{{lang|es|Banca de Fidel Castro y el \"Che\" Guevara}}
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Monumento Encuentro Banca de Fidel Castro y el "Che" Guevara Estatuas de Fidel Castro y el "Che" Guevara | |
![]() The sculptures in 2022. The white paint poured over them in 2021 can still be seen on the floor. | |
![]() Location | |
19°26′16″N99°09′08″W / 19.4377°N 99.1522°W | |
Location | Mexico City, Mexico |
---|---|
Designer | Óscar Ponzanelli |
Material | Bronze |
Weight | 250 kg (550 lb) |
Beginning date | 2017 |
Dedicated to | Fidel Castro and Che Guevara |
The Monumento Encuentro (lit. transl. Monument Encounter) refers to two bronze statues seated on a bench in Colonia Tabacalera, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, designed by Óscar Ponzanelli in 2017. Otherwise known as the bench of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and the statues of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, the artwork features sitting statues of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, major figures of the Cuban Revolution (1953–1959). The monument references the first time both met in 1955 in Tabacalera.
Fidel Castro and Che Guevara first met in June 1955 in Colonia Tabacalera, in Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, where both agreed to cooperate in the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista, then dictator and president of Cuba. [1] The statue was inaugurated by Ricardo Monreal on 2 December 2017 behind the San Carlos National Museum, [2] a few blocks from where they met. [3] A few weeks later, the bench was removed as it was placed without authorization of the Committee for Monuments and Artistic Works in Public Spaces (Comité de Monumentos y Obras Artísticas en Espacios Públicos, COMAEP). [4] The monument was reinstalled until 17 October 2020. [5]
The statue has received mixed opinions. In 2020, Jorge Triana Tena, a local deputy for the right-wing National Action Party, requested to the Congress of Mexico City their removal as he considered that there was no reason to honor people he described as "murderers, homophobes and racists". [6] Congresspeople from the left-wing National Regeneration Movement party, who held the majority of the congress, rejected the proposal. [7] In 2021, Misión Rescate México, a civil society organization, asked to remove the bench as a protest against the political prisoners in Cuba. [8] Many locals, however, spoke out in favour of the statue, stating that Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are "icons of the neighbourhood". [9]
Days after its reposition, there was an attempt to steal it. [4] On 22 September 2021, two men poured white paint over both sculptures. [10]
The bronze statues were created by Óscar Ponzanelli and are placed on a bench owned by the borough. The monument weights 250 kilograms (550 lb) and cost around Mex$600,000. [11] Both are seated "in a relaxed manner", Castro holds a cigar in his left hand, while Guevara holds a pipe in his right hand. [12]
De Anda compared the faces of Castro and Guevara to those of Santa Claus and Gerardo Fernández Noroña, respectively. [3]
Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig during the era of the Second Mexican Empire and modeled after the great boulevards of Europe, such as the Ringstraße in Vienna and the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The planned grand avenue was to link the National Palace with the imperial residence, Chapultepec Castle, which was then on the southwestern edge of town. The project was originally named Paseo de la Emperatriz in honor of Maximilian's consort Empress Carlota. After the fall of the Empire and Maximilian's subsequent execution, the Restored Republic renamed the Paseo in honor of the La Reforma.
Jorge Castañeda Gutman is a Mexican politician and academic who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2000–2003).
Hidalgo is a station on Line 2 and Line 3 of the Mexico City Metro system. It is located in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, west of the city center, on Hidalgo Avenue and serves the Colonia Tabacalera, Colonia Guerrero, and Colonia Centro districts.
Alberto Bayo y Giroud was a Cuban military commander of the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War. His most significant action during the war was the attempted invasion of the Nationalist-held islands of Ibiza and Majorca at the Battle of Majorca. He was also a poet and essayist.
Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, colloquially known as La Cabaña, is an 18th-century fortress complex, the third-largest in the Americas, located on the elevated eastern side of the harbor entrance in Havana, Cuba. The fort rises above the 60-meter (200 ft) hilltop, along with Morro Castle. The fort is part of the Old Havana World Heritage Site which was created in 1982.
Carlos Manuel Puebla was a Cuban singer, guitarist and composer. He was a member of the Trova movement, who specialized in boleros and patriotic songs.
The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's regime by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro in 1959.
The Che Guevara Mausoleum is a memorial in Santa Clara, Cuba, located in "Plaza Che Guevara". It houses the remains of the revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara and 29 fellow combatants killed in 1967 during Guevara's attempt to spur an armed uprising in Bolivia. The full area, which contains a bronze 22-foot statue of Guevara, is referred to as the Ernesto Guevara Sculptural Complex.
Colonia Cuauhtémoc is a colonia in the Cuauhtémoc municipality of central Mexico City. It is located just north of Paseo de la Reforma, west of the historic center of Mexico City.
Colonia Tabacalera is a colonia or neighborhood in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, on the western border of the city's historic center. It was created in the late 19th century along with other nearby colonias such as Colonia San Rafael and Colonia Santa María la Ribera. From the early 1900s, it became a mixture of mansions and apartment buildings, with major constructions such as the now Monument to the Revolution and the El Moro skyscraper built in the first half of the century. By the 1950s, the area had a bohemian reputation with writers, artists, and exiles living there. These included Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who met each other and began planning the Cuban Revolution there. Today, the colonia is in decline with problems such as prostitution, crime, street vending and traffic. However, the area is still home to some of the many traditional Mexican cantinas that populated it in its heyday.
The Museo Nacional de San Carlos is a Mexican national art museum devoted to European art, located in the Cuauhtémoc borough in Mexico City. The museum is housed in the Palace of the Count of Buenavista, a neoclassical building at Puente de Alvarado No. 50, Colonia Tabacalera, Mexico City. It contains works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Parmigianino, Frans Hals, Anthony van Dyck, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Auguste Rodin and other well-known European painters and sculptors.
The nations of Cuba and Mexico have had uninterrupted diplomatic relations since their establishment in 1902. Both nations are members of the Association of Caribbean States, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Latin American Integration Association, Organization of Ibero-American States, and the United Nations.
The Santa Ifigênia Cemetery, officially Santa Ifigênia Patrimonial Cemetery, is the cemetery, necropolis and main pantheon of the Cuban Oriente and the city of Santiago de Cuba. It is located west of the city, more specifically in the José Martí district and stands out for being the resting place of the remains of a large number of heroes and famous figures in the history and culture of Cuba, including José Martí and Fidel Castro.
Current and historical relations between Argentina and Cuba, have existed for over a century. Both nations are members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Latin American Integration Association, Organization of American States and the Organization of Ibero-American States.
Cuba–Poland relations are the diplomatic relations between Cuba and Poland. Both nations are members of the United Nations.
Cuba–France relations are the diplomatic relations between Cuba and France. Both nations are members of the United Nations.
The statue of Heydar Aliyev is a bronze sculpture of the third president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, previously installed along Paseo de la Reforma, in Chapultepec, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City.
The Monumento a la Raza is a 50 meters (160 ft) high pyramid in northern Mexico City. It is located in the intersection of Avenida de los Insurgentes, Circuito Interior and Calzada Vallejo, in the Cuauhtémoc borough.
Canek Sánchez Guevara (1974–2015) was a Cuban author, photographer, musician and dissident. The grandson of Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara, he grew up in the upper crust of post-revolutionary Cuban society, but soon became disillusioned with the government of Fidel Castro. After his mother's death, he went into exile in Mexico, where he worked as a writer for Proceso, penning criticisms of the Cuban government from a left-wing anarchist perspective. He died in 2015, following complications with cardiac surgery.