Small town’s peace statue to Colombia’s Santos draws fire

BOGOTA – Opponents of Colombia’s peace process are angry that a city has erected a statue of President Juan Manuel Santos to honour his efforts to end Colombia’s half-century armed conflict.

The mayor of Belen de los Andaquies dedicated the life-size bronze statue of the Nobel Peace Prize winner last month on the 100th anniversary of the town, which was hard hit by the conflict. Santos appears holding a peace dove and the accord he reached last year with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

“Here the change is felt,” Mayor Edilmer Ducuara said.

Opponents accuse Ducuara of violating a decree against monuments to sitting public officials. They also point out that 60 per cent of the town rejected the peace deal in a referendum.

The dispute is, in many ways, a microcosm for the continued friction over the peace deal meant to end Latin America’s longest-running dispute. Colombians narrowly rejected the deal in a national referendum in October. A revised agreement was later passed by Congress but the country remains divided and Santos’ approval rating has plummeted.

Ducuara said no government funds were spent on the monument.

Colombians have chimed in on the statue with satire and criticism online. A petition on Change.org demanding the statue be removed garnered more than 400 signatures. Some of the critics poke fun at the statue’s awkward appearance, and the dove with oddly oversized wings.

“Is it a falcon attacking the president? A stork?” quipped Daniel Samper Ospina, one of the country’s most prominent political satirists, in a column.

Sculptor Anibal Castillo, a 38-year-old Colombian, said he spent 45 days working on the piece. He said the statue of Santos was a true “homage to peace.”

Those signing the Change.org petition were less exalting.

“The peace Colombians long for does not exist,” wrote Alejandrina Ramirez, one of the signers. “It’s a joke. We won’t let Santos continue to be held up on a pedestal.”