The caucus of deputies of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) reacted with annoyance to the partial transfer of the statue of General Baquedano from the homonymous Plaza to the Historical and Military Museum.
This decision was taken by the Council of National Monuments (CMN), who considered that the location that had it for 93 years no longer guaranteed safety to the statue. This, since after the social outbreak of October 18, 2019, the monument registered various damages, caused by the demonstrators who crowded in the area. For the same reason, a year ago the figure of the military was removed for restoration actions.
You may also be interested in:
UDI reaction
The unionist deputies were upset by the decision, highlighting that it was a triumph of the violentists over the Government.
The head of the UDI caucus, Jorge Alessandri, told La Tercera that “as a result of our office asking about the fate of the statue of General Baqueano, about when it returned, with what security measures, how that artistic expression was going to be able to continue adorning the city. What has the government responded? That it will not return, that it will go to a closed museum, that only some who have access to that museum will be able to see it.”
“The city will be deprived of the monument to Baquedano. Who won? The violentists won. We should ask the government if it asked the front line where it wanted Baquedano to be,” he added.
Under this premise, the legislator questioned the decision: “Are monuments to Carrera, O’Higgins, San Martín going to suffer similar fate? Is violence going to decide where we can have artistic or historical expressions? Is violence going to choose where and what we can see? What time can we walk and walk?”
This was won by violence and the government opened the door for him. There will be no more Baquedano in our streets, he will be confined, locked up, because outside, in the open air, there will be vandals, those who burn and destroy,” he concluded.
Other reactions
The parliamentarians of the same party, Gustavo Benavente and Cristhian Moreira, shared the statements of the president of their caucus and also affirmed that this decision is an “institutional weakness” that could “encourage criminals and violentists to continue destroying other monuments and statues in our country, all under the umbrella of the current authorities.”
“The decision to move the Statue of Baquedano to a different part of plaza Italia is the corollary of the violence that for a long time endorsed this same government, and that today the misunderstandings are made,” the legislators complemented.
Finally, they specified that “this is a simply unacceptable decision and that reaffirms the complicity that the current authorities have with the violence. And let’s not be surprised afterwards if vandalism continues to destroy our cities, because the only thing that will provoke this decision is for the violentists to look for another monument to destroy, because they will know that the Government will end up giving in to their pressures.”
Follow us on
