NM land grant activists turn to Obama for help

New Mexico land grant activists have sent a letter to President Barack Obama, asking for his help in returning millions of acres of land in the Southwest that Hispanic settlers lost when the United States took over the territory. The letter, sent to the president Wednesday, was signed by Rosita Tijerina, daughter of Reies Lopez Tijerina, who led a 1967 raid on the courthouse in Tierra Amarilla in a land grant dispute, and Andres Valdez, director of the community activist organization, Vecinos United. Their letter said much of the land was taken by the federal government and is now managed by U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Other land, they said, was stolen by "rich white ranchers" from ancestors who could not read or write. AP