Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, specified that former President Hugo Chávez “came up with the idea of installing the monument to Simón Bolívar in the city of Moscow, and in October 2010 he personally participated in laying the foundation stone for this statue.”

For her part, the mayoress of Caracas, Carmen Meléndez, told Prensa Latina that it is an honor for the people of Venezuela “to deliver this monument dedicated to the father of the Nation, Simón Bolívar and it will go down in our History.”

With a height of more than four meters, the sculpture is a replica of the one erected in 1874 in Caracas, Venezuela, and designed by the Italian master, Adamo Tadolini.

A team of authors and designers from both nations worked to create the copy for Russia, led by Venezuelan sculptor Jesús Manuel Quintero.

The inauguration took place at the intersection of Vernadsky and Universitetsky avenues, a few meters from Lomonosov University.

The event was also attended by the Venezuelan Oil Minister, Pedro Tellechea, the Venezuelan ambassador to Russia, Jesús Rafael Salazar, as well as the director of the Latin American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Aleksánder Schetinin.

“We have fulfilled a dream of Commander Chávez, it is very important that Bolívar is in this city on the 240th anniversary of his birth and the bicentennial of the naval battle of Lake Maracaibo,” Meléndez told Prensa Latina.

Russian children recited poetry in Spanish and the Grenada group delighted with their music those who attended the opening, including Venezuelan students, members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Russia, among other guests.

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