Overview

The Gaturro statue vandalism refers to the 2021-2023 mass vandalization and destruction of the statue of the Argentinian comic strip character Gaturro located on the Paseo de la Historieta in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While vandalization of the statue began shortly after its initial inauguration on the year 2013, it massively intensified at the start of the year 2021, the main reasons for the massive vandalism are due to the various accusations made against Gaturro's creator, Nik (Cristian Dzwonik), who has been accused of copying ideas, jokes and content from other Argentine cartoonists such as Quino (creator of Mafalda), or even from Garfield (on which it has been said that Nik based the design of Gaturro). ^[1]

Many internet users, as a form of protest, vandalized the statue, turning it unrecognizable and eventually leading to its retirement ^[2]. Some months later, on the year 2023, a second statue of Gaturro would be installed in the same place, without any prior notice and no publicity on social media about it. This would lead to a second wave of even more massive and destructive vandalism than in the previous one, which caused it to be removed in less than 48 hours. ^[3]

The event was widely publicized and commented on social media, attracting the attention of many Argentine internet users and, to a large extent, many more throughout Latin America.

Background

The first statue of Gaturro was inaugurated on March 21, 2013, it was placed on Paseo de la Historieta, a street in Buenos Aires, Argentina dedicated to honoring various Argentine comic strip characters. This would be announced on the official Gaturro Facebook page, managed by Nik. For some reason, he decided to add "Tiembla Disney!" (Disney trembles!) as a subtitle to the news. ^[4]

As the years passed, due to poor management and the little attention that the authorities generally gave to the statues located on the Paseo de la Historieta, it deteriorated and lost its bright colors.

Some time later, for unknown reasons, the statue was relocated from the center of the street (where most of the statues are located and there is more security), to an almost-abandoned corner away from the other statues, this made it easier to vandalize it since few people would notice.

Nik would complain about the statue looking aged and discolored in 2018, however, no one, including himself, took action to repair and repaint the statue. ^[5]

Developments

Starting in 2019, the statue would begin to be vandalized, first by people drawing simple graffiti on the statue, some with insults towards Nik, but, shortly after, the statue would lose its hand, it is not known if it simply fell due to the state of decay of the statue or if it was intentionally cut by an unknown person or group of persons. ^[6]

By 2020, there would be an attempt to repair the statue after it was finally repainted, however, shortly after it would be vandalized again, with people drawing memes and insults on the statue. Nik would not speak about the subject for months, it is unknown it if was whether due to him not knowing or simply not wanting to mention it.

In 2021, due to the emergence of a Facebook group dedicated to mock Nik and Gaturro, known as "Gaturro Shitposting", the statue would begin to be vandalized in more drastic ways. It can be noted that someone drew an amogus on the eyes, other people would add XD and a drawing of a penis appeared on one of the teeth. Several memes and fanarts also emerged about the statue online. ^[7]

Nik would complain about the statue's current state and its constant vandalism, which would lead to it being vandalized in even more severe ways. ^[8] Nik would start accusing his "political enemies" and the Argentine government of being the culprits of the vandalism and saying that everything was organized, although in reality the majority of vandals were from the Gaturro Shitposting group. ^[7]

At this point, vandalizing the statue would begin to become a trend on social media, not only by members of the Gaturro Shitposting group but also by other Argentine users in general. Different Argentine news outlets would publish stories about the statue's frequent vandalism, and even celebrities like Javier Milei (current president of Argentina) would visit it. ^[9]

Finally, Nik would visit the statue on July 18, 2022, recording its current state at the time and blaming the mediocre materials with which the statue was made. ^[10] The statue would eventually be removed shortly after due to its unrecoverable state. ^[11]

Second Gaturro statue

As the months passed, people would forget about the whole situation, however, Nik would later announce on his social media accounts that there would be a second Gaturro statue, mentioning that it would feature "anti-vandalic technology." For some unknown reason, whenever Nik talked about the new statue, he always attached photos of an old colorful Gaturro sculpture that bore no resemblance to the actual statues. ^[12]

This announcement was met with many memes and mockery online, with many people wondering how the so-called "anti-vandalic technology" would be implemented on the statue.

Nik would later make an announcement saying that the statue was soon to be inaugurated, mentioning that "children and reading won." ^[13]

On July 14, 2023, the new Gaturro statue would appear without prior notice in the same location as before, looking exactly the same as the previous one, however this one would feature the long-awaited "anti-vandalic technology", which was only a security fence surrounding the statue that could easily be evaded by the vandals.

There was no notice or announcement on social media and Nik didn't say anything about the new statue, it's unknown if he was planning to do an official inauguration afterwards, this led to some people theorize that it was all a social experiment to see how people would react, and that the real new Gaturro statue was still stored somewhere. ^[12]

A few hours after being discovered by the people online, it would already have its first vandalisms, the first one being a drawing of a penis drawn on the back of the statue.

As the hours passed, the statue's appearance would worsen with increasingly massive vandalism, in a very short period of time compared to the other statue (which took 9 years to be fully vandalized and removed). Interestingly, the security fence surrounding the statue would be largely ignored and hardly anyone would draw on it.

Some people would draw on the statue memes like Yippee, offensive symbols, or criticism and insults against Nik.

By the next day, the statue would look even worse than before, prompting it to be removed on the night of July 15, 2022.

This whole situation would be discussed online on websites like Twitter, and many memes and drawings about the events would emerge and be spread. Comparison of the Gaturro statue with the various Garfield statues would also emerge.

At the place where the statue was located, people would begin to leave drawings as a form of "tribute", a tombstone would also be crafted and placed where Gaturro stood. ^[13] Nik's only response to the events was to share news articles about the statue's situation on social media. ^[12]

Third Gaturro statue on Córdoba

Weeks later, in the Plaza de la Intendencia, located in the city of Córdoba, a third, more cheaply-looking statue of Gaturro was installed. It wouldn't take long for it to be vandalized as well, so it would be removed shortly after and replaced by a statue of Sonic the Hedgehog, which remains in place today. ^[14]

Further developments

Nik announced in early June 2025 that he plans to install a new statue of Gaturro, with the statue already looking vandalized. As of August 2025, it is unknown when the third (technically fourth) statue will be installed, and whether it will be in the same location as before. ^[15]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Radix – Destrucción y caos en la estatua de Gaturro

^[2] Twitter – Nik about the retirement of the Gaturro statue

^[3] Radix – Nueva estatua de Gaturro es destruida en apenas unas horas

^[4] Facebook – Tiembla Disney

^[5] Facebook – Nik se queja del estado de la estatua de Gaturro

^[6] Nueva Ciudad – Nik lamento los actos de vandalismo y anticipo porque quitaran la estatua de gaturro

^[7] Youtube – Gaturroverse: Historia y Evolucion de la estatua de Gaturro

^[8] TN – Nik mostro el antes y despues de la estatua de Gaturro

^[9] Facebook – Gracias Milei

^[10] Twitter – Nik

^[11] Facebook – Historia de la Argentina actual

^[12] Twitter – Nueva estatua de Gaturro

^[12] Youtube – La NUEVA estatua de Gaturro solo dura 2 dias

^[13] Clarin – Memes, destruccion y vandalismo en la estatua de Gaturro

^[14] enAgenda – Vandalizaron al Gaturro cordobes, no duro ni un dia

^[15] Twitter – Se viene la nueva estatua de Gaturro previamente ya vandalizada