Diana Alba Soular

Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES - After two different tribal groups expressed conflicting stances, Las Cruces city councilors voted Monday to indefinitely postpone action on a statement of support for the Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribe of the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe in its quest for standing as a federally recognized tribe.

Some city councilors said they felt Monday's proposed statement of support would have forced them to choose one local tribal group over another.

But Las Cruces Mayor Pro Tem Greg Smith, who favored passing the statement argued that the Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribe has a documented heritage and is eligible to apply for federal status. He said that doesn't preclude any other tribal groups from petitioning the federal government for recognition as well. He noted, for instance, that among the Apache people, there are several tribes, such as the Mescalero and Jicarilla.

"We have this 'us' and 'them' mentality going on that I think is unfortunate," Smith said Monday.

The Piro-Manso-Tiwa Indian Tribe of the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe is not officially recognized by the U.S. government. But the group has had a petition pending before the U.S. Department of the Interior since the 1970s. A 120-day comment period on its request to become a recognized tribe is set to end March 27, according to the federal government. The second major group, Los Indigenes de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, which organizes the large Our Lady of Guadalupe Fiesta that takes place each December, also is not a federally recognized tribe or pueblo. It doesn't have an application pending before the U.S. government, but a tribal official told city councilors the organization, which is an incorporated entity, is considering a petition. Both groups attended the meeting in significant numbers Monday. A third, separate group that traces family lineage to the Piro people also was present but didn't address city councilors in the meeting.

Had the city council passed a statement of support, the letter would have been included in the feedback during the federal comment period on the Piro-Manso-Tiwa tribe's request.

But the fact that the council didn't approve the letter isn't a setback in the group's ongoing effort to gain federal standing, said Piro-Manso-Tiwa tribal leader Ed Roybal, who's known as the tribe's "cacique." He said the Piro-Manso-Tiwas have met seven criteria for becoming a federally recognized tribe.

"We're still in the process of federal recognition," he said after Monday's meeting.

Asked what changes federal tribal status would bring, Roybal said it could help his group access programs, celebrate its traditions and solidify the members.

"We don't have a place together," he said. "We need an area like everybody else has — an area to be in."

Roybal clarified, however, the tribe wouldn't automatically be granted land or a reservation, if the U.S. government grants the tribal status.

Arianna Fierro, president of the Los Indigenes de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, told city councilors that there's been "strife" between the two tribal groups for decades. She said the Piro-Manso-Tiwa group has made a number of allegations against the corporation and has laid claim to some of its artifacts. She said she was concerned that the Piro-Manso-Tiwa group, if granted federal standing, would displace Los Indigenes de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and that a resolution like the one proposed to city councilors would have a detrimental effect.

"We respectfully oppose this resolution," she said before the vote.

City Councilor Olga Pedroza said she felt like she was being asked to favor one group over the other and she was concerned that if one group got federal standing, that would exclude the second group. She said the decision on the proposed statement of support for the Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribe was "difficult" because it seemed more like a question for the courts.

Smith asked members of the Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribe who were in the audience to stand. About 20 people stood up. Pedroza followed that up by asking opponents to the proposed statement of support to stand, and about 30 people rose from their seats.

City Councilor Ceil Levatino asked Fierro if there were any protections the federal government could grant to the corporation, if federal officials do decide to designate the Piro-Manso-Tiwas as an official tribe.

Fierro said she didn't think so.

Levatino said she agreed with Pedroza's stance on the proposed statement of support.

City Councilor Jack Eakman said the discord between the groups could cause them each to lose out on the standing eventually. City Councilor Gill Sorg had similar remarks.

"I wonder if there's not something more important than this 50-year-old battle," Eakman said. "I wonder if there could be some way that you could start thinking about coming together for a higher purpose than just preventing someone else from having something."

City councilors voted 6-1 to table the proposed statement of support indefinitely. Smith dissented.

Aundrea Lopez, 20, of the Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribe, said after the meeting she was disappointed in the decision because the group has its evidence in order.

"They didn't take time to read our petition online," she said. "We want a place we could celebrate our way of life."

Lopez said a central aspect of the tribe's history is forced conversion to Catholicism by the Spanish. But the tribe has an identity that's apart from that. It has its own traditions, she said.

"We're not Catholic," she said.

Guillermo Portillo Jr. said he and his family used to be affiliated with the Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribe, but ruffled feathers in the mid-'90s after asking questions about tribal members and organization, so they "threw us out of the tribe." Portillo said his family's ancestry stems from the Piro people, who lived north of Socorro, New Mexico, in the 1600s. That was until uprisings by Native Americans against the Spanish prompted a portion of tribal members to migrate south along with Rio Grande to the Juárez and El Paso areas. But a contingent of tribal members eventually made its way back north, settling in what's now Las Cruces.

The Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribe is also requesting a statement of support from the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners, an item that will be voted upon Tuesday. That meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the county government center, 845 N. Motel Blvd., Las Cruces.

Also Monday, the city councilors recognized the Las Cruces Kings football team, an amateur team that's on a 14-game winning streak.

Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, dalba@lcsun-news.com or @AlbaSoular on Twitter.