Mexico City, July 20 (Prensa Latina) Mexicans and Cubans living here today reaffirmed their support for the Caribbean country and demanded the return of statues of the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, and Argentine guerrilla Ernesto Guevara, removed by a local mayor’s office.
At a ceremony in Tabacalera Park, where the sculptures were installed, diverse organizations, including the Mexican Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, the driving force behind the initiative, and the José Martí Association of Cubans Residing in Mexico, rejected the Cuauhtémoc City Hall’s decision.
The decision to remove the statues was made in recent days by the mayor of that district, Alessandra Rojo, who alleged that the monument lacked the required permits, an argument later denied.
Chanting “Fascism out of the Cuauhtémoc mayor’s office,” “This park belongs to Fidel, this park belongs to Che,” and “Yes to Cuba, no to Alessandra,” the protesters, who also included residents, political parties, and unions, demanded that the mayor be sanctioned.
In an interview with Prensa Latina, Luis Flores of Jóvenes por el Socialismo, the youth wing of the Popular Socialist Party of Mexico, considered Rojo’s decision evidence of his ignorance of the major social movements centered around Fidel and Che Guevara.
She also pointed to the right-wing orientation of the parties the mayor represents (Institutional Revolutionary Party and National Action), which seeks to attack left-wing and revolutionary movements to prevent public awareness.
“The reactionary attempt to erase the revolutionary memory of Commander Fidel and Ernesto Guevara has met with a similarly powerful response. Just as they want to erase it with a stroke of the pen, we are also here filling this plaza and vindicating them,” said Emiliano Jijón.
In a conversation with Prensa Latina, the member of the Mexican Communist Party defined the Cuban Revolution as a beacon that continues to shine in Latin America and the world, and rejected the continued existence of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed on the island by the United States.
“We come here today because Fidel and Che Guevara represent the struggle of the peoples of the world, the fight against injustice and in favor of the people who have been trampled by nefarious governments always supported by the United States,” said federal representative María Magdalena Rosales.
Speaking at the demonstration, where Cuban flags and images of both figures were seen, the legislator for the ruling Morena party called for continued fighting for the statues to be reinstated and for demands that a similar incident not occur again.
The activists, who also expressed their proposal to name the park after Fidel Castro, called for a march to begin in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Cuba on July 26th, Cuba’s National Rebellion Day.
Last week, President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected Rojo’s decision, and the head of the capital’s government, Clara Brugada, announced that she would seek to recover the sculptures, which commemorate the first meeting between Che Guevara and Fidel Castro and are considered a symbol of friendship between Cuba and Mexico.
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