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An old but timely Petroglyph

Recently there was a news article concerning a protest march in New Mexico in which some of the marchers tried to topple a statue of Juan de Onate. He was a Conquistador who in 1599 ordered a massacre of the Acoma Pueblo killing hundreds of the residents and sentencing the remaining men and women to 20 yrs. of servitude. As an added act of inhumanity he ordered that each man would have a foot cut off.
This caused much anger and hatred to the Native American population and eventually to the Spanish Crown. As I watched the scene on TV, I was reminded of another act of anger towards this man that happened as much as 200-400 years ago.

While in New Mexico last year, my wife and I toured the Mesa Prieta petroglyph site. One particular petroglyph was an outline of a man with a cross on his shoulder and his right leg mutilated. The tour guide referenced the story of Juan de Onate and took us to this image. This seems to be a more historically correct tribute to this man than the statue found in Albuquercue.
Petroglyph at Mesa Prieta

His acts of inhumanity have not faded for over 400 years, especially with the People of First Nation.


























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  1. RonaldJuly 4, 2020 at 10:07 AM

    This should be made more known. Thanks for writing about it. Today's events made us both write this week. See mine about the "pandemic".

    ReplyDelete

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