Before Entrada, preparing for violence
Emails show police sought to put National Guard on alert, collected intelligence on protesters, warned organizers event could be canceled
Two weeks before a controversial re-enactment of Spanish conquistadors taking back the city from Pueblo Indians, Santa Fe’s police chief was so worried that a planned protest would spin out of control that he asked to put the New Mexico National Guard on alert.
“At the very least, I would like them to be aware of the possibility of a large-scale public disorder that law enforcement cannot control,” Chief Patrick Gallagher wrote in an email to David Silver, the city’s emergency management director.
In an interview after the Entrada, Gallagher said the police department didn’t know what to expect, so he wanted to be prepared to handle violence.
The Aug. 25 email, one of more than 200 obtained by The New Mexican under an open-records request, illustrates the anxiety among police and the precautions that event organizers took in the weeks leading up to the Entrada, which sparked a raucous protest last year and fears of violence this year amid growing racial and ethnic tensions around the country.
The emails paint a picture of a police department working feverishly to prevent a bloody disturbance. It collected intelligence on the protesters and warned event organizers that the Entrada could be canceled as a public safety measure, as city officials scrambled to get a “strong statement” from pueblo leaders calling for nonviolent protests. The New Mexican is reprinting the emails as they were written.
“I’m trying to get the All Indian Pueblo Council to make the request but believe it’s important that we honor our relationship with Tesuque Pueblo,” Mayor Javier Gonzales wrote in an
Aug. 19 email to the police chief and Councilor Signe Lindell, asking if they could join City Manager Brian Snyder in a meeting with the Tesuque Pueblo Tribal Council on Aug. 21.
“The request I would need the two of you to make is to help with the city’s efforts appear before the All Pueblo council so I can officially consult with them and in turn seek a statement that is more harmonious with the Hispanic community and asks the protesters to protest in peace and to assure the community this is not something they support,” wrote Gonzales, who was out of town at the time, driving his oldest daughter to college.
Based on the emails, it’s unknown what happened to the mayor’s efforts, but no such statement was ever issued.
The emails make no mention of a “free speech zone” outside the Plaza. The city said it withheld some records from the Inspection of Public Records Act request based on attorneyclient privilege and tactical response plans.
Police established the “free speech zone” and told protesters they had to leave the Plaza and go to that spot. Eight protesters were arrested on various charges of failing to comply.
The records released by the city show that police were in constant communication with members of the Santa Fe Fiesta Council and Manuel Garcia, president of the Caballeros de Vargas, which is responsible for the annual re-enactment of the retaking of the city in 1692 by the Spaniards.
On Aug. 29, Fiesta Council President Dean Milligan sent Gallagher a letter requesting a list of prohibited items on the Plaza during Fiesta events. The list included weapons, masks and bullhorns. When the city announced the list of prohibited items in a news release Sept. 7, it said the Fiesta Council had made the request. But the Aug. 29 letter from Milligan to Gallagher states that Gallagher initiated the request “in our phone conversation.”
In the weeks leading up to the Entrada, police brass and Garcia discussed, among other issues, prohibiting horses from the re-enactment, a decision that was implemented this year, and moving the location of the Entrada.
“If it is moved, one suggestion could be the Cross of the Martyrs,” Deputy Chief Mario Salbidrez wrote in an Aug. 18 email to Gallagher.
“Interesting suggestion,” the chief responded. “Much more limited access that we would have a better chance of controlling.”
Event organizers didn’t change the location, but they moved up the time of the Entrada on the Plaza by two hours. That decision was made a week before the event but announced only about 30 minutes before as part of a plan to cripple the planned protest.
“As previously discussed, our evaluation and intelligence advises that the Entrada as scheduled at 2pm could be a threat to not only the members of the Entrada but those attending and protesters,” Salbidrez wrote to Garcia on Sept. 1.
“If the Entrada is held at the regularly scheduled time, there is a high probability PD Command staff may cancel the event altogether,” he wrote. “As for moving it to an earlier time, the potential for violent protesters attending and disrupting the event is less likely. Most recent intelligence has informed us that The Red Nation lead organizer has asked for support from Gallup and Farmington.”
The Red Nation, an organization that says it is “dedicated to the liberation of Indigenous peoples from colonialism,” was among the protest organizers. One of the lead protesters, Jennifer Marley, a San Ildefonso Pueblo woman and University of New Mexico student who was arrested after the Entrada, is a member of the group. Marley is the only one of the eight demonstrators arrested facing felony charges. Police say she hit two officers with a cardboard sign.
Garcia urged his “Hermano Caballeros” to attend the Entrada — “I feel the best way we can support the Entrada is by showing up in number and displaying the unity of our brotherhood” — but discouraged them from “participating in or organizing any demonstrations against anti-Entrada protesters.”
“As members of the Cabelleros De Vargas it is not only our responsibility to be the honor guard for our Blessed Mother Nuestra Senora de La Paz, it is also our responsibility to exhibit behavior that leads the community in means of peace and respect for others as exhibited in the Entrada reenactment,” he wrote.
While Los Caballeros de Vargas is a private organization that isn’t subject to the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act, among those receiving Garcia’s emails was City Councilor Ron Trujillo, a mayoral candidate who has portrayed Spanish conquistador Don Diego de Vargas for Fiesta. Garcia sent the emails to Trujillo’s city government account.
The day after the Entrada, Garcia sent the Caballeros another email, thanking them for their assistance.
“I will NOT be seeking reelection as President for the 2017 year,” he wrote.
Gilbert Romero, a former Fiesta Council president, responded to Garcia two hours later, thanking him for doing an “outstanding job” to keep the city safe during the Entrada.
“I also would like to encourage you to reconsider running for president,” Romero wrote. “Our troubles are not over and next year troubles will continue.”