Retaking a Space

The most popular reason for putting up statues is to immortalize people or events. During the Roman empire, when condemning someone to be forgotten, parts of their statues would be destroyed. One recently popular tactic has been to rename spaces, as well as to deface statues which portray controversial figures. However, one roundabout on Chapultepec in Guadalajara, Jalisco has been retaken by people in a glorious effort to rewrite the narrative.

Glorieta de Los Niños Héroes has a huge statue of a woman high on a pedestal where most people cannot reach her. Being a roundabout, in the past, cars drove around yet another statue designed to perpetuate the dominant narrative. Putting up statues also projects that the “truths” of history are taken for granted, leaving no room for confrontation. Mostly older people accept these truths, despite having lived through the time and experiencing a different reality.

However, people will only be silent for so long before they get tired of repeating lies. Now that so many people have gone missing, the roundabout has a completely different appearance, with photographs of the missing plastered around the edges. Instead of driving around a distant statue, drivers are confronted with the faces of those who have disappeared. In truth, while statues can stay up forever, the narrative can change based on the will of the people. The space has even been renamed “La Glorieta de Las y Los Desparecidos.”

People also reclaim spaces to let others know that everyone in a space is experiencing a different life. Just like other cities that gained popularity with US immigrants, many areas of Guadalajara have been targeted to see a rise in price. People who are already disgusted with a false history are even further enraged by how their spaces have been taken for being “trendy.” Consequently, they write their truths so that it is difficult to ignore.

Even though the dominant narrative has most of the power and control, there are places where there is a genuine competition for multiple voices in one spot. Chapultepec is one area where marginalized voices have proven that they can insert themselves at any time. Such circumstances are one of many reasons why México is known for its activism.