PoS Mayor to discuss Columbus statue on Wednesday

ALL eyes will be on Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez on Wednesday when he meets with his council at City Hall to discuss whether the controversial statue of Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus should be removed from Independence Square in East PoS.

The issue has been raging over the past few weeks after several social pressure groups called for the statue to be removed, as it is seen as venerating a man responsible for the genocide of local indigenous people over 500 years ago.

The calls for the statue's removal, plus the removal of other statues and the changing of street names, comes at a time when people have taken up the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement spread in the United States over a month ago after George Floyd, an African American, died when a white policeman placed his knee on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes.

Last week, Martinez was given an ultimatum by queen of the Warao Nation Donna Bermudez-Bovell, who said he had a week to advance the matter of the statue's removal, failing which, she could not promise the statue would not be forcibly removed by her people.

The issue of the statue's removal was first raised with the mayor back in 2017.

Speaking with Newsday on Tuesday, Shabaka Kambon, head of the Cross Rhodes Freedom Project (CRFP) – an activist group which has lobbied for the removal of colonial monuments, among other things – said he was not particularly optimistic about what the mayor will reveal after the council's weekly statutory meeting.

The CRFP was established in 2017 to examine historical figures and values that are revered in public spaces, as well as to engage in dialogue and action "to end the open glorification of those found to be unjust, and to ensure that local and regional heroes and heroines, are properly memorialised."

The foundation started a petition for Columbus' statue to be removed about two weeks ago and within five days garnered over 8,000 signatures.

Last week, the petition was delivered to Martinez at City Hall by the CRFP and the Warao Nation, with support from a coalition of civil society representatives.

At the meeting, Kambon said the petition is intended to be seen in the context of the city corporation's own poll, which showed overwhelming support for its removal, along with the voices of leading Caribbean leaders and historians, including UWI's Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles.

The mayor addressed the media, lauding the bodies for engaging in "peaceful dialogue," but once again appeared reluctant to say what action his council can take on the matter, and when.

He gave vague answers to queries about the process, saying, yet again, that the "other side" needs to be consulted before any votes or decisions are taken.

Martinez has consistently evaded the issue and was quoted in a media report in 2018 as saying the people who want the statue removed represent a small portion of the population.

Bermudez-Bovell, on the verge of tears, told the mayor she was fed up of waiting for the city corporation to act.

She warned that if the mayor fails to make a satisfactory pronouncement of the process moving forward, she will no longer guarantee that the statue would not be forcibly removed by her people or others, who she said are disrespected each time they pass it downtown.

Martinez eventually gave his word that the matter will be addressed at the meeting, which is scheduled to start at 10 am.

Kambon said Bermudez-Bovell will no longer speak on the matter.

"She made her decision and feels that she owes it to her ancestors to stand her ground," he said.

Kambon was made an honorary member of the Warao community for his activism. He met with the Warao and the First Peoples of Santa Rosa Community even before the CRFP was formally established in 2017 – in an effort to garner support for the removal of colonial monuments.

Kambon told Newsday he is writing to the Prime Minister, who has not spoken publicly about the issue, and announced that another petition was sent to Parliament on Friday which was signed by about a dozen prominent Trinidadians, including a descendant of Hypolite Borde, the man who erected the statue in 1881.

Kambon said he took the initiative as a way to support the work of the city corporation in bringing the matter to a conclusion.

"We were quite optimistic last week (when we were set to deliver the petition), but not so much about tomorrow," Kambon said.

"We are happy about the fact that Trinidadians are discussing their history and confronting their past, but pained by the way that some want to marginalise the indigenous voice on this matter, in keeping with the classic Columbian tradition."

The movement to remove colonial monuments has gained global traction in recent weeks, particularly following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Floyd is one of the latest victims of what is widely considered to be police brutality and by extension, systematic racism in the US.

Floyd's death sparked anti-racism and anti-police brutality demonstrations initiated by the Black Lives Matter movement around the globe , even in countries with a vast history of colonialism, including the UK, Spain and Belgium. Statues or colonialists and racists are being toppled worldwide. Last week, international media reported that Oxford University's Oriel College would remove the statue of the imperialist Cecil Rhodes from whom the CRFP took its name.