MEXICO CITY’S PARADE HONOURS THOSE LOST TO QUAKE
A RAISED fist made of helmets, pick axes and broken rubble rolled ahead of hundreds of walking skeletons, costumed dancers and flowery floats at the weekend in Mexico City’s Day of the Dead par- ade, which this year honoured the 228 capital residents killed by a September 19 earthquake.
“Thank you, rescuers!” belted out Guadalupe Perez, 56, as she passed the sculpture, which was followed by contingents of men, women and dogs who had searched for survivors amid the rubble.
Mexico City’s central Zocalo plaza was filled with the papier-mache dead, skeletal Catrina figures and candle-covered shrines where people were invited to place photographs of those killed in two recent earthquakes, which together left more than 400 dead across the country.
A raised fist was the signal the rescuers gave for silence to hear if anyone was trapped under the rubble left by the most recent quake. It “has become a national and international symbol,” parade coordinator Julio Blasina said.