Starting this Saturday, the United States says goodbye to former President Jimmy Carter with six days of funeral honors that will end with a state funeral in Washington and the burial in his native Georgia.
Flags have flown at half-mast across the country since Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100 in Plains, in the southern state of Georgia.
Carter left an indelible mark on Latin America: he denounced the abuses of military dictatorships in the Southern Cone, withdrew support for the Anastasio Somoza regime in Nicaragua, and pledged to return the Panama Canal to Panamanians, something he would describe as his “battle.” more difficult policy.”
He also agreed with Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba to reopen diplomatic headquarters in the form of an interest section.
The state tributes to the Democrat officially begin on Saturday when agents of the Secret Service, the agency in charge of protecting political figures, carry the coffin to a hearse for a tour of Plains.
The caravan carrying his remains will pause at the family peanut-growing farm. The bell will ring 39 times to pay tribute to the 39th American head of state.
He will then head to Atlanta for a brief stop at the Georgia Capitol, where Carter served as a local senator before becoming the state’s governor. A moment of silence will be observed.
From there, the hearse will go to the Carter Center, the foundation created in 1982 by the former president and his wife Rosalynn that specializes in conflict prevention, the defense of democracy and public health issues.
He will remain at this foundation from 7:00 p.m. on Saturday (00:00 GMT on Sunday) until 6:00 a.m. (11:00 GMT) on Tuesday to allow the locals to say goodbye to him.
On Tuesday morning his remains will be transferred from Georgia to Joint Base Andrews, outside Washington, on a United States Air Force plane called “Special Air Mission 39.”
Afterwards, a funeral procession will transport the body of the former commander in chief to the United States Navy Memorial.
Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1946, and served on submarines.
The coffin, drawn by horses, will arrive at the Capitol, headquarters of Congress in the capital.
It will be placed in the Rotunda, a room located under the dome of the Capitol, for a tribute ceremony in the presence of parliamentarians.
Citizens will be able to pay their respects from 7:00 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday, and from 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday to 7:00 a.m. on Thursday.
He will be the thirteenth former president exhibited in the Capitol. Abraham Lincoln, assassinated in 1865, was the first.
The state funeral will be held on Thursday at the cathedral, where former presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and George HW Bush said their final farewells before him.
All four living former presidents are expected to attend: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden will deliver the funeral eulogy.
By your decision, it will be a day of national mourning and federal government offices will remain closed.
He has also ordered flags to fly at half-mast for 30 days, as usual, meaning they will remain that way during Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
This angered the Republican president-elect. “No American can be happy” about having flags at half-mast during the inauguration, he stated on his Truth Social network.
After the religious service, Carter’s remains will be taken to Georgia, where a private funeral will be held at the Plains Baptist Church where Carter taught catechism.
A final caravan through his hometown will transport his remains to the plot where he will be buried next to Rosalynn, who died in 2023 at the age of 96 and to whom he was married for 77 years.
US Navy planes will fly over the town in his honor.
(AFP)
