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A cultural awakening - 11th October 2021

Mexico City's statue of Christopher Columbus has been taken down. City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that they're moving the statue to a park and the city centre will have the statue of an Olmec woman.

Recently, people all over Latin America and the US marched in the streets and pulled down statues of Columbus. Columbus's voyages were paid for by Spanish royals. On his voyage, in 1492 he reached the Americas and Spanish colonisation of the continent began. Today, many people in the Americas associate images of him with colonisation.

Days before the International Day of the Indigenous Woman, mayor Sheinbaum announced the plans to move the statue. She assured the public that she is not erasing history. Her intention is to bring justice to the native people of Mexico, who were there before colonisation. She wants to put their history and culture at the heart of the city.

The statue of the Olmec woman will be designed by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes. The Olmec culture was widespread in the Gulf of Mexico between 1200 and 400 BCE.

12th October is celebrated as Columbus Day in several countries. In the US, they've changed the name of the holiday to Indigenous Peoples' Day. This is to recognise the histories and cultures of the Native American peoples.

Several Latin American countries have also renamed the holiday, with names such as, Day of Indigenous Resistance and Day of the Americas.