Roundabout of the disappeared, Memorial monument in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The Glorieta de las y los desaparecidos in Guadalajara is a roundabout whose centerpiece is a 50-meter column designed by Vicente Morales Mendiola in 1950, with sculpture by Juan Fernando Olaguíbel Rosenzweig. The column's base is ringed by cadets of the Battle of Chapultepec, and a female figure wearing a tunic and garland crowns the top. Below, the inscription reads "Murieron por la Patria."
The monument was designed by Vicente Morales Mendiola and sculpted by Juan Fernando Olaguíbel Rosenzweig in 1950 to commemorate the cadets who died at the Battle of Chapultepec. In March 2018, after the disappearance of three film students from the Universidad de Medios Audiovisuales (CAAV) in Tonalá and medical student César Arellano in Huentitán, marchers gathered here and hung a banner renaming it "Glorieta de las y los desaparecidos". In April 2020 the municipal government cleaned the monument, removing banners and graffiti, which the Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios opposed.
In March 2018, marchers hung a banner reading "Glorieta de las y los desaparecidos" over the roundabout's name, and the rebaptism stuck. Student leader Jesús Medina said the spot was no longer the Niños Héroes roundabout but that of Jalisco's and Mexico's disappeared. Families and activists reinstall photographs and slogans when they are removed, as on 22 June 2019.
The roundabout is centrally located in the city and easily accessible on foot, especially from nearby transit stops. It is best visited during daylight hours to read the photographs and inscriptions clearly on the metal frameworks.
The memorial was repurposed from its original role as a patriotic monument through direct community action, rather than official decree. The choice to leave one metal frame empty carries meaning beyond decoration, symbolizing ongoing hope for missing persons.
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