A picture worth much more than 1,000 words went viral in southern Colorado over the weekend.

“We didn’t mean to upset anybody," said community organizer and activist Charlotte Perez.

Perez is part of the group that used a Donald Trump pinata at the El Pueblo Museum.

Becky Mizel posted the picture on Facebook recently adding to a fiery debate.

Mizel says she and others were concerned about this because the pinata was hanging in a public place in the museum, and she thought it was disrespectful to portray a U.S. president in such a hateful way.

"It made me very sad as an American and especially as a Puebloan because it is talking about hate. It has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat, it's something that shouldn't be in our community," said Mizel.

Her concern is that kids frequently visit the museum with their parents, and she didn't want them to see that type of activity.

"There are a lot of demonstrations with a lot of photos and pictures of Trump like that, but those are in demonstrations around the country, not in publicly-funded facilities," said Mizel.

11 News spoke with one member of the group that held the anti-Trump event.

"We are a nonviolent group," said Perez. "I can see where it does seem violent, but we are a bunch of indigenous people having a gathering, and we're only doing what we've done throughout many decades, and that's following through with our little tradition and having a piñata."

Veteran Jack Chick went to the El Pueblo Museum on Monday morning looking to take the pinata down himself because he was so upset by the photo he saw on social media.

"I didn't vote for Donald Trump but he is the president of the United States. When you insult the president of the United States, you are insulting our country," said Chick.

Many people on social media contacted the El Pueblo Museum about the pinata and received a statement back.

The statement reads:

The event on Friday was not a museum sanctioned event. It was an outside group who rented the museum. Museum staff did not plan, promote, or participate in the event. The pinata was part of the event and is no longer up. Even though this was not a museum event, we apologize. We are reviewing our rental policies to prevent something like this in the future.

The El Pueblo Museum staff declined a request from 11 News for an on-camera interview regarding the matter.

According to a Facebook event post, a group called Pueblo Popular Vote Fiesta rented out the museum on Friday.

In the description of the event, they talked about a chance to strike a Donald Trump pinata.

The group organized a rally on Santa Fe Avenue in Pueblo on Friday starting at 2 p.m. with under 100 people, but then hours later they moved to the El Pueblo Museum with more people.

Since the pinata photo surfaced another Facebook Page has been created called : "Dismiss the El Pueblo Museum Director'"

The page says it was created due to the reaction and outrage of the Pueblo community. On Friday, Vicente Martinez organized a rally called the Pueblo Popular Vote Fiesta, which rented the El Pueblo Museum facility for an event. This event included button-making and multi-cultural desserts for children, and included a piñata of President Trump, hung from the rafters, as if he were hung by a noose. A Facebook post finished by stating there’s “A chance to strike a Donald Trump piñata.”

Perez says the group didn't intend to symbolize physical harm to the president.

“It was a symbolization to defeat Trump," said Perez. "You know, he’s taking strikes at different ethnic groups, different women. There’s a lot of people that feel that he’s striking at them.”