A long-running event that celebrated the Spanish "conquest" of New Mexico is finally ending following years of opposition from Pueblo tribes and activists.
The Entrada took place every year during the
Fiesta de Santa Fe in the state's capital city. It depicted the return of the Spanish in 1692 as bloodless but Pueblo people said that was far from the case.
“The Entrada as we have known it will no longer be part of the fiesta for all of the obvious reasons of what it causes in continuing that representation of the past,” Regis Pecos, a former leader of the
Pueblo of Cochiti, told The Santa Fe New Mexican in an exclusive interview.
In August 1680, a diverse group of Pueblo leaders staged the
Pueblo Revolt and forced Spanish colonists out of their homelands. But the
settlers returned in 1692 and forced a declaration of "peace" in Santa Fe on September 14, 1692.
The Fiesta de Santa Fe featured a re-enactment of that event, complete with people dressed in colonial Spanish and historic Pueblo clothing.
"Witness the accurate account of General Don Diego de Vargas and his Cuadrilla along with his American Indian allies who assisted in the peaceful resettlement of Santa Fe in September 1692," the organization said of the
2017 Entrada.
Pueblo activists and their allies disputed the accuracy of the Entrada and frequently protested the event. They were planning another one this year but are celebrating for now.
"Like I said, this victory belongs to everybody who has been on the ground and pushing back for the past few decades, the people who have been threatened and brutalized for it," Jennifer Marley of
San Ildefonso Pueblo, wrote on social media on Wednesday. "We don’t stop here, this is baseline bare minimum, and abolishing the Entrada alone won’t significantly improve the material conditions of Native people."
Marley was arrested during last year's protest but charges were dropped a month later.
Read More on the Story:
Fiesta drops divisive Entrada pageant in Santa Fe
(The Santa Fe New Mexican July 24, 2018)
Santa Fe ends contentious Entrada pageant
(The Albuquerque Journal July 25, 2018)
Santa Fe removes controversial Entrada pageant from annual fiesta
(KRQE July 25, 2018)
An Opinion:
Editorial:
Entrada is heading toward the exit
(The Albuquerque Journal July 27, 2018)
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