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Fiesta de Santa Fe: Off the court
(1 comments; last comment posted September 9, 2007 10:17 am)
12-year old Daniel Ellis stands next to his Zozobra stature, which won the first annual Kiwanas Look-a-like contest in 1978. Ellis won a savings bond for his effort. He is the son of Don and Karlene Ellis of Santa Fe, and currently lives in Santa Fe.
By TODD BAILEY | The New Mexican
September 9, 2007
High-powered lawyer and politico Carlos Fierro has enjoyed success throughout the years, but to many he will always be known as 1997’s Don Diego DeVargas
At only 34, Carlos Fierro has accomplished a lot in his life.
After graduating in 1991 from Santa Fe High School, Fierro attended New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. After some Army training, he graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1996 with degrees in political science and Spanish. Three years later, Fierro graduated from The University of New Mexico’s law school.
Since then, Fierro has been in the political scene. He served as a legislative assistant and legislative director for Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M. At 28, Fierro was appointed senior counsel to Sen. John McCain on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.
But he also has given back to his home state. Fierro guided negotiations on long-standing land, tax and jurisdictional and natural-resource management issues between the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the Rio Arriba County Commission. He is working with the government of Spain to re-establish communication with the 19 pueblos of New Mexico, following the Spanish conquest by explorer and Colonial Gov. Juan de Oñate.
For this work — and more — Fierro was awarded the Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award for 2007 by the State Bar of New Mexico.
But when he walks through the streets of Santa Fe today, residents know him as someone else.
“Hey, you’re Don Diego DeVargas from 1997, right?”
“It’s funny,” Fierro said with a chuckle. “I have accomplished so much in my life up to this point — worked with a lot of people that we see in the news, and yet no one here really knows that. I’m known as the guy who portrayed DeVargas. It’s funny, but I am proud of that time in my life as well.”
Fierro had just graduated from college when he decided to run for the coveted position within the Santa Fe Fiesta court. His mother’s family has been in New Mexico for generations, and he grew up seeing what Santa Fe’s Fiesta is all about. His uncle, Art Gurule, portrayed DeVargas in 1984.
“My uncle made me DeVargas for the day,” Fierro said. “That was special to me, and when I came back from Massachusetts, I decided it was something that I wanted to do.”
The experience was not just a religious enlightenment for Fierro, but a cultural one as well. He grew up having good relations with local tribal members and used his platform as Don Diego DeVargas to give Indians a more prominent role in the Fiesta.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” Fierro said.
One of his greatest accomplishments was the relationship he helped forge between the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the Rio Arriba County Commission. New Mexico House Speaker Ben Luján stated that resolution would have been “disastrous, had someone other than Fierro been in charge of the negotiations.
“The outcome would have defined a course of a lasting adversarial relationship,” Luján wrote in a letter he sent to the State Bar nominating Fierro for his award.
“What made me think that I was the perfect person to bring these two groups together was because of the personal relationships I have with both sides, and through that I opened up an avenue by which both sides could regain trust with each other,” Fierro said.
Fierro’s approach to the negotiations was different than most disagreements, where there has to be a winner and a loser. That was an outcome Fierro wanted to avoid.
“The primary issue was to develop that trust and dialogue,” Fierro said. “The tribal council and the president and the county commission are all outstanding people. I think we all realized that there had been some long standing misconceptions between the two sides.”
The two entities came to an agreement in January of this year, but Fierro was sure of the outcome by November 2006. Now there is intergovernmental cooperation, and while the parties still disagree on certain items, a bond of trust allows both sides to work together.
“Working with the Jicarilla and Rio Arriba has given me the most satisfaction with my career,” said Fierro, who is setting up offices to practice public law in Washington, D.C., and Santa Fe. “I think that satisfaction comes from the fact that my family is from that area and my grandmother is still there.
“But I didn’t do this by myself. There are a lot of people on both sides who have worked to create this relationship.”
On the heels of this compact comes another set of negotiations where the government of Spain asked Fierro to assist in establishing a line of communication with the 19 pueblos.
Above all this is the fact that Fierro is a single father raising his 7-year-old daughter, Sofia, who is described as New Mexico’s first baby born in the new millennium.
“What’s great is that she has two parents who love her very much,” Fierro said of his daughter. “You have to find that right balance between being working and being a father. You strive to be the best attorney you can, but you also strive to be the best father as well. Making the most out of our lives is the reality that we all live in and strive to do on a daily basis.”
Fierro is back in Northern New Mexico for this weekend’s festivities, living life as though he weren’t a hotshot lawyer. He’ll still visit his lifelong friends at the favorite hangout, Española’s El Paragua restaurant. He’ll make sure to see as much family as he can.
And, if you look hard enough, you might spot him in the massive crowds in downtown Santa Fe.
You remember — he’s the kid who was Don Diego DeVargas in 1997.
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