Hispanic Day

Two years ago today in Caracas, a statue of Columbus was subjected to the Saddam-Hussein-statue treatment.

In a simpler bygone age, Hispanic Day, which celebrates the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, aroused little controversy. But the passing of the years has been known to bring a revisionist enhancement of an historical person's reputation or else the vilification of that person. The latter is the case with Columbus. It seems like just yesterday that in 19th-century America there was a strong push to officially have him declared a saint; today the Saint Christopher camp is all but silent.

Assuming he were still alive today -- and at the age of 551, he would be unlikely to look very sprightly or recognizable -- it might interest Columbus to know that he is not well loved in, for example, Venezuela.

Not only has Hispanic Day been pooh-poohed in favor of the more politically correct- sounding Day of Indigenous Resistance, two years ago at this time his statue was toppled by angry anti-Columbus types in Caracas.

The defenseless 100-year-old statue of the famous explorer was lassoed by thick yellow climbing ropes and, in an act that must have made poor, persecuted Saddam Hussein wince, was pulled down from its 30-foot-high pedestal.

The natural thing to do once a statue has been toppled is to drag it to somewhere, which the demonstrators then proceeded to do. With much fanfare, the 100-year-old statue was dragged through the streets toward the Teresa Carreño theatre and there deposited before several hundred indigenous people amid much singing and dancing.

And where did the removed statue of Columbus end up? His new location ended up being near the Teresa Carreño opera house hanging upside down in a tree.