An aspiring political party put a 50-foot t-shirt over the robe of Cali’s iconic Christ statue Sunday to protest ongoing corruption in Colombia.
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Paso 5: inicia el ascenso. pic.twitter.com/17GnsDmDI2
— Partido del Tomate (@TomatePartido) August 5, 2013
The message on the statue’s new t-shirt read “the corrupt are the anti-Christ”, a statement based on the recent preaching of Pope Francis during his tour of Brazil. Following the stunt, the group subsequently released a statement via social networking site Facebook:
“The disastrous effects of corruption are obvious: each amount [of money] that was stolen is an amount that could have been invested in the development of the country; whether in education, health, infrastructure, culture, sports, etc.”
“This encourages the following views: that Colombians are corrupt by nature. That the fight against corruption is more lost than the war on drugs. Everyone who comes to power is inevitably corrupted.”
“Corruption leaves us without investment for schools, teachers, doctors, hospitals, parks, theaters, roads and keeps millions of Colombians in misery.”
This is not the first time the group, comprising mainly of young activists, has addressed what it perceives to be corrupt politics. They have previously protested against various political figures including the Attorney General and former President of Colombia Alvaro Uribe.
According to local media, the “t-shirt” was removed from the statue just a few hours after it had been hung up, as local government had banned any protest from taking place during the course of the Cali world games.
Sources
- Cristo Rey de Cali amaneció vestido con mensaje anticorrupción (El Pais)
- Partido del Tomate (Facebook page)