The controversy over the removal of dozens of works from the National Museum of Colombia (and what it says about the "cultural battle" of De la Espriella)

The controversy over the removal of dozens of works from the National Museum of Colombia (and what this says about De la Espriella's "cultural battle") In the National Museum of Colombia in Bogotá, one of the most important in the country and among the oldest in America, there are now some empty walls. And this Thursday, around 30 works related to LGBT and feminist movements, victims of political violence, and the Peace Agreement were removed from the institution. The museum has not yet confirmed the total number of pieces removed or the reasons. But this occurred on the same day that President Abelardo de la Espriella visited the Ministry of Culture, from which he said it would be the epicenter of a "cultural counter-revolution". De la Espriella announced that he instructed the Minister of Culture, Paola Holguín, "to have all that ode to terrorism in which Pizarro and other terrorists appear be disappeared from public places". With Pizarro, he is referring to Carlos Pizarro Leongómez, a former commander of the leftist guerrilla group M-19 who was murdered in 1990 when he was a presidential candidate during a escalation of political violence. The removal of the works from the National Museum has opened a new controversy in the country little over two months after De la Espriella came to power. The Colombian president has been in the headlines in recent weeks for his security campaign in which he has shown images of bags with corpses, the relaxation of some weapons control measures, and now, taking another step in his conservative agenda, openly "anti-woke", anti-communist, and promoter of religious values. Which works were removed According to Colombian media such as El Tiempo or La Silla Vacía, pieces related to women's and LGBT rights were reportedly removed, such as: - A gay pride flag that belonged to the activist Elizabeth Castillo - A piece with lesbian allusions from the advertising campaign of an LGBT march in 2006 - A photograph of Humberto Rincón Perfetti from an LGBT march - A print on reproductive rights of women from the Sí Mujer Foundation It is also reported that there is an absence of political pieces in another room, such as posters from the presidential campaigns of Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa, candidate for the left-wing party Unión Patriótica, murdered in 1990, and Carlos Pizarro Leongómez. La Silla Vacía adds that objects linked to the signing of the Peace Agreement between the State and the FARC in 2016 and "almost all the photographs of the wall of diversity, dedicated to rethinking the cultural, social, and political diversity of the country" were dismantled. In a post on X, the Minister of Culture not only did not deny this information but asserted that the institutional vocation of the museum "does NOT consist of serving as an instrument of political indoctrination, a focus for disseminating biased versions of our history". "Museology and the curation of the different spaces under the Ministry are being evaluated and redesigned to fulfill the mission of safeguarding, investigating, conserving, and disseminating the cultural, historical, and artistic heritage of the Nation, serving as spaces for memory, identity, and social transformation," added Holguín. The "cultural counter-revolution" of De la Espriella Even during his presidential campaign, De la Espriella openly declared himself opposed to "wokeism" and a proponent of conservative values. He defended what he understands as the traditional family and placed Christianity and God at the center of his political discourse. But the controversy with the museum's works has surprised political scientists like Yann Basset, from the University of Rosario, who believes that, based on the clues given by the new president about the cultural battle, it would not have such prominence in his agenda. "That battle was not as much part of the campaign discourse as his promises of a hardline stance against crime and armed groups, or the sanitization of the economy," says Basset. During his address this Thursday, De la Espriella went further and accused "wokeism" of "transforming the moral, cultural, and social foundations of the West". "Wokeism does not know the biological differences between men and women, falsifies history (...) it has transferred gender ideology and identity readings to fields such as education, culture, and multiple areas of social life," the president pointed out. He also said that the State had "the moral and political duty to prevent cultural spaces from being captured by social-communism". Laura Bonilla, from the Pares de Colombia Foundation, predicts that the removal of works will occur in other institutions such as the National Library, where "artistic expression will be limited to 'approved' expressions". "Although we will see what happens. Many demands must be being processed since this is mutilating a part of the country's history to have an approved official history," she explains. Basset opines that this battle corresponds to "certain conservative sectors very represented in this government and that copy Donald Trump's way of making politics, which has put those issues at the heart of the US agenda". Conservative groups in the Colombian Congress and religious sectors, such as representatives of evangelical churches, supported De la Espriella's political project. Currently, a "provida" bloc in Congress, which has several congressmen aligned with this government, is proposing to open debates on the modification of abortion rights or access for minors to gender medical treatments. The Symbolism of the National Museum The National Museum of Colombia was created in 1823 and is one of the oldest in America. It exhibits more than 2,000 historical, archaeological, and cultural works and objects. In 2024 it was visited by almost half a million people. On its website, the entity includes in its mission the promotion of "recognition of diverse narratives, appropriation, and social management of knowledge," as well as the promotion of the construction of shared memories and meanings, contributing to collective care, human dignity, and cultural rights, towards an inclusive and plural future". The removal of works generated expressions of rejection from opposing politicians and users on social media. María José Pizarro, daughter of Carlos Pizarro and a congressman of the Historic Pact Party, said that "Abelardo de la Espriella's attempt to proscribe his memory, his figure (that of his father), is only making his legacy in Colombia greater". "He is not able to accept opposition and for the people to think freely and consciously," she added. Similarly, Ricardo Moreno Patiño, who was the deputy minister of Education in the Gustavo Petro government, responded to the removal of works by saying that "that is not curation but impoverishment of culture". "The National Museum is precisely national in the sense of the cultural process that constitutes our history, it is a stage for a diverse, contradictory, and plural narrative. It is what we are, not what someone wants us to be," he added. Several social media users criticized the museum's decision, especially feminist and LGBT collectives and the political opposition, while other accounts of conservatives applauded the removal of works.