The is the proposed name of a roundabout along Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, in Mexico City. At its center is an anti-monument () installed on a previously empty plinth.
On the afternoon of 25 September 2021, a group of anonymous feminists intervened at the Christopher Columbus roundabout. On an empty plinth surrounded by protective fences, they installed a wooden guerrilla-style sculpture demanding justice for the recurrent acts of violence against women in Mexico. Originally named (), the piece later became known simply as Justicia. It depicts a purple woman holding her left arm raised and the Spanish word for justice carved into a support at the back. The roundabout itself was also symbolically renamed (Roundabout of the Women Who Fight).
The traffic circle formerly honored Columbus with a statue sculpted by French artist Charles Cordier, installed in 1887. Ahead of a 2020 anti-Columbus Day protest, Mexico City's administration, led by its head of government Claudia Sheinbaum, removed the statue from its pedestal citing restoration as the reason. Months later, Sheinbaum announced that the statue would not be returned to its original site. Instead, following a petition signed by 5,000 Indigenous women calling for the decolonization of the avenue, a new monument would be erected in their honor. The proposed project, named Tlali, was to be a sculpture inspired by Olmec colossal heads, created by a non-Indigenous male artist, Pedro Reyes. Since all Olmec heads depict men, and the artist was not Indigenous, feminists criticized the proposal as inappropriate for honoring Indigenous women. Days later, they installed Justicia on the plinth.
The sculpture was not initially intended to be a permanent installation; according to the feminists who placed it, the city could choose a different artwork as long as the government renamed the traffic circle officially the . Since its placement, feminists have organized cultural events at the roundabout to honor women they describe as fighters, as well as men who support them. Many of their names have been written or memorialized on the protective fences surrounding the plinth. Activists also installed a clothesline to denounce injustices committed by authorities and society, and later replaced the original wooden sculpture with a steel version.
Sheinbaum, for her part, replaced the Tlalli project and stated that the government of the city intended to officially replace the Monument to Columbus with a replica of The Young Woman of Amajac, a pre-Hispanic Huastec sculpture depicting an Indigenous woman. The anti-monument would be relocated elsewhere, an action feminists opposed unless their demands were met. After months of debate, in February 2023, Sheinbaum declared that both Justicia and The Young Woman of Amajac would coexist in the same traffic circle, while the Columbus sculpture would be relocated to the National Museum of the Viceroyalty, in Tepotzotlán, State of Mexico. To prevent further conflicts, Sheinbaum's interim successor, Martí Batres, installed the replica on an adjacent traffic island.
Background
The statue of Christopher Columbus on Paseo de la Reforma, one of two Mexico City monuments dedicated to Christopher Columbus, was removed on 10 October 2020, just two days before a planned protest aimed at toppling it on Columbus Day According to the government of the city, it was removed as part of a series of restorations performed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The head of government Claudia Sheinbaum announced that public consultations regarding the monument's future would be held in 2021. However, these discussions did not take place, and the city ultimately decided to replace the Columbus statue with Tlali, a large female head sculpture by Pedro Reyes. Inspired by the male Olmec colossal heads, the project aimed to honor 500 years of Indigenous women's resistance in Mexico. The city government stated that the removal followed a petition signed by 5,000 Indigenous women calling for the "decolonization of Paseo de la Reforma".
Tlalli sparked several controversies, including the selection of Reyes, a mestizo man, to represent Mexican Indigenous women, as well as its design and name. Academics such as the researcher Lucía Melgar and Mixe writer Yásnaya Aguilar voiced objections. Melgar argued that the project exemplified how women, particularly Indigenous women, are often portrayed as "generic, mute and immobilized". Aguilar questioned the use of a Nahuatl word ( means land or earth) to name a project inspired on the Olmec culture, which spoke Mixe–Zoque. In response to the backlash, Sheinbaum postponed the installation and announced that a committee would handle the proposal.
History Installation and description Leaflets provided by installers "From this moment on, this place is and it is dedicated to the women across the country who have faced violence, repression, and revictimization for fighting against injustice. It honors the Searching Women, the Mothers who fight for justice, the Women Defenders of Water and Territory, the women of the Indigenous Peoples, the Indigenous Students, the Historical Indigenous Students, to the Historical Women, to the Zapatista Women, Afromexican Women, Women Defenders... all the women whose struggles have shaped our history, the women who uphold this country with dignity".
On the afternoon of 25 September 2021, a group of feminists crossed the protective fences surrounding the monument and installed a wooden on the empty plinth. It depicted a tall purple woman with her left fist raised. They secured it to the pedestal using multiple ropes and pre-existing steel staples embedded in cement. The installers referred to the sculpture by various names: the (Anti-monument We Want Us Alive), (Justice), or (The Girl). They symbolically renamed the traffic circle as the (Roundabout of Women Who Fight).
The installation occurred as a protest against the recurrent acts of violence against women in Mexico, a country that is commonly ranked among unequal and hostile countries for women, according to reports that include those of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Georgetown University's Women Peace and Security Index 2019/20, or the United Nations Development Programme's Gender Inequality Index. As stated by the authors, the project arose after the removal of the statue of Columbus but remained in the planning stages until the announcement of Tlalli. The decision to move forward with the installation was made after observing what they described as a series of missteps by the authorities. Throughout those months, various women's organizations clandestinely planned the placement of the artwork, inviting victims and human rights advocates to participate.
During the installation, the feminists called for the creation of an artistic committee composed of Indigenous women to select a replacement sculpture by consensus. They emphasized that they did not want to impose their choice of a statue, saying, "You decide the figure, we have renamed the roundabout". They further explained that their representation was created to honor of all the women who have fought for justice throughout the nation, that is, from "the brave women of independence up to the present day and also those who were killed fighting for justice". Additionally, while a group installed the Justicia sculpture, another one painted the names of murdered and disappeared women on the protective fences, like that of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, who was killed while protesting the murder of her daughter. Some names include those of living women who, they say, have resisted injustice. In preparation for the memorial, research was conducted on Indigenous women, mothers of femicide victims, historical figures, defenders of water, land, and life, as well as women journalists.
The city government covered the names with paint just hours later. Sheinbaum said it was a routine action, as cleanup crews are authorized to carry out maintenance work after demonstrations in the city. A group of feminists returned the following day, the seventh anniversary of the Iguala mass kidnapping, and repainted the names, adding the phrase, "You will not erase us", in Spanish. During an abortion rights demonstration on 3 October 2021, the names were restored once again after being covered up during the week. In addition to women, the names of men who have fought for women's rights or who have been murdered or disappeared while seeking justice were also included.
Events after its installation
On 25 November 2021, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women feminists installed complaints clotheslines – an action inspired by , an installation art project by Mónica Mayer. They clothespinned the names of public officials and institutions they believed had ignored, dismissed, or failed to follow up on their complaints. They also sang a protest song there. The next day, male police officers dismantled the clotheslines and attempted to remove the protective fences displaying the names. Upon realizing they were being filmed by groups of women, they repositioned the fences.
On 31 October, a Day of the Dead altar was set up along the roundabout's main path, where feminists had written "" (Mexico Femicidal). They also placed flowers and papel picado sheets bearing the phrase "" ("It was the state") cut into them.
Feminists replaced the original artwork on 5 March 2022 with a steel version that is tall in anticipation for the International Women's Day demonstrations on 8 March. They also created the (Garden of Memory), which featured another complaint clothesline displaying 300 testimonies. The garden aimed to bear "the names of historical women [...] who teach us every day through their struggles that dignity must become customary".
Human rights groups unofficially renamed the Glorieta de Colón and Hamburgo stations of the Mexico City Metrobús system as the "Glorieta de las Mujeres Que Luchan" and "Glorieta de las y los Desaparecidos" stations, respectively, on 24 July 2022. The latter renaming honored the nearby anti-monument of the same name. The signage replicated the system's style and the stations' pictograms were replaced with their respective protest symbols. These actions formed part of a broader symbolic renaming of Paseo de la Reforma as the (Route of Memory), in reference to the various anti-monument memorials located along the avenue.
Several events were held at the roundabout on the first anniversary of the Justicia installation, including the installation of a pink cross, the hanging of photos of missing and murdered persons, and a performance involving dance and song. Reaffirming their opposition to a proposed relocation, the collectives said that the site "not only has to do with the issue of femicide and disappearance, but also the various struggles that women face in the country, namely, Indigenous mothers and the fight for the defense of land [or] water".
A collective placed over 3,000 bras in October 2024 to raise awareness about breast cancer. In January 2025, a memorial service with her body present was held for Montserrat Uribe, a woman who had been missing since 2020.
Attempted removal
On 12 October 2021, the city government announced announced its intention to officially replace the monument to Columbus with a replica of The Young Woman of Amajac, a pre-Hispanic sculpture depicting a woman. Three days later, feminist groups urged the authorities not to remove Justicia unless the roundabout is formally renamed . They also criticized the proposed sculpture, arguing that it likely represents a young elite woman or a ruler. The mother of a murdered teenager said that any alteration would be "an act of direct aggression to the demands of justice".