Street scene at Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City near the Christopher Columbus statue

By Naadiya Adams

In a move to re-shape women’s representation in history, Mexico City is tearing down one of their most prominent statues.

A statue of Christopher Columbus , which has stood in the city’s most iconic boulevard for years, will be replaced by a statue honouring Indigenous women, the city’s mayor has announced.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum was speaking at an event in the Mexican capital at the weekend, marking International Day of the Indigenous Woman.

The monument is set to deliver “social justice” for the historic role of women in Mexico, said Mayor Sheinbaum.

The decision comes after the 19th-century bronze statue on the Paseo de la Reforma had been taken down last year for refurbishment ahead of an annual demonstration.

The international community in recent years has been pushing to take down statues and monuments of historical figures involved in colonialism and other abuses, including slavery.

Recently, the people have become a law unto their own, and monuments have been toppled by protesters or removed by local authorities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and even in South Africa.

The statue of the Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, graced the streets of many cities in the United States but has since been removed. His Spanish-funded expeditions from the 1490s onward unlocked the way for the European conquest of the Americas.

Mexico City’s Columbus statue was donated to the city many years ago, it became a significant point on the 10-lane Paseo de la Reforma boulevard along which it sits.