CONOR LAMB, 33, DEMOCRAT, GEN Y, 2018 SPECIAL ELECTION WINNER (PA)

CONOR LAMB, 33, DEMOCRAT, GEN Y, 2018 SPECIAL ELECTION WINNER (PA):

CONOR’S CAMPAIGN PLAYBOOK WAS BORROWED FROM JFK, OBAMA & TRUMP.

LEADERS LIKE CONOR CAN USHER IN EFFECTIVE LANDMARK GUN CONTROL & UPHOLD THE 2nd AMENDNENT.

CONOR ATTRACTED VOTERS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE POLITICAL AISLE.

CONOR’S WIN PROVES DEMOCRAT VOTERS ARE SICK & TIRED OF LYING, COMPLACENT, GREEDY, CAREER POLITICIANS IN CONGRESS WHO ARE SELL OUTS.

CONGRESS NEEDS NEW BLOOD & ACTION.

CONOR IS THE BEGINNING OF THAT MOVEMENT.

CONGRATS TO CONOR ON HIS WIN.


Sources: NBC News, NY Times, Youtube


****** Who Is Conor Lamb, Winner in a Special House Race in Pennsylvania?


For the Democratic Party, Conor Lamb seemed like a candidate generated from reams of election data mined and analyzed to produce an ideal fit for his Southwestern Pennsylvania congressional district.

A former Marine who favored gun rights, he was culturally conservative enough to appeal to rural voters. He was pro labor and pro tariff in an area that still has thousands of steelworkers union members. As a federal prosecutor, he cracked down on drug dealers but also offered empathy about the tragedy of opioid addiction. And his Ivy League polish and earnest manner played well with college-educated suburban voters.

And now, with his victory in a district so Republican that Democrats did not even field a candidate in the last two elections, Mr. Lamb, 33, has offered a template that will be studied in congressional races where Democratic candidates need to win over voters who supported President Trump.

“He is like the type of Democrat that won in ruby-red districts in 2006, who breaks the mold and is much more of a nontraditional, outside-the-mainstream, everyday American law enforcement type,” said John Lapp, a Democratic strategist who was executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006, when the party wrested control of the House from Republicans.

Mr. Lamb had to navigate a district that President Trump had won by nearly 20 percentage points in 2016. The president labeled him “Lamb the sham” in a campaign appearance in Pennsylvania last Saturday, and the administration deployed Vice President Mike Pence, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, and Donald Trump Jr. to defeat him.

In turn, he showed restraint and discipline in talking about the president and was quick to support Mr. Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. He did not respond to the president’s mockery, and on Wednesday morning, refused to engage when he was asked on CNN to comment about Mr. Trump’s remarks.

“You call it a red district,” Mr. Lamb said on CNN. “I call it western Pennsylvania. We worked extremely hard to get out and campaign in person over every square inch of this district. And I think just through talking to people, looking them in the eye, figuring out what the issues are for them and trying to come out with solutions, we seemed to have reached a lot of people. We saw huge turnout on both sides which is great. People around here are engaged.”

Mr. Lamb also said he thought voters were weary of pettiness and name calling.

“There was a lot of foolishness in this election and cartoonish campaigning,” he said. “By the time of the president’s visit last weekend, people were tired of that entire approach. I had people, especially elderly people, come up to me and say, I hate those ads against you. It’s not right. It’s not worthy of us. I think there is a little bit of burnout on that type of campaign before the president ever got here.”

Mr. Lamb built his coalition from many disparate parts. He bridged the divide between labor union leaders and their members. “He married the union leaders and rank-and-file for the first time in two decades,” said G. Terry Madonna, a professor at Franklin and Marshall College who has conducted polls in Pennsylvania for more than three decades.

He also focused heavily on local issues and mostly avoided getting into a fight with his Republican opponent, Rick Saccone, over Mr. Trump.

“He decided early on he would not turn this into a national election,” Mr. Madonna said. “It was a local election. Number two, he did events, but more important, he knocked on the door, put the yard sign up, emphasizing his personal connection with people, something Saccone did not do.”

He added, “And also, he was like, ‘Donald who? Who’s that guy?’”

Though the race was Mr. Lamb’s first attempt at public office, politics is part of his family pedigree. His grandfather, Thomas Lamb, was the Democratic leader of the State Senate in the 1970s and served in the administration of Gov. Robert P. Casey.

Michael Lamb, his uncle, is the controller for the city of Pittsburgh and an avid supporter. His younger brother, Coleman Lamb, is helping out as well, on loan from his day job as press secretary for a New York congresswoman.

Mr. Lamb leaned hard on his military background — he served as a prosecutor in the Marine Corps and was stationed in Okinawa while on active duty — and his support for gun rights, beginning with his first commercial.

That same ad also featured a picture of him at a gun range, noting that he “still loves to shoot.” These were acts of political inoculation: Mr. Lamb was sending a message to the district’s conservative-leaning voters that he was his own person.

He also effectively neutralized Republican attempts to label him a liberal in the mold of the House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi, by saying that he would not vote for her in a leadership election. Republicans, who poured in millions of dollars in ads against Mr. Lamb, tried to paint him as a slavish follower of the California Democrat. He countered with a commercial noting that his opposition to her had been reported on the front page of a local newspaper.

Mr. Lamb had another résumé-enhancing line to offer voters: federal prosecutor. After clerking for a federal judge in New York, he did a stint as an assistant United States attorney in Pittsburgh, prosecuting a range of cases that gave him a law-and-order credential.

But his time in the Justice Department during the Obama administration also provided Republicans with some fodder. In one ad, the National Republican Congressional Committee noted that Mr. Lamb had reached a plea bargain with a drug kingpin, a potentially damaging line of attack in a region ravaged by opioids.

Like the other attacks Republicans hurled at him, it ultimately proved ineffective.

Sebastian Pinera Calls For Better Mining Conditions

Pinera: Mining Conditions Must Improve


Chile's president said Monday that conditions must improve in the country's mining industry, just days after 33 miners were rescued from a collapsed mineshaft at a copper mine in the country's remote Atacama Desert.

The Miners spent 69 days trapped in a shelter almost a half a mile underground before rescuers were able to reach them by drilling a hole wide enough to send a rescue capsule down.

"We cannot guarantee that another accident will never occur in the future," Chilean President Sebastian Pinera told CNN's Connect the World during a visit to Britain to meet Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron. "But we have learned our lesson and we are revising and changing our relations, our procedures."

He added that as a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) -- a forum of nations with a focus on helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalized economy -- Chile's new rules would be compatible with international standards.

"We will make sure they are enforced in the field because that's where it is important," he said. "And not only in the mining sector; we are revising our standards in many other sectors in order to guarantee that we are doing our best in terms of protecting lives, health, and integrity of our workers."

Pinera also described how, as the eyes of the world were fixed on Chile at the start of the dramatic story, he was coming to terms with personal tragedy.

As news emerged of the 33 miners trapped a half mile under Chile's Atacama Desert when the San Jose gold and copper mine collapsed, the president's father-in-law was gravely ill.

Days and nights were passing without any indication of the state of the men but Pinera spent the night of August 21 at the hospital, at his wife's side. His father-in-law told him: "Don't give up searching. It's your responsibility. It's your duty."

They were his last words. Pinera's wife encouraged her husband to immediately go to the mine. Something, she said, will happen today.

Pinera arrived at the mine near Copiapo to a handwritten message sent up by the miners through a probe. "Estamos bien," it said. We are well.

Pinera carries a copy of the message in his pocket always.

inner voice that told me, keep searching, keep searching, don't give up.

--President Pinera
"It was an explosion of joy, happiness, tears all over the country, and I think all over the world," Pinera said Monday, recounting the mine ordeal to CNN's Becky Anderson during a visit to the United Kingdom.

It would be many weeks before a dramatic rescue would hoist all 33 miners to safety. The entire world watched, families rejoiced and Pinera emerged with a burnished image.

He has been smiling in relief since last week's rescue but on August 5, the day the mine caved in, the burden of life for the 33 miners rested on Pinera's shoulders.

"The private company that owns the mine was not able to undertake the search and rescue," Pinera told CNN. "So it was either us, the government, or nobody."

So Pinera launched a blind search, against all odds.

He said he held onto "profound conviction" and his faith in God.

"I feel that their families were so convinced that they were alive that each time I went to visit them at the mine during those 17 days of anguish, I was reinforced in our convictions that they were alive," Pinera said.

"I had a kind of inner voice that told me, keep searching, keep searching, don't give up."

He recalled when the energy secretary told him about three possible technologies that could be used in the rescue. Which one should they use?

Pinera's thought was: all of them.

"The machines can fail. We cannot fail," Pinera said.

Then on day number 69, Florencio Avalos became the first miner to make the long journey upward and step out of the rescue capsule.

"I will never forget that moment," Pinera said. "It was so, so overwhelming. It was so impressive."

Pinera bear-hugged him. As he did all the others, all the way to number 33, Luis Urzua, the shift foreman who chose to be the last out.

Urzua told Pinera: "I am handing the ship over to you."

Pinera replied: "You have been a very good chief. A very good captain. Because you never abandoned your ship until all your men were safe. You were the last one. That was your duty and I'm so proud for that."

Pinera has been credited for his leadership; for his media savvy -- he used to own Chilevision TV -- and even for what some are calling a badly needed new image for Chile.

In England, Pinera alluded to the speech delivered by Winston Churchill when he first became prime minister in 1940. "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat," Churchill said.

"And it was similar that we have the same motivation, faith, and commitment," Pinera said. "Therefore, we kept searching.

"And I think that the lessons that we can take from this accident is when a country is united and committed with faith, with hope, using the best possible technologies and the best possible human teams, we are able to achieve goals that for some people seems as impossible," he said.


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Sources: CNN, Google Maps

Chilean Miner Historic Rescue Countdown: 24 Up; 9 More To Go

24 Rescued From Chilean Mine, 9 To Go


[Updated at 4:58 p.m. ET, 5:58 p.m. Chile time] Before the capsule carrying José Henriquez, the 24th rescued miner, emerges from the shaft, a crew member calls out, "Do you hear me?"

His muffled response, "Yes, I hear you," elicits claps and cheers.

He climbs out, fists pumping, as his wife rushes towards him and starts to sob as they embrace.

Chile's mines were virtually a second home for Henriquez, who has spent 33
years working in them. Before the explosion, Henriquez warned that something was wrong with the mine. During the period of captivity, he served as a religious leader of shorts for the trapped miners.

[Updated at 4:41 p.m. ET, 5:41 p.m. Chile time] Most of the miners are in good emotional and physical health, Chilean Minister of Health Jaime Manalich said, expressing surprise at how "well they are.”

He also spoke highly of the rescue capsule and the shaft, noting that the miners were coming out dry and with very little dust on them.

"Things are going fantastically well, better than expected," he said in a press conference. "The work at the shaft has been really impeccable."

[Updated 4:32 p.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. Chile time] Carlos Bugueño, 27, reaches the surface, making him the 23rd miner to be rescued. Bugueño helped oversee the packages coming into and leaving the mine during his captivity. He joined the mines with childhood friend Pedro Cortez, who is pected to be the 31st miner to reach the surface.

[Updated 4:30 p.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. Chile time] Miner Dario Segovia, the 20th miner to reach the surface, leaves the triage center and enters the family greeting area. He's traded in his outfit of dusty t-shirt, and green utility pants for what appears to be a teal jumpsuit. But he's still wearing the dark sunglasses to help his sight adjust to daylight as he hugs his relatives.

[Updated 4:20 p.m. ET, 5:20 p.m. Chile time] Miner 
Carlos Bugueño is loaded into rescue capsule and pulled toward the surface.

[Updated 4:05 p.m. ET, 5:05 p.m. Chile time] Samuel Ávalos reaches the surface dressed in the same outfit as his predecessors: dark sunglasses, blue hard hat, beige t-shirt that reads, "Gracias Señor," or "Thanks be to God," atop the star from the Chilean flag.

His wife greets him with a hug, and the two share a long kiss accompanied by some claps and whistles.

[Updated at 3:55 p.m. ET, 4:55 p.m. Chile time] Samuel Ávalos has left the mine in the rescue capsule, bound for Camp Hope.

[Updated at 3:34 p.m. ET, 4:34 p.m. Chile time] Yonni Barrios becomes the 21st miner to be brought to the surface.

Barrios, 50, assumed the role of chief paramedic for the group due to his previous nursing experience. As a child, Barrios was tasked with caring for his diabetic mother. Fellow miners are calling him "Dr. House" after the American TV show, which is popular in Chile. He has been in the mine since 1985 and is married with no children.

[Updated at 3:21 p.m. ET, 4:21 p.m. Chile time] Yonni Barrios, the 21st miner, begins his ascent to Camp Hope.

[Updated at 3:01 p.m. ET, 4:01 p.m. Chile time] Dario Segovia reaches the surface, making him the 20th rescued miner since efforts got underway Tuesday night.

Segovia, 48, is the second generation of his family to be trapped in a mine. His father, who spent a week trapped in a mine, began taking him down in the mines when Rojas was 8.

His wife snaps a picture of him while he is still strapped into the rescue capsule, a red, white and blue cyliner bearing the Chilean flag and its colors. After he exits, he touches the ground and the rescue crew cheers.

After Chilean Mining Minister Laurence Golborne and other officials greet him with hugs, he is loaded onto a stretcher, covered with a blanket and brought to the triage center for medical assessment.

In the waiting room, cameras capture the jubilant scene as Golborne greets the miners' relatives in a surreal moment that plays out instantly on the television screen behind them.

[Updated at 2:47 p.m. ET, 3:47 p.m. Chile time] Miner Dario Segovia begins his ascent to Camp Hope.

Meanwhile, rescued miner Edison Pena has found out that he has a special invitation to visit Elvis Presley's home in Memphis, Tennessee. Pena, a die-hard Elvis fan, led his fellow trapped miners in Elvis sing-alongs to pass time while waiting for their rescue.

[Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET, 3:30 p.m. Chile time] The rescue capsule is sent back down the mine, where 48-year-old Dario Segovia is expected to be the miner brought to the surface.

[Updated at 2:28 p.m. ET, 3:28 p.m. Chile time] The 19th miner, Pablo Rojas, reaches the surface, where he is greeted by his son, Michael Rojas, in a long embrace.

Rojas, 45, was trapped in the mine with his two cousins, Victor Segovia and Esteban Rojas, who have already reached the surface.

[Updated at 2:15 p.m. ET, 3:15 p.m. Chile time] Pablo Rojas begins his ascent to Camp Hope.

[Updated at 2:00 p.m. ET, 3:00 p.m. Chile time] President Obama praises the rescue workers and the Chilean government for their efforts so far, saying the story has "inspired the world."

Obama said the world watched the rescue of the first miner and his embrace of his family upon reaching the surface.

"The tears they shed after so much time apart expressed not only their own relief, not only their own joy, but the joy of people everywhere," he said.

The president also commended help from the United States and elsewhere in the rescue effort, citing the NASA team that he said designed the rescue vessel and other U.S. support.

[Updated at 1:57 p.m. ET, 2:57 p.m. Chile time] The rescue capsule has been sent back down to the mine. The next miner expected to be brought to the surface is 45-year-old Pablo Rojas, cousin of Estebean Rojas.

[Updated at 1:49 p.m. ET, 2:49 p.m. Chile time] Esteban Rojas has been lifted out of the Chilean mine where he has been trapped for more than two months.

"Esteban, how are you?" the rescuers shouted as he got close to the surface. You could hear him shout through the chamber showing he was okay: "Bien!"

His wife Jessica Yanez grasped onto a religious tapestry with Mary on it as she awaited to see her husband - the 18th man to be lifted from underground.

As soon as he exited the capsule Rojas too knelt down on the ground, clasped his hands in prayer and lifted his hands to the sky to praise God. His wife then wrapped the tapestry around him as they hugged and cried as workers rallied in a Chile chant.

Rojas, 44, was working with supplies sent down to the mine. During his time in the mine he asked his wife of 25 years to renew their vows - and they plan to do so shortly after his rescue at a traditional church this time.

[Updated at 1:27 p.m. ET, 2:27 p.m. Chile time] Esteban Rojas is being put into the rescue capsule and will soon begin his journey to the top of the mine and see his family at Camp Hope.

[Updated at 1:23 p.m. ET, 2:23 p.m. Chile time] Crews worked to rescue 33 trapped miners as if the miners were their children, a posting on the official Twitter page of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said Wednesday.

"We looked for them like our children. We found them with God's help. We are rescuing them as Chileans," the posting said. "May their example inspire us."

The posting also thanked several heads of state, including the leaders of Brazil, Ecuador and the United Kingdom.



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Sources: CNN, MSNBC, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama Praises Amazing Chilean Miner Rescue Miracle

WH Dispatch: Obama On Chilean Miners



President Obama watched as the first of the trapped Chilean miners were rescued Tuesday night and found the story "inspirational," according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Gibbs quoted the President as saying the rescue was "a story with a happy ending" and he is "enormously proud" of the efforts of the American companies and federal agencies who assisted the Chilean government in the rescue efforts.

Gibbs also said President Obama will likely give remarks at the start of his 1:50 p.m. ET Rose Garden event on Wednesday and hopes to speak with some of the CEO's of those American companies and the Chilean government soon.




Miners In Chile Continue Their Ascensions To Freedom


By Wednesday afternoon, rescuers had winched to the surface more than half of the 33 miners trapped in a northern Chile gold and copper mine, and the world marveled at a "mission incredible."

After 69 harrowing days, the miners ascended to freedom one by one, hoisted through a half-mile of rock in a rescue mission that began in the numbing chill of a desert night and continued under the searing sun of a cloudless day.

As they came out of the earth in a red, white and blue capsule, the miners signaled a thumbs-up. Or waved Chilean flags. One even led the crowd in a chant for Chile. Some dropped to their knees and prayed. Mostly, though, they embraced the families they feared they would never see again.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera called the mission "magical." U.S. President Barack Obama called it a "tremendously inspirational story."

Florencio Avalos was the first to step out from the "Fenix" capsule, named for the mythical bird that rose from ashes.

He beamed as his feet touched the surface of the Earth that had smothered him. He cradled his son and wife before Pinera bear-hugged him.

The entire night passed before it was Mario Gomez's turn. He is 63 but has been mining since the tender age of 12. He contracted lung disease during his career and lost three fingers in a previous mining accident. He had planned to retire but went back down in the mine August 5 to test drive a new truck.

His wife, Lillian Ramirez, stood by nervously as he emerged before her in a cage no wider than the span of his shoulders.

Gomez, a man who used to tell his wife to quit bugging him to say daily prayers, dropped to his knees to praise God. At that moment, she knew how lucky she was to have him returned to her.

To say there were 33 trapped in the mine is wrong, Ramirez said. There were 33 men -- and God.

Ramirez was just one of the many anxious family members who bit their lips in anticipation and then rejoiced at the appearance of each man at the San Jose Mine in Chile's Atacama Desert. The miners had been trapped in the bowels of the earth since August 5 when the mine caved in.

In the capital, Santiago, hundreds wept and embraced as they watched the rescue on a flickering big screen TV set up in a square. Corks popped and champagne flowed at the Chilean embassy in Washington.

The scene repeated itself as more and more miners arrived. Around the world, strangers sat glued to their television sets.

"I mentioned on Twitter how 41 years ago the world watched men walk on the moon," said Connie Preti of New York. "Today we are seeing men come out from the earth. It's equally striking."

Pinera greeted each man as he came out of the capsule and said he would remain at the site until the last man was out Wednesday evening.

"We had promised to look until we found them," Pinera said. "We can all feel proud to be Chilean."

Health Minister Jaime Manalich said the rescue was proceeding according to plan and "going extraordinarily well so far." He said the miners were generally in good health.

"We have had very, very minor problems," Manalich said.

As the second miner, Mario Sepulveda, exited the rescue hole, he reached into a large yellow bag and handed out what appeared to be rocks to officials and rescue workers.

Sepulveda cracked jokes and led the crowd in a cheer for Chile. As the 40-year-old was hauled away on a stretcher for medical evaluation, he asked his wife, "How's the dog?"

Later, in a video conference, he said his time underground changed him.

"I buried 40 years of my life down there, and I'm going to live a lot longer to be a new person," he said. "I think I have learned a lot of wonderful lessons about taking the good path in life. For those of you able to call your wives, or your husbands, do so."

Avalos, the first man out, appeared strong, walking without help, embracing many of the rescue workers who witnessed his arrival. He was then put on a gurney and wheeled away for an examination by doctors.

The 31-year-old miner became a cameraman during the isolation, filming videos of the miners to be sent up to rescuers and relatives at the surface. His brother, Renan Silva, is also trapped in the mine.

"I'm overwhelmed with emotion because it's been so long since we have seen him," Alfonso Avalos, Florencio's father, told Chile's TVN. "I'm very proud of him. Thanks to God he got out and looks good."

Amid the sea of Chilean flags greeting the emerging miners was a collection of small, handheld Bolivian flags for Carlos Mamani, the lone Bolivian miner.

His family back home was restrained in their emotions for much of the morning while watching the rescue on TV. But they jumped up and clapped when they saw him kneel on the ground.

Next up was the youngest of the lot: Jimmy Sanchez, an 18-year-old who worked as an environmental assistant -- and the father of a newborn girl.

The 12th miner to be rescued, Edison Pena, was no longer "All Shook Up," as the Elvis Presley song goes. An Elvis fanatic who led the trapped miners in sing-alongs, Pena, 34, looked fit and exuberant. He waved and shook hands and hugged colleagues, loved ones and dignitaries.

And so it went Wednesday, and so it will go throughout the day.

The trapped miners put on green coveralls made of moisture-resistant material and personalized with their names.

Each climbed into a claustrophobic capsule equipped with communications equipment and a supply of oxygen. Each wore special $450 Oakley goggles to protect their eyes -- which had become accustomed to the vampiric darkness of the caved-in mine -- from the lights up above.

Then they awaited the order to hoist to begin their journey.

The first miners to come to the surface were deemed the most fit, but also possessed the most technical know-how so that they could advise the rescue teams.

The next five were the physically weakest, a term perhaps not appropriate for anyone who has survived more than two months in the bowels of the earth. But one of the miners has diabetes; another has black lung.

The last to come out will be Luis Alberto Iribarren, 54. Like the captain of a sinking ship, the shift supervisor volunteered to stay behind until all his men were safe.

All of the men are going through two hours of health checks at a field hospital set up at the mine. They will then be flown by helicopter to a hospital in the town of Copiapo -- approximately a 15-minute flight.

"It's extremely exciting for us. ... It's a very emotional moment for us," said Jeff Hart, one of the lead drillers who assisted with the rescue efforts. "We worked real long and hard on that, and to actually see the capsule come through the first time through the hole that we drilled was just unbelievable."

For the 33 men, the only contact with the outside world since August 5 was through a small bore hole through which they were sent food, water and other supplies. A letter sent by one of them said they would take a vow of silence, to never to fully reveal the details of their underground misery.

High above the miners, family members and 1,500 journalists from 39 nations held their collective breath as the rescue mission continued throughout the day.

And as each trapped man emerged safe, they exhaled.


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Chilean Miners Receive Rescue Miracle From God! 18 Up Thus Far!

Rescued Miner Says He Saw God & Devil During Captivity


Having spent 69 days trapped inside the San Jose mine in Chile before being rescued, Mario Sepulveda says, he is a changed man.

"I buried 40 years of my life down there, and I'm going to live a lot longer to be a new person," he said in a video conference hours after surfacing from half a mile underground.

Sepulveda, the second miner extracted from the mine, has advice for those who take undue risks in their lives.

"I think I have learned a lot of wonderful lessons about taking the good path in life," he said. "For those of you able to call your wives or your husbands, do so."

During the time he was trapped inside the mine, Sepulveda said, he saw both good and evil.

"I was with God, and I was with the devil. They fought, and God won," he said. Sepulveda said he grabbed God's hand and never doubted that he would be rescued.

Sepulveda praised the efforts of the rescue crews but argued for reforms in the mining industry.

"I think this country has to understand once and for all that we can make change. In the area of labor, we have make many changes," he said. "I think the owner has to give the tools so that the middle managers can bring changes in terms of labor. The middle managers cannot carry on like they have."

The rescued miner had high praise for the doctors and psychologists who aided the miners via videoconference.

"They gave us our lives back. It's incredible that with 700 meters between us, and not seeing us face-to-face, they revived us," he said.

With the world watching and the media attention at the mine intense, Sepulveda said he hoped to maintain a low-key profile now that they are being rescued.

"The only thing I ask personally is that you please not treat us like celebrities or journalists. I want to continue being treated like Mario Antonio Sepulveda Espinace, the worker, the miner. I love that, and I think that, in some shape, way or form, I want to continue working," he said.

Sepulveda was flanked by family members as he spoke.

"I'm very happy for all the beautiful things that were done for us," he said. "I'm very excited to be up here again."





Eighteenth Chile Miners Rescued, 15 To Go


[Updated at 1:49 p.m. ET, 2:49 p.m. Chile time] Esteban Rojas has been lifted out of the Chilean mine where he has been trapped for more than two months.

"Esteban, how are you?" the rescuers shouted as he got close to the surface. You could hear him shout through the chamber showing he was okay: "Bien!"

His wife Jessica Yanez grasped onto a religious tapestry with Mary on it as she awaited to see her husband.

As soon as he exited the capsule Rojas too knelt down on the ground, clasped his hands in prayer and lifted his hands to the sky to praise God. His wife then wrapped the tapestry around him as they hugged and cried as workers rallied in a Chile chant.

Rojas, 44, was working with supplies sent down to the mine. During his time in the mine he asked his wife of 25 years to renew their vows - and they plan to do so shortly after his rescue at a traditional church this time.

[Updated at 1:27 p.m. ET, 2:27 p.m. Chile time] Esteban Rojas is being put into the rescue capsule and will soon begin his journey to the top of the mine and see his family at Camp Hope.

[Updated at 1:23 p.m. ET, 2:23 p.m. Chile time] Crews worked to rescue 33 trapped miners as if the miners were their children, a posting on the official Twitter page of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said Wednesday.

"We looked for them like our children. We found them with God's help. We are rescuing them as Chileans," the posting said. "May their example inspire us."

The posting also thanked several heads of state, including the leaders of Brazil, Ecuador and the United Kingdom.


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