Conquistador reenactment leaders apologize to Pueblo Indians

SANTA FE, N.M. Organizers of the annual reenactment of a 17thcentury Spanish conquistador reclaiming Santa Fe from Native Americans have issued an apology to Pueblo Indians after ending the annual event.

In a statement earlier this week, Santa Fe Fiesta, Inc. said organizers for the first time apologize to the various Pueblo Indian tribes for the controversy around the reenactment that had drew criticism from some Native American activists for years.

“We have deviated from the original intent of honouring Nuestra Senora de la Paz,” said Melissa Mascaréas, president of Santa Fe Fiesta, Inc., said. “We regret the suffering, trauma and pain the Pueblo people endured.”

Organizers of the annual Fiesta de Santa Fe recently agreed to discontinue to reenactment after months of closed-door discussions about how to resolve the growing discord over “the Entrada.”

Alicia Ortega, director at the All Pueblo Council of Governors, did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.

The event, which was performed each autumn on the Santa Fe Plaza during the annual Fiesta de Santa Fe, had become a symbol of colonialism for some Native Americans, as well as a painful reminder of New Mexico’s bloody past.

The pageant depicted the re-entry of conquistador Don Diego de Vargas into Santa Fe after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

Historians have said the reenactment lacked proper context about the events. Others called it revising history. The dramatization, for example, didn’t mention the threat of force that de Vargas used to retake Santa Fe or the years of bloodshed and brutality that followed.