back
On september last year the statue of sebastian de Belalcazar was toppled down from its pedestal
in the city of Popayan, Colombia, from where it had stood for more than 5 decades. Many condemned the action
claiming that it was eraising history, but the truth is that the statue of Belalcazar was never supposed to be
there in the first place. That pedestal belonged to the cacique Puben, a prominent indigenous leader from the
times of colonization, but sadly the original plan was tossed aside and the cacique was lost.
This chain of events and the now empty pedestal represent not only a discontent of a specific community, but the
historical tendency that exists in Colombia to exalt whiteness and disregard the indigenous community.
El morro del Tulcan, the place where the statue stood
A PEDESTAL IS
A POWER IMBALANCE
2 — The Statue of sebastian de belalcazar in Santiago de Cali. It was covered with a tarp in an attempt to protect it when the protests of september 2020 were happening.
1 — The equestrian statue of Sebastian de Belalcazar in Popayan prior to its forced removal.
3 — The statue of Simon Bolivar at the Plaza de Bolivar in Bogota. Bolivar is considered the father of the country but his statues are subject of discontent, seen by the protected pedestal.
A PEDESTAL IS
A LINGERING LEGACY
4 — Statue of Cristobal Colon in Barranquilla being toppled down. June 19 , 2021.
5 — An equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar being removed at the height of the national strike in 2021 to prevent further damage.
6 — Statue of Andres Lopez de Galarza a Spanish Conquistador set on fire on may 28, 2021. the statue was later removed and damaged.
A PEDESTAL IS
DELIBERATE EXALTATION
8 — A protester hanging an upside down flag (a symbol of discontent for the state of the nation) on a statue of La india catalina, an indigenous woman prominent during times of colonization.
9 — Statue of Pedro de Valdivia in Concepcion, Chile. Valdivia was a spanish conquistador. The event happened during protests due the murder of Camilo Catrillanca on November, 2019.
7 — The statue of Elizabeth the Catholic painted red as a synvol of protest in Bogota, Colombia.
AN EMPTY PEDESTAL IS
A CALL FOR CHANGE
11 — An empty pedestal in Pasto. it belonged to Antonio Narino one of the generals that led the independence movement.
10 — The empty pedestal where Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada ( the “founder” of Bogota) used to stand on.
12 — An empty pedestal in Mexico city. It reads “So long genocide!!!”. It was where crisobal colon used to stand on.