Colombia , plurinationality in the Constitution of Bolivia , and multiculturality in the Constitution of Guatemala . Politically active , the Latin American indigenous movements share similarities in different regions : they question the development model in force , and demand that their history and their memories , their historical figures and symbols be represented in the public space of Latin American cities . They also demand the demonumentalisation of the symbols of racism , prejudice , genocide and slavery . They spur on a fight that transcends national borders and is vested in an anti-colonial content of resistance against state power .
Between 2019 and 2021 , due to the popular struggle and the disastrous management of the COVID-19 pandemic by the majority of Latin American governments , monuments became the target of protests once again . The 2019 protests broke out against conservative rulers who had come to power in the previous two years , or who had recently usurped it . At the beginning of the 19 th century , most Latin American countries were governed by left-wing politicians ( Lula da Silva / Dilma Rousseff , Néstor Kirchner / Cristina Kirchner , Michelle Bachelet , Rafael Correa , Evo Morales , Hugo Chávez , Manuel Zelaya , José Mujica , Fernando Lugo , and Ollanta Humala , among others ) who , through social inclusion policies , strengthened and empowered popular social movements . Nevertheless , the return of conservative neoliberalism to the subcontinent through elections or parliamentary coups ( Jair Bolsonaro , Mauricio Macri , Sebastián Piñera , Jimmy Morales , Juan Orlando Hernandez , Pedro Pablo Kuczynski , and Lenín Moreno , among others ) represented not only an affront to democracy , but also the cancelling of inclusive public policies , which has brought back unemployment , poverty , and a disregard for those who are most in need . Demonstrations against the removal of subsidies , the increase in public transportation fares , the changes to the healthcare and education loan systems , etc ., came together with protests against the regression of civil and social rights for the majority of the populations of Latin American countries . In the context of conservative
and neoliberal governments associated with austerity policies and violent repression against demonstrators , statues were once more targeted by the anger of social movements , directed against everything that represented a conservative , religious , retrograde , anti-intellectual and authoritarian ideology . For example , two statues of the Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Balalcázar were toppled in Colombian cities . The monuments , according to the Misak community ( who claimed responsibility for the act ) “ are part of the symbolic violence ” that “ has oppressed them and put them in a place of oblivion ”. The Mayor of Popayán regarded the act as vandalism , and offered a reward of 5 million pesos for anyone who would identify those responsible . In place of the toppled statue of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada , founder of Bogotá , an image of Dilan Cruz was placed , a student who had been killed by the Colombian police while demonstrating for public education . Colombian demonstrators tried to topple and set fire to the statue of Simón Bolívar , a Venezuelan military officer who fought for the independence of several Latin American countries . Also in Colombia , in the city of Barranquilla , the statue of Christopher Columbus was toppled . During the act , demonstrators shouted “ Columbus , murderer ” and flew the Wiphala , the flag of the indigenous peoples , which has increasingly gained prominence amid the demonstrations in Latin American countries . In Chile , monuments to conquistadores , military officers and colonial city founders – all of them Spaniards – were toppled , burnt , damaged , graffitied , or dressed in indigenous costumes ; among them , Pedro de Valdivia , the
3 . In place of the toppled statue , an image of Dilan Cruz was placed , a student who had been killed by the Colombian police while demonstrating for public education . Statue of Dilan Cruz in Bogota @ NickMacWilliam . May 20 , 2021 ( Twitter )
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