Two activists from the climate group Futuro Vegetal were arrested on Sunday, October 12, the date Spain commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas, after throwing biodegradable red paint on a painting of Columbus at the Naval Museum in Madrid.
Per reports from El Confidencial and El País, the paint damaged the left portion of José Garnelo’s 1892 First Tribute to Christopher Columbus, which is displayed at the museum entrance. The activists also unfurled a banner reading “October 12, nothing to celebrate. Ecosocial justice.” Futuro Vegetal said in a statement that the incident aimed to call attention to the “extractive neocolonialism” that continues to exploit Indigenous land and natural resources. Museum security detained the activists, who were later charged with crimes against cultural heritage and taken for questioning.
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October 12 is the National Day of Spain, marking the moment in 1492 when Christopher Columbus’ expedition landed on an island in the Americas under the Spanish flag, heralding the nation’s new era of global influence. While the holiday is a grand celebration in the Spanish capital of Madrid, with smaller festivities held throughout the nation, it is also a source of contention across the Spanish-speaking world.
Critics argue that Spain should more openly acknowledge that Columbus’s legacy includes the death of tens of millions of Indigenous people, and enslavement of countless more at the hands of Europeans. In Mexico, for example, the day was renamed Día de la Nación Pluricultural (Day of the Pluricultural Nation), and in Argentina, it is called the Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural (Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity).
Futuro Vegetal spokesperson Luna Lagos said Spain’s National Day “celebrates centuries of oppression and genocide against the Indigenous peoples of Abya Yala,” using an Indigenous name for the Americas. The group also called for boycotts of companies linked to extractive projects.
Elsewhere on Sunday in Madrid, some 20 activists from Marea Palestina staged a sit-in around Picasso’s Guernica at the Reina Sofía Museum. The protest demanded an end to “the genocide against the Palestinian people.” The museum gallery closed temporarily while security addressed the action, and has since been reopened.