About statues and monuments.

By: Pedro Corzo - 04/08/2025

Guest columnist.
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In 2017, Mayor Alessandra Rojo de la Vega, mayor of Cuauhtémoc, a town considered the heart of Mexico City, decided to remove the statues of the tyrant Fidel Castro and the serial killer Ernesto "Che" Guevara, placed in a local park. This statue was decided by a Mexican official who is a supporter of the Cuban dictatorship and an important politician in the current president's administration.

Both symbols of endless abuse and cruelty were removed in 2018 due to a lack of government authorization, after being vandalized in protests and demonstrations by residents against them.

Consequently, the mayor, with the powers conferred by her office, argued that the monuments had generated controversy and that the mayor's office considered that it was not justified for them to occupy the assigned public space, in addition to the fact that there had been irregularities in their location, without referring to the thirty-two thousand dollars of public funds spent on the construction and the fact that tribute was being paid to two individuals who represented values contrary to what Mexican society and its government claim to exalt, publicly adding "Neither Che nor Fidel asked for authorization to settle in Cuba, nor in the Tabacalera."

The statues placed on a park bench represented Fidel Castro and Guevara, with a book and a tobacco pipe, respectively, instead of an assault rifle or an explosive device, the true affinities of these individuals who throughout their existence contributed to society only misfortune, misery and an incalculable number of victims and deaths.

This action has sparked numerous comments, but undoubtedly the most striking have been the remarks of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who said that Mayor Rojo de la Vega had acted illegally by removing the monuments, while accusing the official of "tremendous intolerance."

On the other hand, the president, following the Castro regime's guidelines of trying to discredit its adversaries and enemies, claims that the mayor went to Cuba on vacation, which, in her opinion, showed that she was not against the regime, ignoring the fact that not everyone who visits the island does so out of love for the dictatorship; many go to obtain information or attend the worthy opposition that she and her allies, such as Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, have chosen to ignore for ideological reasons.

In all honesty, I am not in favor of the destruction of statues and monuments. Every day I am convinced that there are indelible values, sometimes represented by images and monoliths dedicated to distinguished personalities or events in history, even though each person's perspective on the same events and people may be radically different, which should prompt appropriate reflection on the part of those involved.

For example, I reject the removal of statues dedicated to Christopher Columbus and other discoverers and conquerors of the Americas from the public spaces where they stand. I don't believe the demonizing arguments of those who promote their removal. It's true that the figures represented by many of these statues committed countless abuses and crimes, but they were also the ones who made the collision of two worlds possible and enriched both, the results of their lives being highly positive.

This cannot be argued with regard to Castro and Guevara, nor with regard to the Janissaries who accompanied them in the destruction of Cuba and in their failed attempt to destabilize an entire continent in order to impose totalitarian power.

I believe that monuments and statues represent significant episodes in history, and their construction or removal should be the subject of detailed research, the outcome of which should not be influenced by sympathies but by the contribution that the figures and events have made to humanity.

For my part, knowing the ways these criminals operate, I think it's a good idea to destroy similar monuments anywhere in the world that represent individuals like these, particularly the one dedicated to "Che" in the city of Santa Clara, because what Mayor Rojo de la Vega said last Monday, July 21, is an irrefutable truth: "Fidel Castro and Che were murderers. A murderer is no less a murderer if he's a leftist."

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».