A hate-filled group of right-wing militants assembled at the statue of conquistador Juan de Oñate y Salazar Oñate outside the Albuquerque Museum, where peaceful protestors were attempting to topple the bronze statue of Onate sitting on an Iberian horse.
Wiki notes that Oñate slaughtered 1,000 at the Acoma Pueblo when he arrived in what is now New Mexico in 1598. It didn’t take the conquistador long before he murdered the Acoma.
“Today Oñate is known for the 1599 Acoma Massacre. Following a dispute that led to the death of thirteen Spaniards at the hands of the Ácoma, including Oñate's nephew, Juan de Zaldívar, Oñate ordered a brutal retaliation against Acoma Pueblo. The Pueblo was destroyed. Around 800-1000 Ácoma were killed. Of the 500 or so survivors, at a trial at Ohkay Owingeh, Oñate sentenced most to twenty years of forced "personal servitude" and additionally mandated that all men over the age of twenty-five have a foot cut off. He was eventually banished from New Mexico and exiled from Mexico City for five years, convicted by the Spanish government of using "excessive force" against the Acoma people.”
The emblem on the shooter's hat is apparently that of the radical right-wing ‘New Mexico Civil Guard’.
It is believed that some of the supporters of such evil can trace their ancestry back to the genocidal Spanish conquistadors.
Six militia members were arrested at the scene. The victim is recovering at a local hospital.
Staff writers from the Albuquerque Journal report on the incident.
One man was shot in Old Town as a protest over the “La Jornada” sculpture in front of the Albuquerque Museum erupted into violence Monday evening.
The shooting occurred during a clash following a peaceful protest to remove the controversial sculpture, a monument that features conquistador Juan de Oñate. The FBI is assisting in the investigation, according to an APD spokesman. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, meanwhile, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the shooting.
The night began with peaceful protest and prayer but tensions began to escalate when protesters took a pickaxe to the statue and members of the heavily armed New Mexico Civil Guard, a civilian group, tried to protect the monument.
Before the night was over Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other officials condemned the violence and those who instigated it.
“Although we are still learning more about the situation, I am horrified and disgusted beyond words by the reports of violence at a protest Monday night in Albuquerque,” Lujan Grisham said late Monday in a statement. “The heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a ‘civil guard,’ were there for one reason: To menace protesters, to present an unsanctioned show of unregulated force. To menace the people of New Mexico with weaponry — with an implicit threat of violence — is on its face unacceptable; that violence did indeed occur is unspeakable.”
Some may find the videos upsetting. The reply to the first video was posted by militia sympathizers.
The classic song Conquistador below was inspired by the anti-war movement during the Vietnam war.
Mayor Keller stated the staue will be removed:
Mayor Tim Keller sent the following statement after Monday's shooting:
“The shooting tonight was a tragic, outrageous and unacceptable act of violence and it has no place in our city. Our diverse community will not be deterred by acts meant to divide or silence us. Our hearts go out the victim, his family and witnesses whose lives were needlessly threatened tonight. This sculpture has now become an urgent matter of public safety. In order to contain the public safety risk, the City will be removing the statue until the appropriate civic institutions can determine next steps.”