Mexicans celebrate holiday by burning Trump in effigy

Washington Post ^ | 03/27/2016 | Joshua Partlow

[SeekAndFind]

MEXICO CITY — Whom would you build, if you had to make a monster of mythical proportions? An evil equal to a biblical scourge? A traitor to be burned in effigy whose fiery demise would cleanse our corrupted souls?

In Mexico, that would be Donald J. Trump. (J for Judas?)

Or at least a 10-foot-tall papier-mache version of him: eyes wide, mouth agape, with a painted-on business suit and golden mane. On Saturday night, just as every year on the day before Easter, Mexicans gathered on street corners and church squares to celebrate the Holy Week and set fire to their Judases, a popular ritual in this heavily Catholic country. Those demons are typically forked-tongue devils and flaming dragons, and often, like this year, reviled politicians.

“For Latinos here and in the U.S., he’s a danger, a real threat,” said Leonardo Linares, a 52-year-old artist who built a Trump effigy over the past week in his Mexico City studio. “He’s a good man to burn as a Judas.”

Linares, a jolly craftsman in paint-splattered clothes, presided over a block party that attracted hundreds of revelers, with kids chasing cotton candy wisps and pitched funny-foam battles. Linares and his relatives, who have been running this show for decades, chose the order of the Judas burnings, beginning with diminutive devils and wee minions and moving to the big dogs: President Obama with a cigar in his mouth and a Cuban flag, a black-clad Islamic State fighter with a kalashnikov, and the grand Trumpian finale.

[Starstruck]

Doesn’t look like Trump, it looks like a white man.

You are right. Not orange enough.

[gogeo]

Another endorsement.

[norton]

This is silliness:
Fifty years ago you could see virtually the same exercise within Tucson city limits (Pala Village?). Uncle Sam and American politicians were standard targets, as were Judas & Satan.
I thought then and still think that the Indians in Arizona had a far better case than do Mexicans in their own country, but it is wrong to think of it as something new or some badge of honor due to The Donald.
I expect that Obama was featured last year and Bush before that.

[cabojoe]

Bless your heart.

[gogeo]

To me, it’s not just the crimes, it’s the fact that these folks don’t know how to behave in a middle class first world neighborhood.

[entropy12]

Good endorsement for Trump to have, the Mexicans are worried about losing their golden goose.

[Baldwin77]

I’ll say it again...

HE’S PIZZING OFF ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE !!!

[Regulator]

You’re talking about the Pascua Indian village which was just off Grant road near the freeway.

I went to all the Easter ceremonies there as a kid in the 50’s and 60’s and I don’t recall anti-American anything.

Perhaps you misinterpreted the Chapayekas and their masks.

The villains were Roman soldiers in the crucifixion story.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Add another 5 feet to it.

[pax_et_bonum]

But Linares is a JOLLY craftsman, sorta like Santa, so it’s all good.

[Fresh Wind]

I guess the Mexicans don’t believe that Cruz will build a wall as he claims.

Who can blame them?

[Bigg Red]

Sounds like a good idea.

Incidentally, I was in the Dollar Store on Friday. I always glance at the book section while I’m in there in hopes of seeing some leftist’s book marked down to $1. I was not disappointed: there was a book by Vincente Fox and one by Bruce Springsteen.

[Bigg Red]

Mind your language, please; there are ladies present.