Moment grieving widow TWERKS against cardboard cutout of her dead husband next to his open casket during bizarre funeral
4
4
4
A reggaeton singer hired for the funeral provided the upbeat music the grieving woman danced to while funeral-goers cheered her on.
Dressed in black, the widow is captured rubbing her behind on the life-sized printout of her late partner in Peru.
Onlookers are heard whooping and cheering her on at the funeral.
And even the sad event's entertainment - a singer known as El Cangri del Callao - was egging on the widow during his performance.
He even encourages fellow mourners to join in the raunchy dance at the wake.
The singer later shared the unbelievable clip on his Instagram page, where it went viral with 4.3 million views and thousands of comments.
One local said: 'Hi bro, I'm going to die on 23 July.
'Are you available?'
Another added: 'They are very young, but in my time we cried at funerals.'
'Widow finds five new loves... at the wake', someone joked.
And: 'We can see how that stupid music makes people stupid.'
Agonising moment tech CEO Andy Byron is caught 'cheating' with his HR chief at Coldplay gig as pair cuddle on big screen
One other comment pointed out how a "farewell should be joyful, not sad".
While a fellow performer said: "I've performed funerals and wakes, but always from a very different tone to what this video shows.
"I've never had the opportunity to capture a farewell from such a luminous, vivid perspective.'
Meanwhile, a mere few days ago, the haunting moment a teen gave a tearful funeral eulogy to her slain mother and stepdad that later made her the prime suspect in their murder was captured.
Sarah Grace Patrick, 17, now faces two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated assault in connection to the shootings of Kristin Brock, 41, and James Brock, 45.
The chilling video of Patrick's eulogy shows the teen in a pale blue dress, standing before mourners at the lectern of the Catalyst Church in Carollton, Georgia.
She said: 'I just wanted to say goodbye to my mom and James since we never got the chance to.'
Patrick called her mother a 'beautiful kind soul' and told mourners she'd always be her 'sunshine'.
Now, the same speech that drew tears from the crowd is drawing scrutiny from law enforcement.
4
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
15 hours ago
- The Independent
Peru seizes record 4-ton mercury shipment in fight against illegal gold mining
Peruvian customs officials have seized a record-breaking shipment of illegal mercury, exposing a cross-border smuggling network that is fueling one of the Amazon's most destructive criminal economies: illicit gold mining. The 4-ton haul — the largest mercury seizure ever made in an Amazon country and one of the world's largest — was discovered in June at the port of Callao, hidden inside gravel-filled bags on a cargo ship bound for Bolivia. Though labeled as crushed stone, the shipment was flagged by customs agents based on international intelligence sharing. 'This crushed stone was laced with mercury,' said Jorge Gallo Alvarado, head of customs enforcement at SUNAT, Peru's tax and customs agency. 'It's a restricted substance because it's used in illegal alluvial mining.' The container, which originated in Mexico, was singled out for inspection by SUNAT's risk analysis team. U.S. specialists later confirmed the presence of mercury embedded in the gravel — a tactic increasingly used to avoid detection at ports. The seized goods are valued at roughly $500,000, SUNAT said. High-value illicit trade Authorities say the bust marks a turning point in efforts to dismantle the supply chains behind the Amazon's illicit gold trade. Mercury, a powerful neurotoxin banned or tightly restricted in many countries, remains essential to the process used by illegal miners across the rainforest to extract gold from river sediment. The method is simple but dangerous: miners mix mercury with gold particles to form an amalgam, then burn it off, releasing toxic vapor into the air. The leftover mercury often flows into rivers, where it transforms into methylmercury — its most dangerous form — and builds up in fish and aquatic life. 'This is a very important seizure,' said Luis Fernandez, a research professor and mercury expert at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, who traveled to Lima to assess the find. 'We don't often see mercury seizures at this scale, especially not in transit through formal customs points," he said. Fernandez estimated the mercury could have been used to produce roughly 1,600 kilograms (3,527 pounds) of gold — worth more than $172 million at current prices. 'This isn't subsistence mining,' he said. 'It's organized, high-value illicit trade with serious environmental and public health consequences.' A 'gold-mercury-drug trifecta' In Peru's Madre de Dios region, an epicenter of illegal mining, mercury contamination has been detected in drinking water, fish and even breast milk. Long-term exposure to methylmercury can cause irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system, particularly in children and pregnant women. Indigenous and riverine communities that rely on fish for food are especially vulnerable. Peruvian authorities say much of the mercury entering the country is smuggled from Mexico, where it's mined in central states such as Querétaro. Prices have surged in recent years due to booming global demand for gold, reaching as high as $330 per kilogram of mercury — and more than $3,500 per ounce of gold — earlier this year. Some of the mercury seized in June is believed to have originated in small, artisanal mines inside a UNESCO ‑protected biosphere reserve. While the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit watchdog that investigates environmental crime, has documented that at least 30 tons of mercury have been trafficked annually from Mexico to countries like Peru and Colombia by a single criminal network, the real volume is likely higher. Soaring gold prices and a 400% markup on mercury in the Amazon compared to Mexico have made smuggling increasingly lucrative. Seizures and monitoring suggest flows rose to an estimated 56 tons in 2024, with further increases expected this year. Colombia remains one of the highest per capita emitters of mercury worldwide, with total annual releases reaching up to 150 tons, much of it tied to illegal gold mining. EIA's latest investigation, released in tandem with Peru's announcement, describes a growing 'gold-mercury-drug trifecta' linking illegal mining to transnational crime and environmental degradation. The group's investigators documented how organized criminal groups — including Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel — are now involved in mercury mining and trafficking. 'Until mercury mines are no longer in operation, traffickers will leave no stone unturned to smuggle the metal,' the report states. Growing calls to close mercury mines Traffickers often disguise mercury shipments with false paperwork and front companies, allowing them to slip through customs. Once across the border, the metal is sold to illegal mining camps — often in protected forests or Indigenous territories — where it becomes almost impossible to trace. In Colombia, security sources say armed groups such as the National Liberation Army and the Gulf Clan play a central role in the mercury-for-gold trade. Similar dynamics have been reported in Brazil and Bolivia, where enforcement is weak and black-market demand is high. Although Peru ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2013, enforcement has struggled to keep up with the pace and adaptability of trafficking networks. 'These networks are agile,' Fernandez said. 'As gold prices rise, they adapt quickly. Customs authorities need tools, training, and resources to keep pace.' Adam Dolezal, extractive industries campaigner at EIA, said the seizure shows what is possible when customs systems are properly resourced and coordinated — but warned that enforcement alone won't stop the trade. 'Unless mercury production is shut down at the source, this toxic trade will continue,' Dolezal said. Calls are growing to close remaining mercury mines in Mexico and reform global controls on the metal. The issue is expected to take center stage at the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention later this year, where advocates hope to eliminate legal loopholes that allow mercury to be traded for small-scale mining. ____ ____ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
The Guardian
15 hours ago
- The Guardian
It is one of the deadliest chemicals on Earth – but even Mexico's cartels can't resist the lure of mercury
Mercury is one of the world's 10 deadliest chemicals – once extracted from the Earth's crust, it can take centuries to break down. In 2013, more than 100 countries signed up to the Minamata convention, committing to restrict its production, export and use, and phase it out altogether. Yet while Latin American countries claim to have ended production of the toxic element and controlled its movement across borders, they have simply driven the trade underground. A new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has found that mercury production is 'out of control' in Mexico – the world's second largest producer – driven by high gold prices and cartel involvement. Through illicit networks, mercury is being smuggled into South American countries including Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. There, it fuels a gold rush in the Amazon, contaminating rivers, soil and air, and causing severe environmental and social damage. With gold prices at record highs, the mercury trade has become so lucrative that one of Mexico's deadliest cartels has entered the business. Traffickers are smuggling the substance abroad, into tropical forests in large quantities. 'It is absurd that mercury is one of the 10 most toxic substances in the world – yet smugglers are shipping tonnes of it out of major ports without detection just by hiding it in gravel,' says Adam Dolezal, investigations coordinator at the EIA. Over the past decade, illegal mining has soared, creating an environmental crisis. Mounting evidence of a public health catastrophe has led world leaders to agree on phasing out mercury production and banning its export for goldmining. Mexican documents sent to the UN reported a decline in domestic mercury production from 442 tonnes in 2018 to zero in 2020, when the last mines were shut down. But EIA undercover investigators tracked 200 tonnes of mercury from the rainforests of the Amazon, thousands of miles away, to the dusty hills of northern Querétaro between 2019 and 2025. The EIA team identified at least 19 active mines in Querétaro, producing 100 tonnes a year, with no health, safety or environmental oversight. Investigators discovered that the illegal industry not only polluted rainforests but also one of Mexico's most biodiverse regions: the Sierra Gorda biosphere reserve. 'It's a Unesco-protected site that is home to a third of the country's butterfly species, yet mining is daily, largely unregulated, and contaminating rivers used by at least 17 downstream communities. Some soils have mercury levels up to 150 times the safe limit,' Dolezal says. By conservative estimates, mercury from these mines could have produced up to $8bn (£6bn) in illegal gold, and has attracted the attention of Mexican cartels, according to the report. Although the full extent of cartel involvement is unclear, the message to investigators was obvious. 'The Jalisco New Generation cartel exerts a high degree of control in some of the mines,' Dolezal says. 'Our team documented armed control points, surveillance towers and threats of violence. Cartel involvement has industrialised production and in some mines, where mercury is not processed on-site, ore is trucked out in bulk under cartel control.' The investigation led to the seizure of a five-tonne shipment of mercury hidden in gravel bags at the Peruvian port of Callao – the largest ever confiscated in an Amazonian country. The haul revealed the scale of the trade and how easily criminal networks move the toxic chemical abroad. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion Authorities, often more focused on halting the flow of cocaine through Latin America, would probably not have detected the illegal mercury shipment without the EIA tip, says Luis E Fernández, executive director of the Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation (Cincia), which joined the operation. Once across the border, criminal organisations extract the mercury from rock before sending it to the Amazon. In Colombia, the business is controlled by the same armed groups that run gold trafficking. Unlike deforestation, which leaves visible scars, mercury pollution is invisible. Starting as a grey sludge, it travels undetected for hundreds of kilometres in rivers. Indigenous groups, including the Yanomami in Brazil, suspect the toxin has disrupted the rainforest's balance. Their first warning was dead fish washing up, threatening their food supply. Later, they noticed an increase in the number of babies born with missing limbs and developmental problems. Now, they realise they are victims of vast mercury dumping into their rivers. 'We don't know the full effect, but we know there is no cure,' says Dario Kopenawa Yanomami. 'Experts have already told us the mercury will remain in the water and soil for at least 10 years. It's very worrying.' Illegal mining in the Amazon has risen by 50% in six years (between 2018 and 2024), and experts consider its impact devastating for the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. A study in Yanomami territory found that local communities are highly exposed to mercury through fish consumption, according to safety levels established by the World Health Organization. These communities rely on fish as their primary source of protein. Although species low on the food chain may contain traces of the toxin, predators that eat hundreds or thousands of fish annually concentrate it at dangerous levels. The toxic metal is especially harmful to children, causing neurological disorders, learning disabilities, and visual and motor problems. The same study found mercury present hundreds of kilometres upstream from the mines, suggesting even isolated groups are being poisoned. 'Illegal goldmining is one of the greatest evils that afflict riverside communities and Indigenous populations in South America,' says Antenor Vaz, a specialist at an Indigenous people's rights group, who was not involved in the report. 'The indiscriminate use of liquid mercury contaminates numerous waterways, the food chain from these waters and all the populations that depend on this source of food and water.' Unless Latin American countries take the international mercury trade seriously, it will not stop, the report's authors say. They call on Mexican authorities to regain control of Querétaro's mines from organised crime and shut them down, and urge greater information sharing, the use of artificial intelligence to combat smuggling and the closing of loopholes in the Minamata convention. 'The silence or absence of states in fighting these crimes does not mean neutrality,' Vaz says. 'It means complicity.'
BreakingNews.ie
16 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Funeral of teen (19) who died in Cork crash to take place on Friday
The funeral will take place on Friday of a 19-year-old man who died in a two-vehicle accident on the N71 in Co Cork earlier this week. Dovydas Palkis of Gortnaclohy Heights in Skibbereen, Co Cork, died when the car he was driving collided with a truck on the motorway between Ballinhassig and Innishannon at 7.15am on Monday. Advertisement Mr Palkis was a staff member at the Kerry-based construction firm Jovin Projects. He was also a past pupil of Skibbereen Community School. Tributes have been paid to the teenager. Skibbereen AFC said in a statement that Dovydas played with the club for many years. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with his mother Stella and father Vidmantas, step father John and Vidmantas partner Agne, step sister Chloe and all of his family and friends. "Dovydas was a really lovely young man with a fabulous left leg. He will be greatly missed by the club, his former coaches, teammates & the wider Skibbereen community. Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam. ' Advertisement O'Donovan Rossa GAA Club spoke of their 'wonderful memories' of Dovydas as a young boy playing football with his friends. 'He played all the way up to U17 where he stepped away to concentrate on his leaving cert exams. He was a fantastic corner back with great strength and determination, who for such a quiet character was fearless on the pitch. "He will be remembered by all who had the pleasure of playing or coaching him as a quiet, respectful young man who we will miss dearly. Rest in peace Dovydas.' Dovydas is survived by his parents, sister Chloe, grandparents, extended family, friends and his 'canine friend Peppa.' His requiem mass will take place on Friday at noon in St Patrick's Cathedral, Skibbereen with cremation following at the Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy, Cork following at 4pm.
