A statue of the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León has been toppled in Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, hours earlier than a go to to the Caribbean island by Spain’s King Felipe VI.
The capital’s mayor, Miguel Romero, criticized the incident on Monday as an “act of vandalism” in remarks to information outlet El Nuevo Día, however sought to downplay the importance of the incident and the extent of the harm.
“Some people approached the statue”, situated in a sq. within the historic heart of San Juan, and “triggered harm”, in keeping with a police report quoted by native media.
Felipe VI was due in a while Monday in Puerto Rico, a US territory, to mark the five hundredth anniversary of San Juan’s founding.
The town’s origins date again to 1521, however the official celebrations had been delayed as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
Authorities indicated they had been taking a look at safety digicam footage to assist establish these accountable for damaging the statue.
Native media reported {that a} group referred to as the Boriken Libertarian Forces has claimed duty.
“Confronted with the go to of the King of Spain, Felipe VI, to Puerto Rico and the escalation of ‘gringo’ invaders taking on our lands, we wish to ship a transparent message: neither kings nor ‘gringo’ invaders,” the group wrote in a press release.
Ponce de León undertook a royal mission in 1508 to discover and colonize the island, which the native Taino inhabitants referred to as Boriken. He finally grew to become Puerto Rico’s first governor.
The statue was cast in 1882 in New York, with bronze obtained from British cannons captured after a failed assault on the Spanish in Puerto Rico in 1797.