barroso arrived on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, is carried by his helpers after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, waves as he arrives on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, is received by young residents after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
“For the children of the rivers, the people of the countryside, nothing new happens,” said Raimunda Ferrera Vieira a community leader in the village of Catalao, which received Santa on Saturday. “This here for us was a gift from God.”
More than 600 children from different villages gathered in Catalao to receive presents from Santa, who dressed in his traditional nightcap, white gloves and red suit, while enduring the stifling jungle heat.
To get to the kids, the Brazilian Santa sailed on a large boat down the Amazon river, then paddled a canoe along a swampy tributary.
Dozens of volunteers formed a line to Santa’s boat to help him unload his holiday cargo of stuffed animals, dolls and soccer balls. And two of the helper even had to carry Santa off his boat to prevent his boots from getting wet, due to the lack of a pier.
According to Amigos do Papa Noel, changes in the weather have complicated gift deliveries.
This year, the water levels of the two largest rivers in the area, the Amazon and the Rio Negro, are still low. So children had to gather in a community where the river was deep enough for Santa’s boat to arrive.
“We knew this would be difficult” said Pedro Carvalho Filho, a computer programmer who manages Amigos do Papai Noel. “Usually on this day we make three deliveries to the riverside communities.”
Still, Santa said all the sweat and toil was worth it.
“Every child in every community always smiles back” said Santa impersonator Jorge Alberto Moreira. “Wherever you go there’s a smile, it’s a great joy.”
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, waves as he arrives on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, presents a gift to a young resident after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, joins young residents in a pick up soccer game after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to the children, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, is embraced by a young resident after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
A young Amazonian resident strikes a ball towards Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, who gave the ball to the boy after Barroso arrived on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, is carried by his helpers after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, waves as he arrives on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, is received by young residents after arriving on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children who live in the riverside communities of the Amazon, in Iranduba, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
PHOENIX (AP) — Donald Trump suggested Sunday that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal that the United States “foolishly” ceded to its Central American ally, contending that shippers are charged “ridiculous” fees to pass through the vital transportation channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Panama's conservative president José Raúl Mulino, who was elected in May on a pro-business platform, roundly rejected that notion as an affront to his country's sovereignty.
The Republican president-elect's comment came during his first major rally since winning the White House on Nov. 5. He also basked in his return to power as a large audience of conservatives cheered along. It was a display of party unity at odds with a just-concluded budget fight on Capitol Hill, where some GOP lawmakers openly defied their leader's demands.
Addressing supporters at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Arizona, Trump pledged that his “dream team Cabinet” would deliver a booming economy, seal U.S. borders and quickly settle wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
“I can proudly proclaim that the Golden Age of America is upon us,” Trump said. “There’s a spirit that we have now that we didn’t have just a short while ago.”
His appearance capped a four-day pep rally that drew more than 20,000 activists and projected an image of Republican cohesion despite the past week's turbulence in Washington with Trump pulling strings from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as Congress worked to avoid a government shutdown heading into the holidays.
House Republicans spiked a bipartisan deal after Trump and Elon Musk, his billionaire ally, expressed their opposition on social media. Budget hawks flouted Trump's demand that they raise the nation’s debt ceiling, which would have spared some new rounds of the same fight after he takes office on Jan. 20, with Republicans holding narrow control of the House and Senate. The final agreement did not address the issue and there was no shutdown.
Trump, in his remarks in Phoenix, did not mention the congressional drama, though he did reference Musk's growing power. To suggestions that "President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon,” Trump made clear, “No, no. That’s not happening.”
“He’s not gonna be president,” Trump said.
The president-elect opened the speech by saying that "we want to try to bring everybody together. We’re going to try. We’re going to really give it a shot." Then he suggested Democrats have “lost their confidence” and are “befuddled” after the election but eventually will ”come over to our side because we want to have them.”
Atop a list of grievances — some old, some new — was the Panama Canal.
“We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal,” he said, bemoaning that his country ”foolishly gave it away.”
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.
The canal depends on reservoirs to operate its locks and was heavily affected by 2023 Central American droughts that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships using the canal each day, administrators also increased the fees that are charged all shippers for reserving a slot.
With weather returning to normal in the later months of this year, transit on the canal has normalized. But price increases are still expected for next year.
Mulino, Panama's president, has been described as a conservative populist who aligns with Trump on many issues. Panama is a strong U.S. ally and the canal is crucial for its economy, generating about one-fifth of that government’s annual revenue.
Still, Trump said, that, once his second term is underway, "If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question.”
“I’m not going to stand for it," Trump said. "So to the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly.”
He did not explain how that would be possible.
Shortly after Trump's speech, Mulino released a video declaring that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong” to his country.
Without mentioning Trump by name, Mulino addressed Trump's complaints over rising fees for ships crossing the canal, saying they are set by experts who take into account operational costs, and supply and demand factors.
“The tariffs are not set on a whim” Mulino said. He noted that Panama has expanded the canal over the years to increase ship traffic “on its own initiative,” and added that shipping fee increases help pay for improvements.
“Panamanians may have different views on many issues” Mulino said. “But when it comes to our canal, and our sovereignty, we will all unite under our Panamanian flag.”
The canal aside, Trump’s appearance at Turning Point’s annual gathering affirmed the growing influence the group and its founder, Charlie Kirk, have had in the conservative movement. Kirk’s group hired thousands of field organizers across presidential battlegrounds, helping Trump make key gains among infrequent voters and other groups of people that have trended more Democratic in recent decades, including younger voters, Black men and Latino men.
”You had Turning Point’s grassroots armies,” Trump said. “It’s not my victory, it’s your victory.”
Trump on Sunday also announced several new members of his incoming administration, most notably:
-Stephen Miran, who worked at the Treasury Department in Trump's first term, to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, an executive branch agency charged with providing objective economic advice to the president.
—Callista Gingrich to be the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland. Gingrich was U.S. ambassador to the Holy See in Trump's first term. She is married to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Separately, Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt announced he was donating $1.1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund to complement the $14 million that he said he already had given to the Make America Great Again Inc. super political action committee — making him one of the president-elect’s top donors.
Pratt is chairman of Pratt Industries, which uses recycled paper and boxes as a raw material in a process that produces new cardboard.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Panama's president Mulino was elected in May, not April.
Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writer Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
FILE - A cargo ship traverses the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
