January 23, 2013 – 10:35 AMT

 Mayor of Mexico City Miguel Angel Mancera said that the city government will relocate a life-size bronze statue of Azerbaijan’s former president from the capital’s main avenue, RIA Novosti reported.

Mancera said that the new location of the statue of the late Azerbaijan’s President Heydar Aliyev will be determined this week. The relocation costs will be paid from the city budget, he added.

In November, an advisory commission issued a recommendation to remove the statue. The rights groups said they were offended by a monument of “dictator” erected in one of the busiest areas in the city.

Azerbaijan has paid around $5 million for the renovation of part of Chapultepec Park, where the statue is currently sitting, and other public works.

The protesters have objected Aliyev’s statue saying that he was an authoritarian figure, who led Azerbaijan first as Communist Party boss during Soviet times and then as president from 1993 until his death in 2003.

Baku warned earlier of damage to Azerbaijan’s relations with Mexico if the statue is removed, including the potential cuts to Azerbaijani investments in Mexico.