First Ever Desfile Bufo of the Huelga de Dolores in Antigua Guatemala

How about a satirical parade about a procession? As I said before, in Antigua Guatemala the two most popular form of manifestation are parades and processions.

Today I give both for the price of one with the first ever farcical parade in Antigua Guatemala organized by the students of Guatemala’s only public national university better known as USAC or Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala took place on Viernes de Dolores, Friday of pain, April 7, 2017. This farcical parade has a nearly 100 year tradition in Guatemala City, but only now we can to experience one in Antigua Guatemala.

For many decades, the Huelga de Dolores desfile bufo, clownish satirical parade was the only way for many Guatemalans to vent their grievances and complaints about the corrupt government and public or private entities using the 1-day freedom of speech license. So, as you can imagine, at one point it was quite important, but we now have a lot more freedom of speech, so the parade has lost some of its significance.

In 2017 the obvious targets to vent the unconformities and wrong-doings were, of course, Susana Asensio, mayor of Antigua Guatemala and Jimmy Morales, president of Guatemala. By the way, the mayor of Antigua Guatemala locked down the city hall building during the desfile bufo.

Here’s a fragment of the speech given in front of the city hall building. If you can understand some Spanish, you would be flabbergasted to hear all the cursing and bad words. By the way, this is something typical of the desfile bufo.

In general, many people were laughing at what they were hearing and watching the different satirical takes on things dear to antigüeños.

© 2017 – 2020, Rudy Giron. All rights reserved.