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1 . The statue dedicated to the Spanish conqueror Diego de Mazariego is demolished in 1992 . Roger Mazariegos ( Wikimedia Commons )
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2 . Equestrian statue of Sebastián de Belalcázar in Popayán ( Colombia ), made by the sculptor Victorio Macho . It is one of the two statues of the Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Balalcázar toppled in Colombian cities . ( Wikimedia Commons )
Since the end of the colonial period , around 1815-1825 , the new Latin American countries have alternated between distancing themselves from and rapprochement with the Spanish culture – the monuments honouring historical colonial figures are proof of such oscillation . The newly formed countries ’ adoption of the republican political system was an evident reaction against the imperial and monarchic metropolis . This rapprochement with Spanish culture began at the end of the 19 th century . To the genocide and ethnocide committed by the conquistadores , we must add political , social and economic exclusion , as well as other forms of genocide , and the destruction of cultures , languages and traditions perpetrated by the Latin American elites , whose goal was to whiten the population of the new nations . Symbols of the metropolis were erected to represent the “ arrival of the lights ”, of civilisation against barbarism . The situation benefited Spain , which once more intended to reconquer America , this time from a cultural standpoint . In this particular case , the concept of Hispanicity ( Hispanidad ) bore more than just the colonial standpoint : it also contained the defence of the Spanish elite . This was fundamental in order to justify their authoritarianism during the 1920s and 1930s , and was intensified under Franco ’ s dictatorship . The monuments erected in Latin America in order to pay homage to the conquistadores , to the founders of colonial cities and villages , and the metropolitan military officers , comprised the historical narrative of the establishment of homogenous nations , founded under the ethos of whiteness , where the biography of the white elites represented modernity and progress , similar to the European standards , particularly in the former metropolis . On the occasion of the 400 th anniversary of the “ discovery ” of America ( 1892 ), during the centennial celebrations of the independence movements ( at the beginning of the 20 th century ), and upon the commemoration of the 400 th anniversary of the foundation of the colonial cities ( mid-20 th century ), dozens of monuments in honour of Spanish conquistadores , military officers and priests were erected in Latin America ’ s urban overview
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