It is a campaign by Colombian writer and documentalist Carlos de Urabá. It seeks the accession of the institutions of the countries of origin, the embassies of South America and Central America and the Philippines, the media and human rights commissions. They have a clear objective: Press the mayor of Ordizia (Gipuzkoa) to withdraw the state dedicated to the conqueror friar Andrés Urdaneta.

In 2017, the same request was also published on several websites. It was an open letter to the former mayor, José Miguel Santamaría, from the PNV. The initiative has resumed these days, driven by initiatives against states that pay homage to conquerors, colonialists, or slave traffickers, starting in the United States.

The letter states that the Ordizia monument praises Andrés Urdaneta as a “sacrosanct superhero.” In front of him, two indigenous people, one of them on his knees, observe him with feathers on his head. "Are they white races who ask for forgiveness for their sins and who have no soul? they ask in the letter. They say that it is a humiliating and embarrassing scene, and that we cannot forget that the main objective of the Spanish crown was not only to evangelize, but also to plunder, steal and enslave. “A very noble mission, blessed with a sword and a cross.”

They insist that it is a provocation to continue to show in the public square the state of homage to Urdaneta, and they transfer to the City Hall of Ordizia proposals that once the State has been removed from this situation can take it to the offices of the Church, if not, to the Civil Guard headquarters. They say it is paradoxical that in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country strict compliance with the Law of Historical Memory, which seeks to eliminate all Francoist symbolism, but which is so tolerant of this type of monuments. “The people of Ordizia deserve to be related to historical figures of greater relevance and charism, and not to a representative of Spanish imperialism.”

Finally, they say that they expect their anger to be understood, because they are convinced that the Basques would do the same if we were spotted “the memory and good honor of Euskal Herria”.

The Adventures of Andres Urdaneta

In the article they have published, they recalled some of the most important passages in which Urdaneta made himself known:

Andrés de Urdaneta. Military and cleric. He participated in the expedition organized by the Spanish Empire for the conquest of the Moluccas. The invaders committed cruelties of all kinds against the aborigines of these islands. After the "exotic adventures" in search of the route of species in the Chinese seas, he returned to Spain, where he joined the troops of the bloodthirsty conqueror Pedro de Alvarado. Alvarado caused genocide among the inhabitants of Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. In 1520 he was primarily responsible for the massacre of the Tenochtitlan-Mexico Temple. Well, Pedro de Alvarado, "heroic and courageous" – according to the Spanish chroniclers – was in charge of placing Andrés Urdaneta in the most important positions in the regency of New Spain. Urdaneta thus became a slave and torturer, a trusted official of Viceroy Luis de Velasco, and entrusted him with the execution of new conquest expeditions to Molucas and the Philippines. These expeditions should be considered a despicable act of piracy, as their mission was to increase the possessions of the Spanish Empire and the grandeur of Charles V and Philip II.aren.

In 1553 Urdaneta entered Mexico in the religious order of St. Augustine. There, he embraced the Friar customs, becoming the true symbol of the Spanish conquest: the conqueror monk, the missionary warrior who, with the sword and the cross, exalts the grandeur of the Spanish Empire.

His reputation in Euskal Herria and Spain is due to his relationship with Miguel López de Legazpi, who died in 2008. Legazpi took Urdaneta to the Philippines and for that Urdaneta selected 33 Gipuzkoans to participate in this conquest ("a paradise full of treasures and slaves, on earth"). With the sword and the cross, the Philippines were imposed on the imperial flag. How many Filipino indigenous people were killed in this criminal invasion? We do not know, nor will we ever know, because they were considered savage beasts, Gentiles with no soul or sons of the devil.

Spanish historians regard Fray Andrés Urdaneta as a great cosmographer, sailor and explorer (geographic discoveries that baptized the friars with the names of the Hispanic monarchy). Its greatest merit is the discovery of the maritime route that connects the Philippines with Mexico (Clone-Manila - Pharmacy-metropolis), named "The Return Trip".

Over the next 250 years, Spanish vessels (Manila gallons) used this trade route to export more effectively looted and stolen treasures and raw materials, including, of course, slave trade. Fray Andres de Urdaneta is also considered the Evangelist and Hero of the Philippines.