Uruguay’s president, Luis Lacalle Pou, has announced that he is scrapping a controversial project to melt down and recast a bronze Nazi eagle that was salvaged from a German shipwreck in World War II.
The decision came after thousands of people signed a petition calling for the preservation of the 700-pound relic, which was part of the stern of the Graf Spee, a German battleship that was scuttled by its crew in 1939 after being damaged by British forces.
The eagle, which bears a swastika on its chest, has been in storage for decades and has been the subject of legal disputes between the Uruguayan government, the salvagers who recovered it in 2006, and descendants of the Graf Spee’s captain.
Lacalle Pou had initially supported a proposal by a group of artists and activists to turn the eagle into a peace dove, as part of a symbolic gesture of reconciliation and remembrance. The project, dubbed ‘Operation Eagle’, was supposed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.
However, the plan faced opposition from various sectors of society, including historians, veterans, Jewish groups, and even some relatives of the Graf Spee’s crew. They argued that the eagle was a historical artifact that should be displayed in a museum, not altered or destroyed.
In a statement on Tuesday, Lacalle Pou said that he had listened to the arguments of both sides and decided to cancel the project. He said that he would consult with experts and institutions to find a suitable destination for the eagle, while respecting its historical value and avoiding any glorification of Nazism.
‘We are not going to do anything that could be interpreted as an offense to the memory of those who fought and died for freedom,’ he said.
