Conquistador monument draws Mexican Indians' ire
A city in southern Mexico agreed Wednesday to consider a petition by Mayan Indians to remove a recently installed monument to the Spanish conquistadores who led the bloody conquest of the region in the 1500s.
Over 100 Mayan groups and individuals from Yucatan and other Mexican states signed the petition asking that the monument to Francisco de Montejo and his son be removed from a boulevard in Merida, Yucatan's state capital. It was installed in June.
Between 1528 and 1546, Montejo and later his son led bloody battles for control of the Yucatan peninsula, killing Mayas by the thousands and suppressing Mayan culture. The Maya continued to resist, but their lands were largely taken and many were forced to labor on plantations owned by the descendants of the conquerors.
"This represents an insult for the Maya nation," Artemio Kaamal of the Maya civic group Kuxa'an'on ("We are Alive" in Maya), said of the monument. "This injures the identity and roots of the Mayan people."
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Over 100 Mayan groups and individuals from Yucatan and other Mexican states signed the petition asking that the monument to Francisco de Montejo and his son be removed from a boulevard in Merida, Yucatan's state capital. It was installed in June.
Between 1528 and 1546, Montejo and later his son led bloody battles for control of the Yucatan peninsula, killing Mayas by the thousands and suppressing Mayan culture. The Maya continued to resist, but their lands were largely taken and many were forced to labor on plantations owned by the descendants of the conquerors.
"This represents an insult for the Maya nation," Artemio Kaamal of the Maya civic group Kuxa'an'on ("We are Alive" in Maya), said of the monument. "This injures the identity and roots of the Mayan people."