Mexican Left parties condemn removal of Fidel & Che

Image via Luisalvaz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The right wing mayor of Mexico City’s Cuauhtémoc borough ordered the removal of a popular Fidel Castro and Che Guevara monument from the Tabacalera Garden on July 17. Mayor Alessandra Rojo de la Vega claimed this was being done due to the statue not having the proper permits even though it had been there for years. This has provoked widespread outrage and opposition including from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum who is questioning its legality.

Both the Communist Party of Mexico and the Partido Popular Socialista have issued statements denouncing the move which we have translated from the Spanish.

On the removal of the statues of Fidel and Che Guevara from Tabacalera Garden

The Communist Party of Mexico rejects the arbitrary decision of the Cuauhtémoc City Hall, headed by Alessandra Rojo, to remove the sculptures of Commanders Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara from Tabacalera Park.

Claiming bureaucratic procedures, this reactionary measure seeks to censor the historical memory of friendship and solidarity between the peoples of Cuba and Mexico. We call on democratic and anti-imperialist forces to defend this historic space and stop this anti-communist measure.

The Cuauhtémoc City Hall will not become a breeding ground for reaction.

The Communist Party of Mexico

“We revolutionaries are condemned to victory.”

Mexico, July 2025.

To the Cuban people;

To the Mexican people;

Despite the removal and destruction of statues and monuments to our heroes, the removal of their names from our streets, the burning of their books, the banning of their teachings in universities, or attempts to erase them from history, despite all the hardships, as Maestro Vicente Lombardo Toledano said: “We revolutionaries are condemned to victory.”

We have learned that, recently, the same people who have called Villa and Zapata “bandits and murderers,” and Lázaro Cárdenas a “communist,” as if it were an insult and not a source of pride, have now rudely and vulgarly attacked the illustrious figures of Fidel and Che Guevara.

The bond between the Cuban and Mexican peoples is unbreakable, with deep historical roots grounded in respect, solidarity, brotherhood, humanism, and dignity. It is also founded on shared objectives like the fight for independence, sovereignty, democracy, the welfare and self-determination of our nations, disarmament, and global peace.

Those who attempt to undermine this friendship will not succeed, and instead of earning sympathy and votes, they will face complete and utter rejection from the Mexican people.

The El Partido Popular Socialista-Agrupación Política Nacional Popular Socialista demands that the authorities of the Cuauhtémoc Municipality of Mexico City return the statues of Fidel Castro Ruz and Ernesto "Che" Guevara to the place legally and by their sovereign will assigned to them by the Mexican people, and offer a public apology to both peoples, to whom the reprehensible action of removing them has caused enormous and undeserved distress.

Fraternally

Long Live Mexico!

For the National Directorate of the Central Committee

Luis Alfonso Jiménez Osuna

Secretario General

Roberto Escamilla Pérez

Secretario de Prensa y Relaciones