Who would you build if you had to make a monster of mythical proportions? An evil equal to a biblical scourge? A traitor to be burned in effigy whose fiery demise would cleanse our corrupted souls?



In Mexico, that would be Donald J. Trump. (J for Judas?)



Or at least a 10-foot-tall papier-mache version of him: eyes wide, mouth agape, with painted-on business suit and golden mane. On Saturday night, just as every year on the day before Easter, Mexicans gathered on street corners and church squares to celebrate the Holy Week and set fire to their Judases, a popular ritual in this heavily Catholic country. Those demons are typically forked-tongue devils and flaming dragons, and often reviled politicians.



"For Latinos here and in the U.S., he's a danger, a real threat," said Leonardo Linares, a 52-year-old artist who built a Trump effigy over the past week in his Mexico City studio. "He's a good man to burn as a Judas."



Linares, a jolly craftsman in paint-splattered clothes, presided over this block party that attracted hundreds of revelers, with kids chasing cotton candy wisps and pitched funny-foam battles. Linares and his relatives, who have been running this show for decades, chose the order of the Judas burnings, beginning with diminutive devils and wee minions and moving to the big dogs: President Barack Obama with a cigar in his mouth and a Cuban flag, a black-clad Islamic State fighter with a Kalashnikov and the grand Trumpian finale.