Residents of Mexico City reportedly plan to burn an effigy of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump over the Easter weekend as part of their traditional holy week celebrations.
Thousands of Mexican citizens will gather in the country’s capital on Saturday to partake in an annual Easter ritual called the “Burning of Judas.” As part of the tradition, Mexicans stuff giant papier-mache figures of Judas Iscariot, the devil and unpopular public officials with fireworks and set them off in local plazas. This year, a six-foot effigy of Trump, in a blue suit and his signature red tie, will be among those torched in the celebration. “We are going to burn Trump now because we don’t like him. He speaks ill of Mexicans,” Felipe Linares, the man who created the effigy, told Agence France-Presse.Trump set off a media frenzy last June when he equated Mexican illegal immigrants to criminals and “rapists” during his presidential announcement speech. He has since made illegal immigration a central issue to his campaign and promised to force Mexico to cover the cost of the wall he’s pledged to build, as president, along the southern U.S. border. “With all of the stupid things he has said about Mexicans, I thought people would like to see him burning as Judas,” Linares added. “I think he’s just saying these things to become famous. Who knows if he actually believes it.” Trump is not the first foreign political figure to be included in Mexico’s Burning of Judas celebration. According to The Guardian, an effigy of former U.S. President George W. Bush was also burned in the Easter festivities.
