Mexico City Columbus statue to be replaced with one honoring Indigenous women

A statute of Christopher Columbus in Mexico City will be replaced with one honoring Indigenous women.

Speaking at an event in the city on Sunday, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said the new statute will deliver “social justice” regarding the role of Indigenous women in Mexico, Reuters reported.

The statue of Columbus will be relocated to another party in the city.

Sheinbaum said that while the country recognizes Columbus, there are “two visions.” One of which is the European version of the “discovery of America,” and the other Mexico’s view of what that history meant.

“There’s another vision from here, that in reality a European arrived in America, who made an encounter between two places, and then came the (Spanish) conquest,” Sheinbaum said, according to Reuters.

The statue in Mexico City has been repeatedly targeted by protestors demonstrating against the European suppression of Indigenous cultures.

According to The Associated Press, the statue was removed last year before Columbus Day, which is “Day of the Race” in Mexico, for restoration.

At least 33 statues of Columbus were removed last year amid racial justice protests, CBS News reported, citing local reports

Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka announced in June that a statue of Columbus in the city would be taken down and replaced with one of Harriet Tubman.

A judge in Pennsylvania ruled in mid-August that the city of Philadelphia could not remove a statue in the city, finding that the decision did not have “legal foundation.”