Courtesy Georgia Roybal
Antonio "Ike" DeVargas and friends
Max Schiller, Kay Matthews, Ikey DeVargas, Richard Rosenstock—longtime lawyer to Ike—and Moises Morales
Antonio “Ike” DeVargas was born in Rio Arriba County in 1946. In 1965, he joined the Marines and became a decorated veteran during the Vietnam War, but came to understand that they were brainwashed into believing they were fighting communist dictators. Upon returning to Rio Arriba County, Ike realized he was facing another type of dictator: a political machine under the command of Emilio Naranjo. Naranjo began his moves toward power in the 1950s. He served as county sheriff, US marshal, county manager, state senator and long-time chair of the Rio Arriba County Democratic Party. In these positions he had total control over who was hired/fired for public jobs (including school district jobs) and over any public projects proposed in the county.
In 1974, Ike and others formed La Raza Unida Party in Rio Arriba. Other founders included Moises Morales and Andres Valdez. Running as a Democrat was impossible unless you supported Emilio Naranjo unfailingly. The Raza Unida Party organized rallies, discussions and commentaries at public meetings. As retribution, Naranjo spearheaded beatings and ransacked La Clinica (a community health provider) and La Oficina de Ley (a public legal clinic). Then his men planted drugs on Ike and Moises Morales in 1975. They sued, Moises made an out-of-court settlement and Ike went to court. A jury awarded him a monetary settlement in 1978.
Ike was also confronted by one of Naranjo’s armed deputies. Ike managed to wrest his gun away, but was arrested and sent to the state prison as his life would have been endangered at the county jail. Nonetheless, he was beaten up at the prison. The charges were dropped.
In 1984, the same group formed what they called Democrats for Progress. By 1993, they had taken control of the Rio Arriba County Commission. This proved to be the beginning of the end of the Naranjo regime. Another major victory came when Arthur Rodarte defeated Emilio Naranjo as state senator in 1996. Democracy triumphed in the county thanks to Ike and the other activists involved with the Democrats for Progress.
Other fights of Ike’s included organizing local loggers into a Sustained Yield Unit to counter the internationally owned Duke City Lumber. His local Companía de Ocho sued the Forest Service over policies related to the Mexican Spotted Owl, and delays in being able to work on the timber contracts obtained through the lawsuit’s settlement contributed to his company going under. This effort also included forcing the Forest Service to cease and desist racist policies, which resulted in policy changes regarding forest use.
Ike’s daughter, Carmela DeVargas, was arrested for a probation violation related to opioid abuse in 2019. She was placed in detention in Santa Fe County. Her pleas for medical help were ignored and she died. A few days later, another addicted inmate died from lack of medical care. Ike and the other family sued Santa Fe County and won settlements. Both families remained active in trying to get the county to institute a medical treatment model. Ike had previously adopted his grandson due to Camela’s drug addiction problems and was raising him.
Ike was also involved in an action against Rio Arriba County North Central Solid Waste Authority. Property owners were receiving liens on their property for not paying for waste disposal; the garbage collection was not consistent. Ike got enough signatures for a grand jury investigation. He was also attempting to remove County Commissioner Alex Naranjo for allegedly violating the Open Meetings Act.
These became Ike’s last battles. He died on July 3, 2024. Antonio Ike DeVargas, Presente!!
Georgia Roybal was trained as a bilingual special ed teacher and worked in Idaho, Nevada and California before coming to New Mexico. She worked with Roberto Mondragon for 20+ years developing New Mexico based bilingual educational materials. Much of the material is available online. She met DeVargas through Richard Rosenstock and worked with him “off and on particularly on land grant issues,” and also helped with his efforts after his daughter Carmela died.
Editor’s note: This story was subsequently edited with clarifications provided by Rosenstock related to La Compania’s closure and other biographical details.
