Tucson, Ariz. – With lit candles in hand, dozens of people walked through the streets of Tucson on Sunday afternoon in commemoration of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead). The procession — which departed at dusk from the Global Justice Center on 26th Street — moved silently to El Tiradito on Main Avenue. There, by the dim light of the candles, the attendees honored the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives in the Sonoran Desert.
Isabel García, a representative of the Arizona Human Rights Coalition, explained to CALÓ News that the organization has been commemorating Día de Muertos in this special way for 25 years. More than half of the migrants who have died, she said, have not been identified.
In June 2000, García shared, the tradition began with a vigil at a place known as El Tiradito, an emblematic site in the city that has become a permanent shrine for those who have died at the border. Since then, the procession has been held every year on Nov. 2…