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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 injury.
“Some people approached the statue”, situated in a sq. within the historic heart of San Juan, and “brought about injury”, in accordance with a police report quoted by native media.
Felipe VI was due afterward Monday in Puerto Rico, a US territory, to mark the five hundredth anniversary of San Juan’s founding.
Town’s origins date again to 1521, however the official celebrations have been delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Authorities indicated they have been taking a look at safety digital camera footage to assist establish these chargeable for damaging the statue.
Native media reported {that a} group often called the Boriken Libertarian Forces has claimed accountability.
“Confronted with the go to of the King of Spain, Felipe VI, to Puerto Rico and the escalation of ‘gringo’ invaders taking up our lands, we wish to ship a transparent message: neither kings nor ‘gringo’ invaders,” the group wrote in an announcement.
Ponce de León undertook a royal mission in 1508 to discover and colonize the island, which the native Taino inhabitants known as Boriken. He ultimately 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.
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