Mexico: Figure of indigenous woman to replace Columbus statue

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There are several statues of Columbus in Mexico City.

Sometimes they are secured with fences from demonstrators

Photo:

Mario Guzman / EPA

A figure of a young indigenous woman is to be erected on the former site of a statue of Christopher Columbus in the center of Mexico City.

It is a six-meter-high copy of a recently discovered sculpture around the time of Columbus' arrival in the New World, as the mayor of the Mexican capital, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced on Tuesday.

This is a tribute to indigenous women who have repeatedly fallen victim to racism and discrimination.

A few weeks earlier, Sheinbaum had only presented another replacement for the Columbus statue.

The sculpture of a head by a contemporary artist, which was also supposed to represent indigenous women, caused ridicule because of its appearance.

The new solution is a copy of the two-meter-high stone sculpture "The Young People of Amajac", which is said to have been made between 1450 and 1521 and was found by chance by farmers in January in the eastern state of Veracruz.

According to archaeologists, she probably represents a ruler.

The Columbus statue has stood on the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard since 1877.

It was removed in October last year - in order to restore it, it was said at the time.

Left groups had previously threatened to knock her off her pedestal on October 12.

Many countries in America commemorate the arrival of Columbus in the New World in 1492 on this day.

The statue is now to be re-erected in a less prominent place - a small park.

The Italian Columbus (1451-1506) is often referred to as the "discoverer of America".

He is also widely criticized for his violence against the indigenous people and for having made a decisive contribution to the transatlantic slave trade.

sol / dpa