Mexico Swings Back at Donald Trump’s Racist Comments — Literally

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Batter up! After Donald Trump accused Mexicans of being criminals and racists, Mexican artist Dalton Avalos-Ramirez created a piñata in his likeness. (From left: Dalton Avalos-Ramirez/Twitter photo; Gage Skidmore/Flickr Creative Commons photo)
Batter up! After Donald Trump accused Mexicans of being criminals and racists, Mexican artist Dalton Avalos-Ramirez created a piñata in his likeness. (From left: Dalton Avalos-Ramirez/Twitter photo; Gage Skidmore/Flickr Creative Commons photo)

Mexico is awesome.

One week after billionaire Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, an artist has responded to some of Trump’s claims about Mexico in an incredibly festive way.

During his inaugural campaign speech last week, Trump took a swing at illegal border migration, charging Mexican nationals with being “rapists” and accusing border crossers of bringing “drugs” and “crime” to the United States.

“Some, I assume, are good people,” Trump said. “But I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.”

This struck a nerve with artist Dalton Avalos-Ramirez, who decided to literally take out his frustration on Trump — or at least a paper caricature of the billionaire. Avalos-Ramirez has started selling piñatas — mini paper statues typically filled with candy that children break open with sticks at festivals and parties — that bear the billionaire’s uncanny square face and trademark blonde comb-over.

Avalos-Ramirez told The Guardian that he was inspired to create the piñata after seeing “the hatred Trump expressed for the Mexican people,” adding, “People want to burn the [Trump] piñatas, they want to break them.”

Read more: 10 Questions for Donald Trump About His Presidential Run

The artist has previously seized upon other controversies involving foreigners offending Mexican citizens. Last year, he created a paper statuette version of the singer Miley Cyrus after she pressed a Mexican flag against her body during a show. Avalos-Ramirez has created similar piñatas of Kim Kardashian and Dutch soccer player Arjen Robben, both of whom at one point in time drew scorn from Mexican citizens, The Guardian noted.

But the Trump piñata will arguably go down as one of Avalos-Ramirez’s signature creations, if only because most people can identify with the desire to want to take a swing at him (figuratively speaking, of course).

Trump, who is the host of his own reality program and frequently appears on news programs of a conservative interest, is no stranger to making controversial remarks. Shortly after his campaign speech, he tweeted that politicians “must protect our borders from people, from all over, from pouring into the U.S.,” making a pointed reference to Mexico in his tweet (there was no mention of Canada, America’s neighbor to the north).

Trump doubled down on his controversial remarks by suggesting that the U.S. create a “Berlin Wall-type wall” along the southern border to stem illegal immigration, according to The Independent newspaper. His comments have rankled many in Mexico and throughout Latin America.

“Donald Trump should not promote racism against Mexicans or Latinos in America,” Avalos-Ramirez said.

Trump officially filed his paperwork for candidacy Monday. Some conservative pundits had earlier suggested that his presidential campaign had been a ruse, likely to draw attention to himself (in the past, Trump has hinted at a run only to back down during an election cycle; those announcements are usually timed around the airing of his NBC reality program “The Apprentice,” which is currently on hiatus).

Trump’s decision to run for president enters him into a crowded market of Republican contenders and casts him as something of a long shot against notable politicians like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and businesswoman Carly Fiorina. Trump was the twelfth person to declare his intention to run for the Republican ticket in the 2016 presidential race, but he is so far the first GOP contender to have a piñata created in his likeness.

Matthew Keys is a contributing journalist for TheBlot Magazine

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