Controversial statues of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro have been removed from a city park by authorities.
The monument depicted the two revolutionaries meeting for the first time when they agreed to cooperate in the overthrow of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
The meeting took place in the Tabacalera area of Mexico City in June 1955.
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The statues, erected in Tabacalera in 2017, depict Castro chomping on a cigar as Guevara smokes a pipe next to him on the same bench.
But the mayor of Cuauhtémoc Borough, Alessandra Rojo de la Vega, announced that the statues have been removed for not having the required permits for their installation.
The monument was removed by crane from outside the Cuauhtémoc City Hall on Wednesday (16 Jul).
The mayor said: “We removed them for three very simple and clear reasons.
“One, there was never a correct application for their installation.
“Two, there is not a single piece of paper authorising their installation.
“Three, they were under the irregular ownership of an employee of the mayor’s office.
“This is not how things are done.”
The mayor also said that many locals wanted to “recover the paths and public spaces of Tabacalera Park,” as reported by Need To Know.
She added: “They told us clearly: we want to walk freely on the paths again, rest, and enjoy the park.
“We want public spaces to be ours again.”
The two 250-kg bronze statues were designed by sculptor Óscar Ponzanelli in 2017.
They were installed in Tabacalera Park in December the same year.
But the statues have generated controversy since they first appeared on the park bench.
Locals attempted to remove them in 2020, and they have been vandalised several times in recent years.
In 2021, a group of angry citizens held a demonstration in the park with banners reading “Mexico should not pay tribute to murderers” and “there is still no freedom of expression or demonstration in Cuba”.
The mayor’s office said they will announce where the statues will be relocated in due course.
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