The government of El Salvador destroys the monument commemorating the 1992 peace accords.
A new public space will be built in its place.
247 - The Government of El Salvador demolished on Wednesday (3) a sculpture park inaugurated in 2017 in homage to the signing of the peace accords, which in 1992 ended 12 years of a bloody civil war in the country.
“The supposed 'monument to reconciliation,' inaugurated by the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front) government in 2017, which was not only aesthetically horrific but glorified the pact between the murderers of our people... has been demolished,” said President Nayib Bukele.
The president added that a new public space will be built in its place.
The bronze sculpture, by Napoleon Alberto, is composed of three statues: that of a woman (the "Mater Civis"), nude from the waist up, and those of a female guerrilla fighter and a soldier releasing a dozen doves.
The concept for the monument was developed by Alberto, and the design and implementation were the responsibility of the Directorate of Inclusive Cities, which worked primarily with donated materials and the collaboration of volunteers and prisoners about to be released, who crafted the tiles and cement trim that combine with grass.
In the artwork, the man and woman, dressed in combat attire and unarmed, walked together, representing the opposing sides in conflict.
The Catholic Church then handed over 33 medium-sized boxes filled with disused keys so that a bronze monument could be built.
The civil war in El Salvador pitted military and security forces against the guerrilla group formed by the FMLN, between 1979 and 1992. On January 16, 1992, the peace accords were signed at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico.
(With agencies)