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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.
