Mexico (AFP)

Pig masks, a giant magnifying glass, plastic droppings and hundreds of disguises are piling up in the house of Julia Klug, a Mexican activist who has been making costumes for colorful events for two decades, motivated by her heartbreaking story. .

At 65, this woman with short hair, who describes herself as a "citizen committed to justice and social struggles" for which she wants to educate her fellow citizens, created real artistic performances during events in the Mexican capital.

With provocative costumes, she transforms any parade, as boring as it is, into a media attraction.

Recently, she made a giant magnifying glass and dressed as a private investigator to protest the suspicion of media spying on the Mexican government.

His last performance, in early August, was to denounce the "racial discrimination promoted by (US President Donald) Trump in the United States and led", according to her, the killing of El Paso, Texas, where 22 people were killed, including eight Mexicans.

On this occasion, she was wearing a pointed hood like those used by members of the Ku Klux Klan, covered with the American flag. In front of the US embassy, ​​she pointed rifle at a sidekick dressed in a typical Mexican costume lying on the ground and surrounded by clothes stained with blood.

"I produce images with my body to attract the attention of people," says the sexagenarian in his "museum", actually his living room where are stored all the costumes and accessories used in 22 years of militancy.

- Beaten and raped -

Born in Guatemala in 1953 and a long-time naturalized Mexican, Julia Klug explains that the roots of her commitment go back to her unhappy childhood.

She says that her mother died at birth and her father then placed her in a foster home where she was regularly beaten. The beatings even doubled when she revealed that she had been raped by the priest of the parish.

Thus, the first event she participated in in 1997 was the Mexican priest Marcial Maciel - who died in 2008 - founder of the Catholic congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, accused of sexual abuse and mistreatment of minors.

Julia proudly shows Pope's costumes, which she used several times during protests targeting the Catholic clergy, once inside the Cathedral of Mexico City.

The activist claims to have been the target of an attack and received death threats for her activism.

She also claims that the death of her son, a Mexican Air Force pilot killed in the crash of his plane in 2010, is not accidental.

But rather than giving up, she uses the pension she receives from the Air Force to buy more and more equipment to make her costumes.

"As long as corrupt politicians and pedophiles continue to bullshit, I will continue to protest," she says.

© 2019 AFP