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To a salsa beat, thousands welcome home Trinidad
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Thousands of Puerto Ricans today welcomed home Felix Trinidad, chanting his nickname as salsa songs written in the boxer's honor blared from car speakers on highways jammed with revelers.Some abandoned their cars in a logjam at San Juan's airport and walked the last mile. As Trinidad's lane landed, the fans roared "Tito! Tito" and waved this U.S. territory's lone-star flag and placards declaring "Gallito castao!" -- Spanish for "Top-class fighting cock!"
Gov. Pedro Rossello, who praised Trinidad for "glorifying the name of Puerto Rico," was among the dignitaries in the welcoming crowd.
Police tried in vain to close just one lane to make way for a planned victory cavalcade through the capital, but delirious fans zipped by in their cars as if the officers were not there.
"Tito No. 1," was the message scrawled in lipstick across the bare midriffs of a group of teen-aged girls.
People laughed hysterically when Trinidad stuck his head, adorned with the pilot's cap, outside the cockpit's emergency door.
Giant speakers mounted on trucks pounded out salsa. The music was so loud that all that could be understood was the chorus, a refrain repeated across the island since Trinidad's victory in Las Vegas late Saturday night: "Tito! Tito!"
In the dramatic end to the welterweight showdown, Trinidad scored with his punishing right hand and won by a majority decision, taking the WBC title from Oscar De La Hoya.
The result was a nationalistic outpouring in Puerto Rico, where patriotic feelings are tremendous despite meager support for the independence movement. The 4 million islanders are U.S. citizens who serve in the military, but do not pay federal taxes and cannot vote for president or the U.S. Congress.
At San Juan airport, the decibel level was compounded by dozens of motorcyclists and drivers of dune buggies who set up a show in a parking lot -- doing turns to see who could burn the most rubber and make the most noise.
Government workers were given the day off to welcome Trinidad and entire families turned out, with many children kept from school to celebrate.
"Thank you, thank you Puerto Rico for this support of Tito, my son," said the fighter's mother, Irma Garcia.
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