Antimonumento +72

Antimonumento +72 (Mexican Spanish pronunciation: [ˌan.ti.mo.nuˈmen.to ˈmas seˌtenta i ˈdos]) is an anti-monument located on the sidewalk opposite the Embassy of the United States in Mexico City, on Paseo de la Reforma in the borough of Cuauhtémoc. The steel work comprises a white number 72 and a red plus symbol, placed on a white pedestal with images of doves and the phrases "Migration is a human right" and "No one is illegal in the world" in Spanish. The sculpture was dedicated to the seventy-two migrants murdered in 2010 in the village of El Huizachal, in the municipality of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, after being detained by the drug cartel Los Zetas. The artwork was never given an official name; its installers referred to it simply as Antimonumento. The plus symbol also carries the meaning of honoring migrants who disappeared or were murdered during their crossing.

The anti-monument was installed by protesters at noon on 22 August 2020 – the tenth anniversary of the San Fernando massacre – as a plea for justice for the massacre and other crimes involving migrants, and to prevent the case from being forgotten by the authorities and society. The installers spoke out against the harsh laws related to the Mexico–United States border crisis preventing free transit across the international border, even before the first presidency of Donald Trump (2017–2021) and his proposed expansion of the wall. At the same time, they criticized the difficulties of crossing Mexico in relation to the crimes and harassment that migrants receive, including by co-nationals.