Argentina takes down Columbus statue from pedestal
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Workers in Argentina's capital have taken down a controversial statue of Christopher Columbus for restoration.
The engineer in charge of the operation, Juan Arriegue, says the 38-ton, 6-meter-high (20-foot-high) statue of the Italian explorer was lifted using cranes and will be stored beneath its pedestal behind the Government House.
Arriegue told the newspaper La Nacion that the statue "will not be moved to another location, we are only going to submit it to a restoration process."
The statue has become a political flashpoint between the leftist government of President Cristina Fernandez and conservative Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/argentina-takes-down-columbus-statue-pedestal
