Antimonumento 5J

An antimonumento was installed adjacent to Antimonumenta, in the Plaza de Armas, in front of the State Government Palace, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Human rights groups installed the sculpture to commemorate the protests of 4, 5, and 6 June 2020, when demonstrators were violently repressed by the state police while they were protesting the death of Giovanni López the previous month.

The artwork was installed on 5 June 2023, and was never given an official name; it is known as Antimonumento 5J, Antimonumento 5 de Junio, or simply 5J. It features a number five placed above a letter "J", both painted red. Hours later, at night, authorities removed the sculpture, citing that its placement was unauthorized. Subsequently, judges ordered the monument to be reinstalled, but the state evaded the order by claiming public safety reasons. The human rights groups installed a smaller replica the following month, made of LED lights and rods.

Background


During the night of 4 May 2020, Giovanni López (c. 1990 – 4 or 5 May 2020), a bricklayer, was arrested outside his family's house in the municipality of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, Jalisco, by police officers for allegedly not wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico and assaulting officers while resisting arrest. Giovanni's brother, Christian, recorded the arrest, which shows the officers insulting his family while taking him alive into the police van. Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, the state governor, had made the use of face masks mandatory.

His brother contacted the mayor, Eduardo Cervantes, who asked them to pick Giovanni up the next day at the police station. There they were informed that Giovanni had been transferred to the Guadalajara Civil Hospital; when they inquired at the hospital, they were told he was dead. Giovanni died of head trauma from a blunt object and had a gunshot wound in one leg. The family complained to Cervantes, who offered them Mex$200,000 (US$9,136) to keep the video from being published. According to the family, they refused the payment and were then told they would be killed if the video was made public.

On 25 May 2020, George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in the United States. His death sparked protests in and outside the country, including Mexico, due to persistent cases of police brutality. After Floyd's murder and inspired by the similar circumstances in which his brother died, Christian sent his video to the media on 1 June. The video went viral and sparked protests on 4 June in Guadalajara, the capital city of Jalisco. Demonstrators took to the streets of the historic center of the city, where they vandalized the State Government Palace and clashed with police officers, who repressed the protest with tear gas and arrested 26 people. Alfaro (elected under the Citizens' Movement party) attributed the protests to the Federal Government and the Mexico City Government (both led by the ruling National Regeneration Movement party), saying they sought to destabilize his government. Alfaro added that Giovanni's arrest did not occur for not wearing a mask. The police report indicated he was arrested due to an "administrative offense because he was aggressive with the security forces under the influence".

The next day, demonstrators gathered to demand the release of the previous day's detainees. However, organized riot squads (not wearing their uniforms) began arbitrarily arresting the protesters; witnesses said they used electric shocks and threatened to hand them over to the cartels. Officially, 16 people were arrested, but witnesses reported at least 80 arrests. Alfaro claimed that some agents of the prosecutor's office were colluding with organized crime groups and that the agents involved disobeyed orders and acted on their own. According to the authorities, the state arrested 11 agents for their actions in the case.

The following day, protesters again occupied the streets, calling for the agents to free the demonstrators and provide an explanation of the whereabouts of up to 38 detainees who were reported to have forcibly disappeared. Alfaro offered a public apology and ordered the release of all detainees, though some of those detained had been abandoned on the edge of the city the previous night. The event became known as the "Halconazo tapatío", referencing the 1971 massacre called "El Halconazo", in which paramilitary groups without their uniforms arbitrarily assassinated demonstrators in Mexico City, with the addition of the colloquial term for "in or from Jalisco".

History and installation
During a demonstration commemorating the "Halconazo tapatío" on 5 June 2023, various collectives placed an anti-monument at the Plaza de Armas, on the opposite side of the State Government Palace, and next to the Antimonumenta, another anti-monument that was placed to symbolize the demand for justice for women who suffer from violence in the country.

The sculpture is a red metal structure that stands 3.4 m tall and weighs more than 300 kg. It alludes to the 5 June protest through the inclusion of a number five above the letter J, and it honors Giovanni and those repressed during the protests related to his death. At the foot of the sculpture is an aluminum plaque with the following text (translated from Spanish):

"Although the CNDH [National Human Rights Commission] and the FGR [Attorney General of Mexico] took over the case, the serious human rights violations have not been properly investigated, nor has the damage been repaired. We hold the government of Jalisco responsible for these facts, pointing out that disappearances and state impunity continue[.]"

The collectives deplored both the FGR's declaration that such events were outside its jurisdiction and the CNDH's determination that no forced disappearances or torture had occurred. The collective #5deJunioMemoria said that Giovanni's case was not isolated and that police brutality in the nation is systematic and widespread. They also reported that since the event, the authorities have not taken action following Alfaro's statement of infiltration by organized crime.

At 11:40p.m. the same day, the lights in the plaza were turned off, and a group of men arrived in a pickup truck. They removed the sculpture with sledgehammers. The following morning, Alfaro confirmed that he had ordered the removal of the monument, together with Pablo Lemus Navarro, the municipal president of Guadalajara, because there had been no permits for its installation. Lemus said that if the sculpture owners requested the monument, the government would return it to them. The collectives criticized the removal and described it as an unprecedented act of repression. The sculpture was stored in a warehouse in Guadalajara and later sent to the Poncitlán Regional Civil Protection and Fire Department because of its size.

Replica and ordered reinstallation


The collectives #5deJunioMemoria and the Centro de Justicia para la Paz y el Desarrollo filed a complaint with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the removal of the monument as well as other acts of repression by state authorities. They also filed a complaint before the First Collegiate Court in Administrative Matters of Jalisco. In July 2023, a judge mandated reinstallation. Additionally, the state's branch of the National Institute of Anthropology and History indicated that installing it would not cause any historical heritage issues.

Lemus stated that since there had been no official request to deliver the monument to its owner, the state would not relinquish it, and that once the application for installation was submitted, he would consult with state civil protection to decide if it was safe to place. Days later, the Director of the State Unit of Civil Protection and Firefighters rejected the reinstallation, saying that there were no technical studies to ensure public safety, that there could be a problem in its foundation, and that (being made of steel) it could cause electric problems since the Urban Electric Train System passes under the square. Since July 2023, the authorities have not complied with the reinstatement orders.

On 5 July 2023, the collectives installed a light replica; it is made of rods and LED lights, is 1 meter shorter than the original, weighs less, and is removable.