[PHOTO] Statue of Simón Bolivar, Trinity Bellwoods Park, May 2013
In August of 2008, I took two photos of the statue of South American liberator Simón Bolivar, located in the northwest corner of Trinity Bellwoods Park. just south of Dundas Street West. here and here. On Sunday, I revisited the site and took another photo.
The various plaques reveal that this statue was a gift from the Municipality of Caracas to the City of Toronto in 1983 on behalf of the countries he liberated (Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia) as well as, as John Warkentin notes in his book Creating Memory on public statuary in Toronto, Chile. This Peruvian community website hints at the statue playing an important symbolic role for the Latin American communities of Toronto, concentrated in (among other places) this neighbourhood, while more recently Venezuela’s rise as a radical political force named after Bolivar has helped make it noteworthy for left-wing radicals--a vigil was held by the statue after the death of Hugo Chavez
The various plaques reveal that this statue was a gift from the Municipality of Caracas to the City of Toronto in 1983 on behalf of the countries he liberated (Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia) as well as, as John Warkentin notes in his book Creating Memory on public statuary in Toronto, Chile. This Peruvian community website hints at the statue playing an important symbolic role for the Latin American communities of Toronto, concentrated in (among other places) this neighbourhood, while more recently Venezuela’s rise as a radical political force named after Bolivar has helped make it noteworthy for left-wing radicals--a vigil was held by the statue after the death of Hugo Chavez