A statue of the discoverer Christopher Columbus will be removed from one of the main boulevards of the city of Mexico and will be replaced by the figure of a Mexican woman from the indigenous population, said the mayor of the Mexican capital Claudia Scheinbaum, Reuters reported.
Scheinbaum said the famous nineteenth-century statue of Columbus on Paseo de la Reforma would be moved to a “decent place” in the city to make room for a monument that would contribute to the expression of “social justice” to the historical role. , played by women in Mexico and especially by those of indigenous origin.
“Of course we recognize (the role of) Columbus. But there are two points of view,” Sheinbaum said, noting that on the one hand there is a European vision of “discovering America,” although civilizations have existed in Mexico for centuries. “There is another point of view from here, that in fact a European arrived in America, established contact between the two parts (of the world), and then came the (Spanish) conquest,” she added in a speech in the Mexican capital.
Several statues of the Italian sailor have already been removed from cities in the United States after the “Life of Blacks Matters” protests and the rethinking of the colonial era and the legacy of slavery worldwide.
Scheinbaum is a close ally of left-wing Mexican President Lopez Obrador, who seeks to portray his government primarily as a defender of poor and indigenous communities.
