America Thousands of people march dressed in white against violence in Colombia
Latin America Colombia removes the statues of Columbus and Isabel la Católica
The statue of the discoverer of America Christopher Columbus was demolished this Monday in Barranquilla, capital of the department of Atlántico (north),
by protesters who participated in a new day of protests
after two months of a national strike, the Police reported.
The director of the Colombian Police, General Jorge Luis Vargas, told reporters that this historical monument and another in the town of Santander de Quilichao, in the troubled department of Cauca (southwest),
"were attacked by criminals."
The mob that vandalized the centennial monument put a hood on the statue, a rope around its neck, tied ropes and pulled it down, while shouting
"Colón murdero".
Subsequently, on the ground they proceeded
to tear off his head
and write captions such as "for our dead" with spray paint.
The mayor of Barranquilla,
Jaime Pumarejo,
said that "violence only generates more violence. I invite you to shed your hatred and build a better country."
The president added that "we have not repressed and we will not repress the peaceful protest, but we do order to continue identifying, capturing and prosecuting those who commit acts of vandalism and terrorists."
The Columbus monument, which was located in a central Barranquilla neighborhood, was made by the Tomagnini de Pietrasanta company and
donated to the city in 1892
by the Italian colony in order to commemorate the four hundred years of the discovery of America.
However, the statue was not installed until 18 years later on what was then the main street of the city, which took the name of Paseo Colón.
Then it went to the Plaza de San Nicolás de Tolentino and in the mid-90s the current place, in front of the Church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen in the Boston neighborhood.
In Colombia the demonstrations have been characterized by attacks on monuments and statues of historical figures, including the conquerors
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada in Bogotá and Sebastián de Belalcázar in Cali.
Even in Bogotá the bronze statues of
Isabel the Catholic and Christopher Columbus,
located near the El Dorado international airport, after indigenous people of the Misak ethnic group tried to demolish them.
According to human rights organizations, the demonstrations, which in recent weeks have lost intensity until they have diminished and almost disappeared, leave some 74 fatalities, at least 20 of them due to police shootings, while the Government links the protests to 25 deceased and only three by the Police.
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America
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