A gunshot wound near a statue of a conquistador
A demonstration against the installation of a monument in homage to a contested figure degenerated on Thursday in New Mexico.
PublishedSeptember 29, 2023, 08:09
Native American activists oppose the installation of this statue.
REUTERS
A man was shot and injured on Thursday in the US state of New Mexico (southwest) during a demonstration against the installation of a statue of a Spanish conquistador. “Protesters and opponents of the demonstration had gathered (…) in response to the county’s plan to install a statue of Juan de Onate,” according to a press release from the city of Española, located in the north of the American state. .
Juan de Onate, the state’s first governor during the colonial era, is a contested figure in the United States for his role in the 1599 massacre of Native Americans. A fight broke out at the site where the statue was to be erected, according to a video posted on social media by indigenous activists. We see in particular an armed man who shoots the person with whom he was fighting.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce that one of our loved ones was shot,” said The Red Nation, a Native American advocacy group, in a message published on X, according to which the victim was “conscious » as he leaves in the ambulance.
Local media identified the suspect as Ryan Martinez, 23, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat at the time of the brawl. “I strongly condemn the cowardly act of violence we witnessed today in Rio Arriba County,” New Mexico Justice Secretary Raul Torrez said in a statement posted on social media.
(AFP)
2023-09-29 06:09:06
#gunshot #wound #statue #conquistador
