Wake up people!  Death is knocking at your door.

 

Day of the dead (Día de muertos) happened over the weekend.

In case you didn´t know it´s the day to celebrate or commemorate those who have moved on into the afterlife.

Altars, usually very colourful,  with offerings to the deceased are set up in homes and in many public places.

Death in Mexico is, of course, as anywhere is a constant.

Many say that Mexicans embrace death like no others.

However, no other country not at war has quite as many violent, gruesome deaths as Mexico.

Mass disappearances are frequent occurrences.

Beheadings occur.

Drug cartels rival ISIS for their brutality.

Corruption is rife.

The mood in Mexico is sombre as the people awaken and demand the appearance of the 43 missing teaching students.

Another mass protest happened yesterday.

I felt  firsthand the ire and sadness of the collective masses who fight for and demand a more just Mexico.

On Sunday I was walking down Regina, a pedestrian street here in the centre of Mexico City.

The previous day I believe the street was used for some kind of death altar competition.

I found the remnants of an altar lamenting the passing of several key pillars upon which a nation should be based.

I think they sum up pretty well the sentiments of many here.

Pictures of the altar with my English translations below.

Vale.

INDEPENDENCE

 Poor Independence!  Traitors hacked you to pieces with their axes of greed.  They mutilated the prefix IN and handed it over to foreign governments.  Her remains are scattered all over the world but her essence prevails in this tomb.

TRUTH

Ambushed in the shadows, assassinated by the conspirators of bad government and covered with the cloak of pretense to hide their horrific crimes.

DEMOCRACY

Here lie buried her rotting remains, perished in vain asking to be saved.  Hanged by a pack of liars.

EDUCATION

Ended her days when bad government and politician henchmen destroyed her and handed her corrupt spoils over to the people in a swindle in order to train,from the classrooms, the new flocks that keep them in power.

FATHERLAND

The fatherland has died.  Abused by tyrannical governments lacking in greatness and deficient in talent, by violent idiots and by people with no dignity or honor who live accustomed to suffering the abuses of power. And by ignoramuses for whom rebellion is not just a right but also a virtue.

JUSTICE

Died of asphyxiation because the tyrannical government twisted her head so much that she could take no more and took her last breath without even turning back to look at the people of Mexico. 

REPUBLIC

Slaughtered by the mercenary sword of neoliberalism and today lies here with her entrails open to theft and looting.

HISTORY

Lies here.  Died at the hands of the dictators who have governed Mexico and the false chronicles written by the pimps of the pen who have dedicated themselves to writing in order to corrupt the memory of the people.

LIBERTY

Assassinated by the henchmen of the Mexican government.  Here lies her body, mutilated by torture.  Many fought for her and wished to save her but she finally succumbed to the indifference of many.

CULTURE

Eclipsed, destroyed and buried by Decree of the State knowing full well that an educated people is no easy prey and difficultly deceived and corrupted.

HEALTH

In this country, she has always been dead to the poor and the bad governments of Mexico have been in charge of keeping it that way.  Poverty is punished.

PEACE

Passed away when the people of Mexico awoke from the dream to see the nightmare the country has lived during the past decades:  The rule of law and justice massacred by the mercenary armies of Mexico’s bad government which abducts, tortures and disappears citizens, sowing terror everywhere.

THE RULE OF LAW

Assassinated by the authoritarian government of Mexico, his blood body lies here.  We demand justice, we will not back down, we will not give up, we will continue to denounce this crime even if the entire country falls silent before him.

SOVEREIGNTY

Passed away many years ago, bad governments wiped her out bit by bit.  Today she is only known through some history books.  One day we will resuscitate her.