The Issue of Don Juan de Oñate

New Mexico's first Governor

On April 30, 1598 about 400 men, women and children arrived at the threshold of New Mexico with their leader Don Juan de Oñate. This was after suffering great difficulties along the way. For Oñate this was a culmination of everything he had worked for since September 21, 1595.

It is time that Oñate's efforts and accomplish-ments become known to the United States population. His story is yet to be told in full. We, the descendants of Oñate's group, are working hard to get early New Mexican history told.

In 1998 a proposition to have a statue erected in Oñate's honor, in one of Alburquerque's local parks, was proposed. Since then the Hispanic people who support the statue have had to endure an ongoing fight with one of the local pueblos.

The statue proposal has initiated numerous meetings, with the Alburquerque Arts Board, to discuss both the Hispanic and Native American points of view. These meetings usually conclude in frustration and a total lack of respect for Hispanic New Mexicans and their ancestral history.

On March 1, 1999 the Alburquerque City Council voted unanamously in favor of the Onate Statue to the dismay of certain individuals. These people are in the process of causing trouble for New Mexican Hispanic's in favor of the statue. Please call, write or both to Mayor Baca's office to tell him to sign the recently passed Bill for the Onate Memorial.
 

The following pages are dedicated to informing the public about what is currently going on, in this ongoing battle.
 
 

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