In statements to ’14ymedio’, Mayor Alessandra Rojo proposes “a public auction” of these pieces to recover the $32,000 they cost.
14ymedio, Mexico City, 22 July 2025 — The mayor of the Cuauhtémoc municipality in Mexico City, Alessandra Rojo de la Vega, wants to put up for public auction the statues of Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara that she ordered removed last week from the bench where they stood in the Jardín Tabacalera park . This is what the politician told 14ymedio, explaining that if this solution is possible, the auction would start at the original purchase price – 600,000 pesos, $32,000, in 2017 – “corrected for inflation in recent years,” with the money to be reinvested in the park.
“I want to return that money to the people, money which should have been used to improve their quality of life,” the mayor stated in a written response to questions from this newspaper. She also asserted that she had “had extensive discussions on the issue” with the mayor of the capital, Clara Brugada, and with the team of the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and that they are willing to hold a “working meeting” with lawyers. “Our team can reliably support the claim that the action was legal, consistent with good administration, and focused on addressing a citizen demand,” she asserted.
Rojo de la Vega says she is “willing to listen” to the position of the federal government and the ruling Morena party, “as long as it is focused on administrative debate and a solution that ensures the rights of the residents of the district.”
“I want to give people back that money, which should have been used to improve their quality of life.”
In one of her morning press conferences, President Sheinbaum had criticized the removal of the statues, arguing that the decision should be made “by a committee.” “You can’t remove a statue or monument like that. In this case, it wasn’t done by the institution.” At the same time, she opposed a possible auction of the works, created by sculptor Óscar Ponzanelli. “It would be a financial loss,” she declared, adding that she requested “that the monument be handed over and relocated.”
Rojo de la Vega responded to the Mexican president on social media, reminding her that in 2020 she had stated that “the ignominy in the city was coming to an end” and that homage would never again be paid to oppressors or dictators. “Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were exactly that: oppressors, representatives of a dictatorial regime, and responsible for thousands of deaths,” the mayor stated.
The politician, elected by a coalition opposed to the ruling party in the capital and the country, reiterated that 600,000 pesos were paid with resources from Chapter 5000 of the budget, an allocation that could have been used to “buy equipment for potholes or to replace streetlights.” She insisted that “the Constitution, which is much more than an administrative committee, establishes that we have the authority to manage the assets and properties belonging to the mayor’s office.”
“It has become clear that the Morena Party does not consider Che Guevara or Fidel Castro to be murderers.”
The removal of Fidel and Che Guevara came after an eight-month discussion, during which several residents expressed their discontent. “It’s a battle not for ideology, but for consistency,” she said.
In her exchange with 14ymedio on Monday, she also reported having received “many threats for complying with and enforcing the law,” including from “senators from the ruling party” and “a few government secretaries.”
“It seems that there is a double standard among some or many of its leaders. When criminals and human rights violators are their allies, what they did is not wrong. Only when they are their adversaries is it objectionable,” laments the mayor, who forcefully states, “It has become clear that the Morena Party does not consider Che Guevara or Fidel Castro murderers, that it defends the Cuban regime, that it believes that the political persecution of Cuba is not reprehensible, and that the mass exodus and forced displacements that have existed since the emergence of the Cuban dictatorship are not morally condemnable.”
That, she concludes, “is not the country, nor the project for which millions voted in the last elections, nor is it the city or country project that any Mexican wants.”
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