Mexico Good Friday re-enactment another victim of pandemic

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The Cerro de Estrella was a barren hilltop of sun-faded grass with three towering but empty wooden crosses on Good Friday, a day when for nearly all of the past 176 years it would have been crowded with multitudes of people witnessing a reenactment of the Passion. of Christ.

For almost two centuries the ceremony has been an economic boon for the sprawling borough of Iztapalapa. เกมสล็อต  With more than 2 million people attending before the pandemic, it had provided a badly needed source of income for a working-class area that rarely shares in the tourism drawn to the rest of Mexico's capital.

Standing near the summit, 18-year-old Juan Carlos Martínez said he was sad and angered by the decision to cancel the vast religious ceremony for a second year in a row due to the pandemic, in a country where test-confirmed COVID-19. deaths amount to more than 200,000 and untested victims boost that toll to over 320,000.

"Something important has been taken from us," he said.

The pandemic has ravaged Mexico's economy, which saw an 8.5% contraction last year, one of the worst ever, due to forced closures and a lack of spending programs to compensate for the blow. Officially, some 2.4 million people have been added the ranks of the unemployed, and many who still have jobs are struggling to get by.