Glorieta de los Niños Héroes (Roundabout of the Heroic Cadets), Guadalajara

The Roundabout of the Heroic Cadets, also known today as the Roundabout of the Disappeared, is a remarkable monument and traffic roundabout in Guadalajara. Designed in the early 1950s by sculptor Juan Fernando Olaguíbel and architect Vicente Morales Mendiola, it commemorates the six teenage cadets-collectively known as the “Heroic Cadets”-who died defending Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle during the Mexican-American War in 1847.

Rising from a wide circular plaza is a towering stone column topped by a pink limestone figure of the Homeland, clutching a wreath. Below at the base are bronze sculptures of the six cadets, standing solemnly before an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent-a powerful emblem of Mexican identity and sacrifice. Crafted with attention to both scale and symbolism, the monument stands approximately 50 meters tall and dominates the intersection where Chapultepec Avenue meets Heroic Cadets Avenue and Mariano Otero Avenue.

In recent years, the site has taken on deeper significance as a space of civic memory. Since 2018, it has also been embraced by families of the disappeared and human-rights activists, who have renamed it the Roundabout of the Disappeared, using it to display banners and photographs to demand justice and public attention to missing persons in Jalisco. Rather than erase its original purpose, this layered history highlights how monuments can evolve to reflect ongoing social challenges in contemporary Mexico.