Mexico: Mayor of Cuauhtémoc orders the removal of the statues of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara

Supporters of PCM at Fidel and Che's sculptures

In a completely unjustifiable decision, the mayor of Cuauhtémoc Municipality in Mexico City, ordered the removal of the sculptures of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara which had been placed in 2017 in Tabacalera gardens as a reminder of their first meeting in 1955.

In a report, the official gazette of the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM) "El Machete", stresses out that the argument put forward by Mayor Alessandra Rojo de la Vega was the lack of formal permits for its placement, despite the fact that the work had been there for several years and was recognized by residents and passersby. 

Mayor Rojo de la Vega explained that neither the then-local administration nor the artists responsible had official authorization for its installation. "Neither Fidel nor Che asked for permission to be installed," she said ironically on social media, reinforcing the argument that the sculpture had been placed illegally. 

"The monument — two life-size bronze figures seated on a bench, representing the iconic communist revolutionaries — is not just any decorative piece. It commemorates the beginning of a historic process of national liberation that radically transformed the history of the Cuban people and whose memory lives on among the working classes and popular sectors of Cuba and Mexico. The chosen location, moreover, was not accidental: Fidel Castro lived in Tabacalera while, along with other exiles, he prepared the expedition of the Granma yacht to Cuba", points out "El Machete". 

The removal of the sculpture cannot be explained solely from an administrative perspective. Although it is true that there was no technical file, nor official endorsement from the Committee on Monuments and Artistic Works in Public Spaces, it isn't accidental that these types of formal demands are only activated when dealing with symbols that challenge the established order. In contrast, numerous urban interventions—commercial murals, corporate or religious sculptures—remain unchecked.

The removal of the sculpture is not a minor event. It is part of a broader cultural dispute: who has the right to remember, and what events should remain in the collective memory. By eliminating a symbol that refers to communism, internationalist solidarity and the struggle for people's emancipation, local authorities reaffirm a hegemonic vision of the past, in which there is no place for revolutionary processes.

Mayor  Rojo de la Vega, who, among others, poses as an "activist" and "feminist", must be held accountable by the people of Cuauhtémoc, by all progressive Mexicans, for this shameful action. 

 IN DEFENSE OF COMMUNISM ©