Mexico, Mexico | AFP | A statue of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was demolished on January 1 by unknown persons in the municipality of Atlacomulco, in the center of the country, the former mayor of that town said on Sunday.
“The damage suffered by the statue of the lawyer Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was established in the receipt delivery certificate that I made to the new mayor,” Roberto Téllez, former mayor of Atlacomulco, told the newspaper El Universal.
Téllez, who ruled Atlacomulco under the acronym of the ruling Morena until December 31, had unveiled the statue of López Obrador days before leaving office.
The sculpture was demolished during the first hours of January 1 already under the government of Marisol Arias, who won the mayoralty under the acronym of the opposition alliance made up of the PAN, PRI and PRD parties.
Images disseminated on social networks showed the sculpture on the ground and without a head.
Téllez told the newspaper that the statue cost 50,000 pesos (about $ 2,400) and that he paid for it with his money as a donation to Atlacomulco.
Although López Obrador, who assumed the presidency of Mexico on December 1, 2018, has rejected monuments or streets in his honor, it is not the first time that supporters of his movement have unveiled a sculpture of him.
In August of last year, a group of supporters unveiled a statue of the president. At that time, the group announced that the sculpture would finally be placed in the National Palace, the seat of the Executive Power in Mexico and the residence of López Obrador, although the authorities have not approved the idea.
López Obrador maintains an approval rating of around 60%, according to various polls, although he is also a polarizing figure in Mexico. In October 2019, he said that when he retires he does not want monuments erected in his honor.
“I do not want anything that has to do with cult of personality, I do not want my name to be put on streets, or statues, or tributes, nothing of the kind,” said the president at the time, who also did not allow his photographs to be placed in government offices as was the case with previous presidents.
In Mexico, thousands of streets and monuments are named in honor of historical figures, although it is rare that there are tributes of this nature for politicians in office or who have just finished their mandate.
In 2007, a statue of former president Vicente Fox (2000-2006), placed in the state of Veracruz (east) was demolished by opponents, while in 2017 the press reported plans to name a park in Tijuana (northwest) in honor of Angelica Rivera, wife of then president Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018).
