By: D.W.
After months sheltered, the statue of Christopher Columbus on the Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City will finally be replaced by a sculpture in homage to indigenous women on this neuralgic avenue of the capital, a decision that has already caused positions for and against according to reports this Monday (06.09.2021).
“The statue of Columbus will be relocated to Parque América, in the Miguel Hidalgo city hall, in collaboration with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)“, reported the Government of Mexico City in a bulletin.
For him International Day of Indigenous Womenwhich was held on September 5, the mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, said that she is seeking to carry out “a great recognition of the indigenous women of Mexico” For this reason, she announced that, in collaboration with INAH, it will be placed in the called Glorieta de Colón the Tlali sculpture.
This Monday, the first lady of the Republic, Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, celebrated the decision. “The so-called Glorieta de Colón will no longer be called that because the statue of the cosmographer will be deposited in another place, and on this pedestal the sculpture of an indigenous woman will be placed. Personally, I am very pleased with this decision.“, he wrote on the social network Facebook.
Meanwhile, the former president of Mexico (2006-2012), Felipe Calderón described the decision as arbitrariness to replace and remove the statue of Columbus. “Disappearing, removing monuments and other architectural and artistic elements that are part of the great identity of Mexico City, without even asking the citizens, seems arbitrary to me.Calderón noted on his Twitter account.
For now, the sculpture is being made by the Mexican sculptor Pedro ReyesIt is 6.5 meters high and will have a base made of tezontle. In addition, it retrieves the “ancestral tradition of direct carving in stone, which emerged more than 4,000 years ago with the Olmec colossal heads“, pointed out the Government of Mexico City.