City: Bandidos insignia OK at Fiesta
September 06, 2011- The city of Santa Fe has agreed that it won't make members of the Santa Fe and Española chapters of The Bandidos Motorcycle Club remove jackets bearing their club insignia while on the Santa Fe Plaza this weekend.
For the last two Fiesta de Santa Fe events, police have told members of the club they must leave the Plaza or remove their insignias, according to a lawsuit filed last week by lawyer Yvonne Quintana of Española.
The club members wore their insignias without incident at the 2010 Gran Baile on a Saturday night at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, Quintana said. But on Sunday at the Historical/Hysterical Parade, she said, a city police officer told club members they must either remove their insignia jackets or leave.
Quintana said she was with her clients when the officer, who has since retired, approached them. She said the officer could not cite an ordinance banning one from wearing an insignia on the Plaza but insisted he had the authority to tell the club members to leave. She said they chose to leave.
"You've got the Shriners wearing their little vests," she said. "You've got all of these political candidates with 15 people, 20 people in their entourage wearing T-shirts saying, 'Elect so and so.' None of these other groups are asked to leave."
During a hearing before state District Judge Sarah Singleton on Friday, Assistant City Attorney Alfred Walker agreed to a temporary restraining order stopping the city from interfering with the plaintiffs' participation in the Fiesta de Santa Fe based on "attire or membership in any voluntary association" and requiring the city to inform police officers of this.
"I agreed with Ms. Quintana that the city would not prohibit people from going on to the Plaza based on what they were wearing," Walker said.
The Bandidos - meaning "bandits," "thieves" or "highwaymen" in Spanish - was founded in 1966 in San Leon, Texas. The club is believed to have 2,500 members in the U.S., mostly in the West, as well as in 13 other countries. It's second in motorcycle club membership only to the Hell's Angels.
The Bandidos insignia is a cartoon of a Pancho Villa-like, potbellied figure with a sombrero, serape, machete, bandolier and pistol.
Plaintiffs in the case are Cosme Garcia, Eddie Garcia, Ed Romero, Thomas Vigil, William Anaya, Lucas Miller, Juan Luis Martinez, Javier Lopez, Joseph Lopez and Joe Uranga.
"I'm sure that the group will be going to have a hamburger downtown for Fiestas," Quintana said.
