MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

No dove of peace after all for battleship Graf Spee's eagle

“I still maintain that it is a good idea,” said Lacalle after reversing his decision

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou had a change of mind Sunday regarding the bronze eagle from the Third Reich's battleship Admiral Graf Spee and announced it would not be turned into a dove of peace because “an overwhelming majority did not share” his decision. However, he did not specify what will happen to the piece.

 ”It is an idea from many, many years ago. To turn a sign of violence, of war, into a symbol of peace. A couple of years ago we communicated with (Pablo) Atchugarry and he accepted. Now, in these few hours that have passed, there is an overwhelming majority that does not share the decision. If one wants to generate peace, the first thing is to generate union and, clearly, this has not generated it. I still maintain that it is a good idea, but it is up to a president to listen and to represent. I spoke with Pablo Atchugarry and we are going to desist, it is what the majority of the people want,“ Lacalle said Sunday in Cerro Largo.

Read also: WWII: Graf Spee's eagle to be turned into a bronze dove of peace

Senator Guido Manini Ríos of Cabildo Abierto, a member of the ruling Multicolor coalition, had said he would promote a bill to ”prevent the destruction of the eagle.“

The dove of peace was to have been finished by November this year.

In 2004 the piece was located and retrieved two years later. The bronze eagle is in good condition, in a wooden box under the supervision of the Uruguayan Navy.

The imposing bronze eagle with spread wings and a swastika between its claws, 2.8 meters long by 2 meters high and weighing 350 kilos, was recovered in 2006 in the Rio de la Plata by private divers.

After Lacalle's announcement, sculptor Atchugarry insisted on social media that he would ”continue working on the construction of a symbol of peace.“

He also pointed out that he shared Lacalle's final decision because ”a symbol of peace and union cannot be born from discord.“

”Human beings have not learned to coexist with it and that is why wars and conflicts have accompanied humanity throughout history, even today. That is why I accepted the idea of the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, to transform a symbol of war and horror into a symbol of peace, on an honorary basis and at no cost to the State. I am convinced that peace deserves all our efforts. This initiative, whose communication generated controversy in Uruguay, was definitively canceled,“ he added.

”I will continue working on the construction of a symbol of peace that will help us get closer to that ideal,” he went on.

The Graf Spee was sunk by her captain off the port of Montevideo in December of 1939 to avoid seizure by British cruisers after the Battle of the River Plate in World War II.