Often used as a vehicle of protest and a platform for making speeches, the pageant to crown Rabin Ajau is a celebration of Guatemala’s indigenous community.
The bones, retrieved from mass graves, are among the 30,000 Argentines who "disappeared" during the dictatorship, and presumably were murdered by the regime.
The congas, timbales and Afro-Latin guitar and organ rhythms on smash covers such as "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" and "Oye Como Va" redefined the parameters of rock-and-roll.
The opposition's greatest challenge will be to retain control of the country's biggest cities – especially the Caracas metropolitan area and the oil city of Maracaibo.
For some local residents, the killing opened a window onto a world they knew little about: a struggling Central American country where poverty, crime and natural disasters have driven thousands to the Washington area, and where corruption and military intervention have weakened a poor but once-stable democracy.
The opposition says Sunday's vote is a referendum on Maduro, as Venezuelans cope with the fastest inflation in the world, blackouts, water cuts and a surge in violence.
Their sound was a lilting, almost sweet sort of oompah music, driven by a tuba and an accordion, along with guitar, bass and drums. Band members brandished an imitation assault weapon on stage and had a bazooka in the van that would become their stage trademark.
South African President Jacob Zuma declared Dec. 8 as a national day of prayer and reflection. Memorial services will be held in all nine provinces in the week preceding the funeral.