PT and Morena deputies say they seek to claim the history of the Cuban revolution; The mayor of Cuauhtémoc rejects the tribute to “two dictators.”
CDMX, Mexico. – Local Labor Party (PT) and National Regeneration Movement (Morena) presented an initiative at the Mexico City Congress to call “Ernesto Che Guevara ”and“ Fidel Castro Ruz ”to Halls 2 and 3 of the second floor of the building located on Fray Pedro de Gante Street, 15, Legislative Headquarters located in the Mayor’s Office Cuauhtémoc.
The Decree Project, published in the Parliamentary Gazette and signed by legislators Ernesto Villarreal Cantú (PT) and Xóchitl Bravo Espinosa (Morena), argues that the measure seeks to “perform an act of historical justice” and preserve the memory of the link between the Mexican capital and the Cuban revolution. According to the document, the city was “the melting pot where one of the most influential revolutionary movements of the twentieth century was created.”
The proposal arises in direct response to the decision of the mayor of Cuauhtémoc, Alessandra Rojo de la Vega, who on July 16 ordered the withdrawal of the monument Meetingmade up of sculptures by Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara, located since 2017 in the tobacco garden.
“I saw the irregularities and I said ‘they leave’. This city cannot be a refuge of oppressors, of dictators and much less of this torque, with the damage they did,” said red of La Vega in Interview with Cubanet. The mayor said that the sculptures were bought with public money, without transparency or citizen consultation, through the “chapter 5,000” of the Classifier by the object of spending, A rule used by governments in Mexico (federal, state and local) to organize its budget.
The same day of retirement, the mayor published in x: “Neither Che nor Fidel requested authorization to settle in Cuba … and neither in the tobacco.”
This Wednesday, after knowing the initiative of Morena and the PT, Red de la Vega reacted publicly from his X account. “I wake up with the news that the PT bench wants to name two rooms in the Gante building (…) like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. I would honor true Mexican heroines,” he wrote.
The mayor proposed as an alternative the “Hall Mothers seek”, in honor of women who “have done what the State refuses to do”, and the “Matilde Montoya Salon”, in memory of the first medical surgeon in the country. “Who would you choose to honor? Those who have fought for the life, justice and rights of all? Or two dictators who persecuted, tortured and murdered who thought differently?” He questioned in his message.
In an interview with this media last Monday, Red de la Vega had expressed its resounding rejection to the cult of Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara in Mexico and had criticized that “murderers, repressors, drug traffickers, thickets, corrupt, rapists” are honored just because they are the color or flag of a specific match.
The foundations of the initiative
According to the parliamentary document, designate the halls with the names of Guevara and Castro “is not an ideological adhesion”, but a recognition of their role as “protagonists of an event that impacted the world geopolitics” and that “had its starting point in our capital.”
The proposal emphasizes that in Mexico City the revolutionaries planned the expedition of the Granma Yate. “Without the hospitality and shelter that Mexico provided to these revolutionaries (…) the Cuban revolution would have been impossible,” says the text.
The impact of the revolution, the legislators add, “forced even capitalism itself to generate a social response.” Recognizing Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, they affirm, “is not a mere ideological issue or a dogmatic adhesion”, but an “unavoidable historical recognition.”
The decree contemplates that, once approved, commemorative plates will be placed in the halls and an official protocol for its unveiling will be organized.
The removal of statues
The removal of the statues of the tobacco garden has been criticized by actors of the ruling party, from Clara Brugada, head of government of Mexico City to Claudia Sheinbaum, president of the nation, who have branded the action of “illegal”.
In response, Red of the Vega ironized on social networks with a proposal: auction the statues and use the funds for public improvements, which has bothered further to the ruling party. “They pay tribute to murderers on other sides, but not here, not in the heart of Mexico,” said the mayor in statements to Cubanet.
