Instead, it will be replaced by a statue of an indigenous woman to recognize the contributions of Mexico’s native peoples, said Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.
Sheinbaum, who did the announcements on Sunday, Indigenous Women’s Day, said the Italian colonizer’s legacy is seen through “two visions”: one that is Eurocentric and another that recognizes that civilizations existed in the Americas long before Columbus arrived. .
“We owe it to them and we exist because of them,” Sheinbaum said of Mexico’s indigenous peoples. “It’s the history of our country and our homeland.”
The bronze Columbus statue stood out on Paseo de la Reforma, the main avenue in Mexico City since the late 19th century. In October 2020, officials removed the statue from its pedestal for a scheduled restoration, but were considering the legacy of the man he remembered, city officials said, Al Jazeera reported at the time.
Sheinbaum and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador then indicated that the statue of Columbus was removed to prevent protesters from vandalizing it, according to Al Jazeera. The statue had been previously damaged in the 1992 protests, 500 years after Columbus arrived in the Americas.
Instead of Columbus Day, Mexico observes Race Day on October 12, a holiday that recognizes “Mexico’s mixed indigenous and European heritage,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
To honor these pre-Columbian civilizations, the sculptor Pedro Reyes will create a statue of an Olmec woman. The Olmec people are believed to be one of the first important civilizations of what would become Mexico.
“It’s very important to dedicate a monument to indigenous women and the Earth, because if anyone can teach us how to care for this planet, it’s our native peoples, and that’s precisely what we need to learn again,” Reyes said in a statement, according to the Mexican newspaper El Universal.
The statue of Columbus will be moved to Parque América, a park in the Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City, El Universal reported.