Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera says that a life-size bronze statue of Azerbaijan's former president will be removed from the capital's main avenue.

Mancera says the Stalinesque statue of the late Geidar Aliyev will be moved to different location that will be determined this week.

He said Tuesday that the decision was made based on the recommendation by a commission of intellectuals.

The Azerbaijani Embassy paid for the renovation of part of the city park where the statue sits and other public works totaling about $5 million.

Protesters have said they are offended by a monument to an authoritarian figure like Aliyev, who led Azerbaijan first as Communist Party boss during Soviet times and then as president from 1993 until his death in 2003.