Monument to Spanish conqueror removed in New Mexico
Associated Press
This bronze statue of Don Juan de Oñate leading a group of Spanish settlers from an area near what is now Ciudad Chihuahua, Mexico, to what was then the northern most province of New Spain in 1598 stands outside the Albuquerque Museum in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday, June 12, 2020. The collection of statues, which includes an indigenous guide, a priest, women settlers and soldiers, is titled "La Jornada." Two public statues of Spanish conqueror Juan de Oñate in New Mexico are drawing renewed attention and criticism as memorials erected in honor of Confederate leaders and other historical figures worldwide become a focus of protests. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)
This bronze statue of Don Juan de Oñate leading a group of Spanish settlers from an area near what is now Ciudad Chihuahua, Mexico, to what was then the northern most province of New Spain in 1598 stands outside the Albuquerque Museum in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday, June 12, 2020. The collection of statues, which includes an indigenous guide, a priest, women settlers and soldiers, is titled "La Jornada." Two public statues of Spanish conqueror Juan de Oñate in New Mexico are drawing renewed attention and criticism as memorials erected in honor of Confederate leaders and other historical figures worldwide become a focus of protests. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)
FILE - In this March 8, 2000 file photo, Ambassador Frank Ortiz, left, and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., examine Juan de Oñate's 400-year-old helmut on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Two public statues of Spanish conqueror Juan de Oñate in New Mexico are drawing renewed attention and criticism as memorials erected in honor of Confederate leaders and other historical figures worldwide become a focus of protests. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)
This bronze statue of Don Juan de Onate leading a group of Spanish settlers from an area near what is now Ciudad Chihuahua, Mexico, to what was then the northern most province of New Spain in 1598 stands outside the Albuquerque Museum in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday, June 12, 2020. The collection of statues, which includes an indigenous guide, a priest, women settlers and soldiers, is titled "La Jornada." Two public statues of Spanish conqueror Juan de Oñate in New Mexico are drawing renewed attention and criticism as memorials erected in honor of Confederate leaders and other historical figures worldwide become a focus of protests. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities have removed a bronze statue of Spanish conqueror Juan de Oñate in northern New Mexico amid a new wave of criticism of the memorial as an affront to indigenous people and an obstacle to greater racial harmony.
A forklift pried the massive bronze statute of Oñate from a concrete pedestal to the sound of cheers and ululation from bystanders.
A demonstration also was planned in Albuquerque at another bronze Oñate likeness that is part of a caravan of Spanish colonists outside a city museum.
Oñate is both reviled for his brutality and revered as a cultural father figure.
