SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
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Officers in Trinidad and Tobago are redrawing the island’s coat of arms for the primary time since its creation in 1962 to take away references to European colonization in a transfer that many are celebrating.
Christopher Columbus’ three ships – the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María – shall be changed with the steelpan, a preferred percussion instrument that originated within the japanese Caribbean island.
Prime Minister Keith Rowley made the announcement on Sunday to a standing ovation, saying the coat of arms could be reconfigured earlier than late September.
“That ought to sign that we’re on our method to eradicating the colonial vestiges that now we have in our structure,” he stated.
The present coat of arms additionally options hummingbirds, a palm tree and a scarlet ibis, Trinidad’s nationwide fowl.
Rowley’s announcement comes roughly per week earlier than Trinidad and Tobago is scheduled to carry a public listening to on whether or not sure statues, indicators and monuments ought to be eliminated.
The upcoming change is a part of a worldwide motion that goals to eradicate symbols of the colonial period, with statues of Columbus eliminated or toppled throughout the US lately.
Columbus arrived in Trinidad and Tobago in 1498.
