City waits on council to hear future of Oñate statue on Albuquerque Museum grounds

Oct. 9—It's been more than three years since the city of Albuquerque removed the Juan de Oñate statue from its home in front of the Albuquerque Museum.

The city's statue is still off display and in storage. And, according to the city, it will stay that way until the City Council takes up the issue.

The bronze tribute to the Spanish conquistador was removed in June 2020 after a protest erupted and a confrontation left one man shot and wounded at the 19th Street and Mountain Road NW site.

But its place in society is receiving renewed attention after another infamous Oñate episode.

A different Oñate statue was due to return to public view in Rio Arriba County in northern New Mexico recently, but it was postponed indefinitely. A rally to celebrate that decision also ended in bloodshed as Ryan David Martinez of Sandia Park is charged with shooting a protester at the Espanola demonstration on Sept. 28. He has been charged with two felonies, including attempted murder.

Shelle Sanchez, city of Albuquerque's Department of Arts and Culture director, said in August 2020, there was a resolution that specifically outlined that the City Council would make the decision on its future. The resolution directed the department to direct community input and give its results to the council.

Over the course of months, the city reached out to community members to get intensive dialog started.

"We had online surveys and reached out in a very intentional way," Sanchez said. "I always like to remind people that too often the conversation comes back to what our elected officials are going to do. The reason we had the community-oriented dialog is because there is conflict around what the statues represent. There has to be community dialogue around it. Those recommendations went to City Council."

City Council heard the recommendations from the Arts Board in its December 2020 meeting and decided to postpone a decision.

On Tuesday, City Council President Pat Davis said the future of the statue could return to the agenda at any point. He noted that the council frequently receives questions about the statue.

Davis said he wouldn't take the initiative on bringing the statue up for debate. Councilor Klarissa Peña led efforts to speak to community groups about the statue, Davis said, and the council has deferred to her to reintroduce it.

Peña said she was in discussions with community leaders prior to the late-September shooting about a new vision for the statue. She said those talks will continue and she plans to eventually bring the issue to the council, although she said it's uncertain when that will happen.

The shooting hasn't pushed her to immediate action, Peña said. Given the division surrounding the statue, she said council and the community at large needs to take its time to finding equitable solution.

But, she said, "This is something we can't walk away from."

The recommendations from the group included that the Oñate statue not be returned to the land at 19th and Mountain NW and that the area be re-envisioned or re-contextualized.

The group also recommended that options include signage or an audio guide that provides historical context to the public art piece.

It also expressed a strong desire for continued additional public input and dialog with the living artists Reynaldo "Sonny" Rivera, who is Hispanic, and Nora Naranjo-Morse, who is Native American.

The statue is one piece of "La Jornada" created by Rivera and Betty Sabo and was accepted into the city's public art collection in 2005.

In the same project, Naranjo-Morse was commissioned to create the adjacent land art installation, "Numbe Whageh."

Controversy surrounded "La Jornada" because of Oñate's history. He ordered Acoma Pueblo people into servitude and, in some cases, had their right feet cut off following Acoma's killing of several Spanish soldiers and a subsequent retaliatory Spanish attack that killed hundreds on the pueblo.

Rivera's wife, Hope, said that it's been over a year since the city has contacted Rivera about the future of "La Jornada."

Because there's been no movement by the City Council, Sanchez said the Oñate statue has been safe in storage.

"Recently, there hasn't been a decision for the next steps," Sanchez said. "We're waiting for City Council to make a determination or to direct the administration on what they would like to see happen."

Sanchez said the Department of Arts and Culture was asked to complete a robust community dialog by the City Council and returned the findings.

"We believe in the process and the people that we had lead the process were trained facilitators," Sanchez said. "A lot of voices in the room didn't agree with each other. We're proud of the community outreach and engagement that we did. We presented (the community's recommendations) to council and when they decide to take it up, we will be there to assist."