Covid-19 in Mexico: Latin America's largest pilgrimage is on TV
Audio 01:24
This year, there is no one at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico for the biggest pilgrimage in Latin America.
REUTERS - CARLOS JASSO
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
It is the largest pilgrimage in Latin America.
Each December 12, ten million pilgrims come to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
More than a religious icon, the Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of Mexican identity.
But, this year, for the first time in its history, the festivities are canceled due to coronavirus.
An imperative decision in a city whose hospitals are on the verge of saturation.
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With our correspondent in Mexico,
Alix Hardy
Thirty-five thousand people came at the beginning of the month to pay an early homage to the Virgin.
But this weekend the Basilica district is completely cordoned off for a kilometer around, and the police are preventing the more adventurous pilgrims from passing.
In her shop of religious articles Fernanda Ortega waits for customers who do not come: “
Normally the streets are so full that we can not go any further.
Stocks are filled for the most important period of the year.
We sell 200 to 300 t-shirts a day.
There are families who have come to see us for generations, except this year we have not let them pass.
If we sell 10 t-shirts a day, that's already good.
"
The deserted esplanade
No one complains about the deserted esplanade.
In the capital, contagions have exploded in recent weeks, suggesting the worst.
Only Mario Hernandez came with candle and rosary to pray in front of the gates… so that there would be more restrictions: “
Our Lady appeared here.
I have come here today to pray for all the unfortunate people who have died from this pandemic, because our government is not protecting us.
It is not by only closing the basilica that we will control the pandemic, it is by bringing the whole city to a standstill!
"
TV blockbuster
The most devout will console themselves with the help of the small screen.
Mexican television has put the small dishes in the big ones.
Songs and traditions are present in a blockbuster that lasts several hours, shot in the basilica a little earlier.
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Read also: Covid in Mexico: the medical profession exhausted as the epidemic resumes
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