A homage to Lázaro Cárdenas, the Mexican President who welcomed about 30,000 Spanish Republican exiles fleeing the Spanish Civil War and the ensuing Francoist dictatorship, was one of the first decisions taken by the democratic municipal corporation formed after the 1979 Madrid municipal election, passed in the first meeting session of the plenary of the Ayuntamiento.

[1][2] Costs of the structure were funded by the Ayuntamiento,[1] while the statue was financed via popular subscription among the Spanish Republican community in Mexico.

[2] Initially intending to erect a bust, they reportedly collected so much money a full-body statue was commissioned.

[3] The design of the project was awarded to Mexican sculptor Julián Martínez, himself a Spanish exile who arrived to Mexico when he was young.

[4] Following an initiative of the Association of Descendants of the Spanish Exile, a new plaque reading "padre de los españoles sin patria y sin derechos, perseguidos por la tiranía y desheredados por el odio" ("father of the Spaniards without homeland and without rights, persecuted by tyranny and disinherited by hate"), a quote dedicated to Cárdenas by Álvaro de Albornoz upon the latter's arrival to Mexico as exile, was unveiled in October 2005.