SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Colombia's new government has launched what it calls a cultural counterrevolution. The president wants Colombians to embrace patriotism and reject wokeness. To set an example, his administration has removed what it considers subversive art from one of Colombia's top museums. Reporter John Otis has more.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #1: (Speaking Spanish).
JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: These university students have occupied the entrance to Bogotá's National Museum. On the front steps, they're taking part in an impromptu class about artistic freedom. It's part of a protest after the government this month forced museum officials to take down dozens of paintings, drawings and other works of art.
MAURICIO NIETO: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: "This is an insult to academia, an insult to reflection, an insult to the truth," history professor Mauricio Nieto tells the students. The mastermind of the museum raid was President Abelardo de la Espriella. He's a far-right populist and a fervent fan of President Trump, who has carried out his own artistic purge at The Kennedy Center and threatened changes to exhibits at the Smithsonian.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT ABELARDO DE LA ESPRIELLA: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: In a recent speech, de la Espriella declared that years of leftward drift in Colombia have produced a distorted version of history. The result, he said, glorifies revolution, feminism and sexual diversity while downplaying religion and family values.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DE LA ESPRIELLA: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: "This perversity of using culture to indoctrinate people is finished," said de la Espriella who was surrounded by armed guards at the culture ministry.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DE LA ESPRIELLA: (Speaking Spanish).
(APPLAUSE)
OTIS: He then announced a cultural counterrevolution to eliminate, quote, "wokeness" from Colombia's museums and schools. His first target was the National Museum. It used to have a heavy focus on the Spanish conquest and Colombia's independence leaders, nearly all of them white men, but has in recent years become more inclusive. The day after the president's speech, government officials took down 47 pieces of art, including works on women's suffrage, gay rights, government repression and left-wing guerrillas.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #2: (Yelling, inaudible).
(SOUNDBITE OF BANG)
OTIS: In response, protesters clashed with anti-riot police in front of the museum. Newspaper editorials, academics and artists slammed the government for trying to impose an official version of Colombian history. Last week, a court ruling temporarily banned the government from removing any additional artworks.
MARÍA BELÉN SÁEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: María Belén Sáez, director of Bogotá's Museum of Modern Art, calls the raid on the National Museum unprecedented.
SÁEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: She also warns that it could lead to self-censorship as other museums seek to avoid government scrutiny. Back at the National Museum, it's glaringly obvious that the thought police have paid a visit.
On this wall, they've removed nine works of art, and all that's left are hooks and nine blank spaces.
While here, I meet Patricia Zalamea, who teaches art history at the nearby University of the Andes.
How do you feel coming here and seeing this blank wall?
PATRICIA ZALAMEA: I feel many feelings - one of sadness, another one of rage - because there had been in Colombia, I would say, for many, many years, a silent agreement amongst governments to not interfere in cultural institutions, no matter what ideology or party the government belonged to.
OTIS: Another art teacher staring at the empty wall is Carmen Rodriguez. She says that the one bright spot is that government censorship often backfires.
CARMEN RODRIGUEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: Rodriguez points out that before the purge, many of her students had no clue about the artworks that were taken down. Now, she says, they want to know all about them. For NPR News, I'm John Otis in Bogotá, Colombia.
(SOUNDBITE OF BADBADNOTGOOD SONG, "FOOD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.