March 9, 2017

On a Friday evening in late January 2017, Bura’s niece told Carlos that three weeks earlier, a man had forced Bura from his home at knife point. The next day, Carlos went to Bura’s and found the man, a 53 year old who had recently been run out of another Pajarito enclave, in Bura’s yard. Carlos asked him what he was doing there, and the man said that he was taking care of the place for Bura. Carlos went to see Bura at a neighbor’s house where he was staying, and Bura told Carlos that though he had initially agreed to let the man stay with him, he had told the man to leave when he began cooking methamphetamine in Bura’s house. That was when the man pulled a knife and drove Bura out.

After the incident, Bura contacted the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) to ask them to send deputies, but the deputies refused to go. Upon hearing this, Carlos wrote an email to Captain Taylor of the BCSO about the situation. The next day Carlos spoke with a BCSO watch commander on the phone. By Monday morning he had still not heard anything, so he wrote a follow up email to Captain Taylor, this time cc’ing friends, politicians, and local journalists. Later that day, Carlos, Bura, Bura’s niece, and four BCSO deputies assembled at the Pajarito Mesa Community Center. The deputies were initially noncommittal about visiting Bura’s house, but Carlos was able to talk them into it. They returned with the man, who confessed to threatening Bura with a knife, and the deputies arrested him.

The following Tuesday, we ate supper and watched Una Nueva Tierra with Bura, Carlos, Dora, and Socorro for the first time.

The Monday after that, Carlos went to a friend’s house and found Bura lying on a recliner in a state of delirium. The friend had found Bura semiconscious on the ground and was waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Carlos met the ambulance at the community center to guide them in. On Wednesday, we went with Carlos, Dora, and Socorro to the hospital to say goodbye to Bura. Later that evening, he died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage. He was surrounded by friends and family.