A statue of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro has been reinstalled in the centre of Peru’s capital Lima, more than 20 years after it was removed.
The sculpture was unveiled during a ceremony marking the 490th anniversary of the city’s founding.
Pizarro founded Lima in 1535 after defeating the Inca Empire and claiming their lands for the Spanish crown.
Indigenous leaders say he was a mass murderer who destroyed their culture, while those who supported the statue’s return said Peru should not erase its history.
The monument, which shows Pizarro on horseback with his sword drawn, was created by the American sculptor Charles Rumsey and offered by his widow to commemorate the city’s fourth centenary in 1935.
In 2003, it was moved to a park next to train tracks outside the city centre following calls for its removal.
Luis Bogdanovich, who was in charge of restoring the historic centre, told local media the statue had become damaged by the constant passing of trains, which caused it to crack.
Rafael López Aliaga, Lima’s mayor, and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, presented the bronze statue on Saturday alongside Mr Bogdanovich and several descendants of Pizarro in Lima’s main square, Plaza de Armas.
Díaz Ayuso said the ceremony was commemorating “not only the birth of a city, but also the beginning of a historic encounter that forever transformed the world”, the Spanish daily El Pais reported.
Dozens of Peruvians held a demonstration nearby opposing its return, according to the AFP news agency.
“This is an offence, an offence to all the indigenous peoples of Peru, Latin America and the world,” one person said.
