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Monument to the ex-president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, which was presented to the Mexican government in 2012, has put Mexico in an awkward position – the feeling when your distant relative gives you a horrible piece of art and you cannot throw it away, but if you put it in an obvious place it will rise doubts whether you have mental disorder or not, reports Fusion.net on the article about the situation around the monument.

"Monument to the old communist leader, presented to the Mexican government in 2012, has become a headache for the Mexican officials who want to place it somewhere where it would remain unnoticed," reads the article.

The article notes that at first the monument was set in a park which was looking at the bustling Avenue of Reform, but it was quickly removed from there when the residents protested against the glorification of the Azerbaijani dictator. They, along with the representatives of the Armenian community, accused the former president of Azerbaijan, who died in 2003 and practiced violation of human rights, censorship of the media and the cultivation of his personality during the reign.

The author of the article writes that under the pressure of public opinion, the then mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrad had uninstalled the monument and put in in storage until they come up with a "plan B". It was harder to get rid of the monument forever: Azerbaijani Ambassador threatened to stop investing 4 billion dollars in Mexico, and to sever the diplomatic relations.

The current mayor of Mexico City Miguel Angel Mancera believes he has found a solution. He said that his administration will provide the Azerbaijani government property in the area Lomas de Chapultepec where the monument can be set to display on private property. However, the problem is that the mayor has no authority to pass its land to another country without the permission of the Foreign Ministry, the article reads.

Monument to Heydar Aliyev which was installed in one of the central parks of Mexico City in August 2012 caused bewilderment among the residents. Azerbaijan has spent about $ 5 million on the reconstruction of two parks in Mexico City, after which it was allowed to install a monument there. Several protests were held in the capital of Mexico during which the participants claimed they did not want to see the statue of a dictator, who had ruled thousands of miles away from their country, next to the monuments of their heroes.

As a result, the special commission recommended that the authorities of Mexico deinstalled the statue of former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, noting that the government made a mistake by taking money and allowing the foreign government to decide which political and historical figures should be honored publically in the Mexican capital.

In mid-January, Foreign Ministry of Mexico has given absolute freedom to the government of Mexico to make up a decision concerning the controversial statue of Aliyev.

In his turn, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Mukhtarov told that the Embassy has decided to appeal to international organizations for the solution of the problem. The Legislative Assembly of Mexico addressed to the government of Mexico with a call to dismantle the statue. In late January, the monument was dismantled and taken to a warehouse.