The work of the American sculptor Charles Cary Rumsey was moved 22 years ago from the center of Lima. During his relocation on Saturday, members of the indigenous community demonstrated against what they consider to be “an offense”.
More than two decades after it was removed, the equestrian statue of Spanish conquistador and founder of Lima, Francisco Pizarro, was reinstalled in the center of the Peruvian capital on Saturday, in what was described as a« offense » by groups defending indigenous populations.
Lima’s ultra-conservative mayor, Rafael López Aliaga, ordered the relocation in order to reclaim the Peruvian capital’s pre-Hispanic and Spanish past. The ceremony took place on the day of 490e anniversary of the founding of the city, in the presence of the president of the community of Madrid, the curator Isabel Díaz Ayuso. In her speech, she considered that putting the statue back in place is « one more step in respecting our common history ».
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The statue of Pizarro – on horseback and sword in hand – was reinstalled in the Plaza de Armas, next to the presidential headquarters. In 2003, the monument was moved to Muralla Park, located outside the center of Lima and with little traffic, in the face of a wave of criticism calling for its removal.
During Saturday’s ceremony, indigenous groups demonstrated a few meters from the monument, which police prevented them from approaching. « It is an offense, an offense to all indigenous peoples of Peru, Latin America and the world »said Teo Todupa, a 55-year-old trader.
In the 16th century, Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire. The conquest of America constitutes, for a certain number of authors and historians, one of the greatest genocides in human history. The work was created by American sculptor Charles Cary Rumsey and given by his widow to commemorate Lima’s fourth centennial in 1935.
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