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AZERBAIJAN LEADER'S STATUE IN MEXICO DRAWS PROTEST
National Public Radio
November 13, 2012 Tuesday
SHOW: Morning Edition 11:00 AM EST
ANCHORS: Carrie Kahn
GUESTS: Rigoberto Saucedo, Ambrosio Ariza, Felipe Leal, Thomas De Waal
RENEE MONTAGNE: In the most prominent park in Mexico City, you can
find statues to international heroes like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin
Luther King and now Heydar Aliyev. He was a Soviet-era autocrat in
Central Asia. The late leader's government paid for the statue and
restoration of a nearby plaza. And as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports,
that's created quite a stir in the Mexican capital.
CARRIE KAHN: Strolling through Mexico City's Chapultepec Park is one
of the few green pleasures in this concrete mega-metropolis. So when
the corner of a busy intersection was covered in marble and topped
with a huge golden statue, heads turned.
RIGOBERTO SAUCEDO: (Foreign language spoken)
CARRIE KAHN: Rigoberto Saucedo passed by the intersection on a recent
Sunday. He says it's not right to put up a statue of a dictator in
Mexico, a country that proclaims its freedom. Like most passersby,
Saucedo had never heard of Aliyev until the statue went up in August
and the controversy spread in the media. Ambrosio Ariza came by to
see what all the fuss was about and take some pictures. He wasn't
thrilled either.
AMBROSIO ARIZA: (Foreign language spoken)
CARRIE KAHN: He said there are many great Mexican heroes, why put
up a statue up to this man? So how did this one-time KGB insider and
controversial leader of a country thousands of miles away get a huge
statute in Mexico City? The head of Urban Development for the city,
Felipe Leal, says it was simple.
FELIPE LEAL: We made a mistake. We don't research enough, no?
CARRIE KAHN: Leal says no one looked into Aliyev's background or
questioned the wording on the plaque in front of the statue that
touts him as a shining example of universal ideas and world peace.
Aliyev ruled Azerbaijan from 1969 through the Soviet break-up, then
again headed the country in 1993 until his death ten years later.
Worldwide, he's better remembered for a legacy of corruption and
one-party rule. Leal says the Azerbaijan government's offer to spruce
up the park and another dilapidated downtown plaza seemed like a good
deal at the time. He says the mayor has now appointed a three-member
panel to decide what to do about the statue.
FELIPE LEAL: We need to be sensible about the feelings of the Mexico
citizens, no? They don't want this sculpture in that place.
CARRIE KAHN: Having a statue of a man with such a questionable human
rights record in a city known as one of the most liberal in the
hemisphere, puts Mexico City's mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, in a sticky
situation. Ebrard is often talked about as a leading presidential
candidate.
Yet he isn't the first head of a city tackling this problem. Thomas de
Waal, a Caucasus expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace says recently Azerbaijan, rich with oil wealth, has gone on a
worldwide public relations campaign.
THOMAS DE WAAL: They've paid for cultural festivals, parks, you name
it right across the world and particularly in places where there is
a big Armenian community to try and match their enemies, the Armenians.
CARRIE KAHN: Mexico doesn't have a large Armenian population, but in
a press release, Azerbaijan's ambassador to Mexico accused the small
yet vocal Armenian community for the uproar. Urban development head
Felipe Leal says it's unfortunate that Mexico City got caught up in
this international conflict.
FELIPE LEAL: Armenian and Azerbaijan problem, it's not part of Mexico
policies. It's not our problem.
CARRIE KAHN: He says maybe the two countries can work this out
somewhere else, maybe the United Nations - but not in Chapultepec Park.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RENEE MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
From: Baghdasarian
National Public Radio
November 13, 2012 Tuesday
SHOW: Morning Edition 11:00 AM EST
ANCHORS: Carrie Kahn
GUESTS: Rigoberto Saucedo, Ambrosio Ariza, Felipe Leal, Thomas De Waal
RENEE MONTAGNE: In the most prominent park in Mexico City, you can
find statues to international heroes like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin
Luther King and now Heydar Aliyev. He was a Soviet-era autocrat in
Central Asia. The late leader's government paid for the statue and
restoration of a nearby plaza. And as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports,
that's created quite a stir in the Mexican capital.
CARRIE KAHN: Strolling through Mexico City's Chapultepec Park is one
of the few green pleasures in this concrete mega-metropolis. So when
the corner of a busy intersection was covered in marble and topped
with a huge golden statue, heads turned.
RIGOBERTO SAUCEDO: (Foreign language spoken)
CARRIE KAHN: Rigoberto Saucedo passed by the intersection on a recent
Sunday. He says it's not right to put up a statue of a dictator in
Mexico, a country that proclaims its freedom. Like most passersby,
Saucedo had never heard of Aliyev until the statue went up in August
and the controversy spread in the media. Ambrosio Ariza came by to
see what all the fuss was about and take some pictures. He wasn't
thrilled either.
AMBROSIO ARIZA: (Foreign language spoken)
CARRIE KAHN: He said there are many great Mexican heroes, why put
up a statue up to this man? So how did this one-time KGB insider and
controversial leader of a country thousands of miles away get a huge
statute in Mexico City? The head of Urban Development for the city,
Felipe Leal, says it was simple.
FELIPE LEAL: We made a mistake. We don't research enough, no?
CARRIE KAHN: Leal says no one looked into Aliyev's background or
questioned the wording on the plaque in front of the statue that
touts him as a shining example of universal ideas and world peace.
Aliyev ruled Azerbaijan from 1969 through the Soviet break-up, then
again headed the country in 1993 until his death ten years later.
Worldwide, he's better remembered for a legacy of corruption and
one-party rule. Leal says the Azerbaijan government's offer to spruce
up the park and another dilapidated downtown plaza seemed like a good
deal at the time. He says the mayor has now appointed a three-member
panel to decide what to do about the statue.
FELIPE LEAL: We need to be sensible about the feelings of the Mexico
citizens, no? They don't want this sculpture in that place.
CARRIE KAHN: Having a statue of a man with such a questionable human
rights record in a city known as one of the most liberal in the
hemisphere, puts Mexico City's mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, in a sticky
situation. Ebrard is often talked about as a leading presidential
candidate.
Yet he isn't the first head of a city tackling this problem. Thomas de
Waal, a Caucasus expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace says recently Azerbaijan, rich with oil wealth, has gone on a
worldwide public relations campaign.
THOMAS DE WAAL: They've paid for cultural festivals, parks, you name
it right across the world and particularly in places where there is
a big Armenian community to try and match their enemies, the Armenians.
CARRIE KAHN: Mexico doesn't have a large Armenian population, but in
a press release, Azerbaijan's ambassador to Mexico accused the small
yet vocal Armenian community for the uproar. Urban development head
Felipe Leal says it's unfortunate that Mexico City got caught up in
this international conflict.
FELIPE LEAL: Armenian and Azerbaijan problem, it's not part of Mexico
policies. It's not our problem.
CARRIE KAHN: He says maybe the two countries can work this out
somewhere else, maybe the United Nations - but not in Chapultepec Park.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RENEE MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
From: Baghdasarian