CDMX says goodbye to the Palma de Reforma, the living monument that adorned the capital for 100 years

The capital government reported that the emblematic palm of Paseo de la Reforma, the same one that gives its name to the roundabout located at the intersection of that avenue with the streets of Río Rhin and Niza, will be removed after remaining there for a hundred years and due to a disease caused by fungi and bacteria that has also affected other palm trees in the city.

The Reforma palm will be removed next Sunday, April 24, at approximately 5:00 p.m. after a symbolic act.

This monument and its roundabout always broke with the historical narrative that the Mexican State tries to tell on the Paseo de la Reforma, but for a hundred years it has “temporarily” replaced a statue of the hero Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla that should have been placed in that same place , was that it became the most emblematic living monument of all that important avenue that crosses the Mexican capital from northeast to southwest.

The palm saw the birth, growth and death of at least three generations of Mexicans; also the rise and fall of a political regime, the alternation in power with political bipartisanship and the arrival of the so-called Fourth Transformation. The palm grew when the Mexican miracle of the 1940s strengthened the peso as an international currency and also experienced a battery of economic crises that have occurred in the country since the 1970s and for almost forty years.

The palm, located in front of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) and to which it gives a location reference, has been photographed in black and white, then in color and now with cameras of up to 60 megapixels by the cell phones of the vain Instagram generation. And when the Angel of Independence fell due to the 1957 earthquake, the palm tree remained upright.

Claudia Sheinbaum, head of the Government of Mexico City, reported that the palm will be removed and an attempt will be made to treat it to relocate it to another site later.

“Unfortunately, the Glorieta de la Palma palm tree has a fungus and cannot be saved (…) Unfortunately, it cannot be saved and we are going to do several issues with the palm tree,” said Claudia Sheinbaum.

The mythical palm of Paseo de la Reforma would have been infected by the fungus Nalanthamala vermoesenii (Biourge) Schroers, known as the pink rot fungus.

“Let’s give him a farewell. We are going to make a symbolic retreat, for what she represents in the history of the city. We will do this retreat on Sunday afternoon-night. We are going to take it to the Nezahualcóyotl Nursery. She has to undergo treatment and then we have asked a group of artists who can intervene and she can be placed in another place, “said the head of the capital’s government.

City government officials told a conference that another 1,700 palm trees are under observation to try to recover them from the disease caused by fungi and bacteria, but meanwhile, 200 palm trees located throughout the capital are already dead, so they will soon begin to be withdrawn. The capital government fears that the dryness of some trunks will end up felling all those trees, potentially causing harm to people. Once the dead palm trees have been removed, they will be deposited in a sanitary pit expressly arranged for this purpose and thereby prevent the fungi from spreading to other trees.

Mexico City has a census of at least 15,000 standing palm trees, of which up to 25% would have some pest that could lead to the removal of these trees.

Later, Claudia Sheinbaum reported that, in collaboration with the residents of the capital, they will seek to replace the palm with some other tree or place another type of monument there.

“This Sunday we will pay tribute to La Palma, which for more than 100 years was on Paseo de la Reforma. In its place we will put to citizen consultation if we plant a jacaranda, ceiba, ash, ahuehuete or some other species; as well as the name of the roundabout”, he expressed.

“What are we going to do with the Glorieta de la Palma? Our objective is that we do not decide, but that the citizens help us to decide. We consider that it is best to place a tree there. It is a worthy place to recognize the trees of our city, ”he added.

The roundabout that occupied the Reforma palm was intended for a statue of the Father of the Nation, but it never arrived.

In 2010, they considered removing the palm and placing another monument there for the Bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico, but the intention did not prosper due to the attraction generated by the so-called Estela de Luz, located meters further south. Now, a fungus forces its farewell at sunset this Sunday and framed with the lilac of the jacarandas of Reforma.