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The life-size bronze statue of Azerbaijan’s former President Heydar Aliyev has been removed from the main avenue of Mexico City, RIA Novosti reported. The statue has been relocated to another place somewhere in the suburbs.

Mayor of Mexico Miguel Angel Mancera said earlier that the relocation costs would be paid from the city budget. The city authorities said to the Azerbaijani side that urban development norms had been violated.

About 200 policemen were involved in the dismantling of the monument, the nearby streets were closed for traffic.

There is no official information on the new location of the monument. However, it could possibly be moved to the area where Azerbaijan’s Culture Center is going be opened.

The statue was erected over the summer, after the Azeri government invested a reported $10 million in renovation of the park and the statue. The giant statue had raised concerns with citizens and protests from activists who decried the city’s decision to house a statue of a known dictator along such figures as Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi.

In late November, a three-person panel appointed to investigate the erection of the statue in the city’s Reforma Boulevard recommended that the statue be removed, prompting Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Mukhtarov to threaten retaliation against the Mexican government, including the closure of Baku’s representation in Mexico.

The Azerbaijani Embassy appealed the commission decision to the district court requesting an injunction to stay the decision to remove the statue.

In November, Muktarov also said Azerbaijan would cancel $4 billion in investment projects for Mexico, saying if the then Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard “decides to remove the monument, we will cancel the projects, close the embassy, it would hurt the relationship between the two countries, and it would not be good for his image to be the person who prevented a $4-billion investment.”