Statue of Former King pointing at Madrid’s symbolic bear with a rifle generates controversy

A STATUE of Spanish Former King Juan Carlos I holding a hunting rifle has been erected without permission in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. 

The polyurethane sculpture is 170cm (5.6ft) tall and displays the monarch pointing at the bear and arbutus monument, the symbol of Madrid. 

It was erected yesterday by Chilean artist Nicolas Miranda, who has titled his work ‘Parasitic Strategies to Survive in a Cruel World’. 

“I have attempted to ridiculise the figure of the monarch,” Miranda said. 

Statue Of King Juan Carlos With A Rifle Pointing To A Bear In Madrid, Spain 25 Apr 20223
The statue shows an excellent hunting technique. Photo by SOPA Images/SIPA: Cordon Press.

The sculpture shocked a number of pedestrians at Madrid city centre this morning.

But it has now been removed and transferred to La Parceria cultural centre in Arganzuela neighbourhood, where it will be displayed at an art exhibition organised by Miranda.   

The statue is a reminder of Juan Carlos’s 2012 elephant hunting trip to Botswana, where he fractured his hip. 

Don Juan Carlos Junto Al Organizador De Safaris (i) Y Ante Un Elefante Abatido, En Una Jornada De Caza En Botsuana En 2006
Juan Carlos junto in a previous elephant hunt in Botswana. Photo by 66:Cordon Press.

After he was caught by the Spanish media, he said his now famous apology “I made a mistake but it will not happen again”. 

Little did he know back then that he was later going to be exposed over a large hidden fortune. 

The display of the statue at the heart of Spain’s capital is related to the Former King’s returning to the country for the second time since fleeing to Abu Dhabi. 

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