The mayor of Cali says the Resistance monument will remain in place, despite the sanction of the Ombudsman

After the Cali Ombudsman suspend from his functions the director of the Town Planning Department of this city, Ricardo Castro, for having granted the license for the construction of the Monument to the Resistance in the Puerto Rellena sector, Mayor Jorge Iván Ospina said Thursday, March 2 that despite the unfavorable decision, the gigantic sculpture will remain in place.

“In the same way that the Sebastián de Belalcázar was resettled, by a sector of the city of Cali who requested it, The Resistance Monument has another subsector of Californian society that demands it and must be maintained over time; it is totally intolerant to think of removing the monument of resistance when, on the contrary, it calls us to life and peace,” he said.

The local president recalled that one of the commitments with which it was possible to stop the protests against the government of former President Iván Duque in 2021 was not to move or demolish this element memorial.

“The young people who have advanced this social, political and cultural movement install the monument which is part of the agreements signed with them to overcome the social explosion and the events of the blockade and which, moreover, require political common sense on the part of a control body when evaluating it,” he said.

Finally, he appeals to the authorities of the capital of the Valle del Cauca so that they take into account that this sculpture must serve to reconcile the city.

“It’s something like a living movement and what used to be called Puerto Rellena now alludes to Resistencia, and in that senseI want everyone to be aware of the evolutionary process we are going through, I don’t want to describe it from an aesthetic point of view, but from a political, cultural point of view, of the new generations; It is very important and vindictive,” he concluded.

There Cali Ombudsman decided to suspend the director of planning from the city, Ricardo Castrofor granting the license to build the Monument to the Resistancewhich aims to pay tribute to those who died in the context of the protests against the government in 2021.

It was inaugurated on June 14, 2021. A few days later, the Cali Planning Branch granted planning permission for the structure, erected by the protesters themselves. Based on this, the Ombudsman determined that Castro, at the time Deputy Director of Public Space and Urban Planninghas not fulfilled its function of preventing the intervention, occupation and use of public space.

The official announced that he will appeal the decision, which is in the first instance, arguing that the license for the construction of the monument sIt was given within the legal framework and was authorized in response to a historic moment in the city.

“This monument has a popular origin in which community leaders participated and functioned as a tool to overcome the crisis, which was the social breakdown of 2021. Our responsibility as the mayor’s office has always been to safeguard life and use dialogue as an instrument to bring peace to the city,” he said. Castro.

At that time, the statue of Sebastián de Belalcázar, Spanish conqueror and founder of the city, was also demolished by the indigenous communities, because it represented “symbolic violence against all indigenous peoples that exist today and persist with identity”according to the Cauca Indigenous Regional Council –CRIC–.

After more than a year, the statue was reinstalled, but with a new plaque in which stands out an important message for the native ancestors.