Protests target Spanish colonial statues that 'celebrate genocide' in US west

Native Americans in New Mexico have held protests to demand that effigies glorifying conquistadors be removed

As a national debate swirls around statues of Confederate officials, a new battle is brewing in the western US over the fate of monuments glorifying the brutal Spanish conquest of the Americas.

They include effigies of Diego De Vargas, who ordered the execution of 70 Pueblo Indians and the enslavement of hundreds of women and children, and conquistador Juan De Onate, who is known for ordering the massacre of 800 Acoma people and for the right feet of 24 captive Acoma warriors to be amputated.