Navajo Nation Presidential Candidates, NM Attorney General Race & Missing in New Mexico Day

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Antonia Gonzales begins the show’s series of candidate conversations featuring leading contenders for Governor, Congress, and Navajo Nation President. Current Navajo President Jonathan Nez tells Antonia that his leadership can help carry his tribe through the end of the pandemic. But challenger Dr. Buu Nygren says it’s past time to open the tribe back up and to move on from the crisis. 

Gene Grant and the Line Opinion Panel talk through new developments in the race for Attorney General. Pre-trial detention has become a major issue in the contest. The panel debates the positions of each candidate.  

Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus continues her series of discussions on the future of the greater Chaco landscape. She speaks with Mario Atencio, whose family lives on the eastern Navajo Nation, where oil and gas development have affected the land and water. Atencio is the Greater Chaco Energy Organizer with Diné CARE, or Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, and he talks about why increased protections for communities and landscapes are so important. 

Senior Producer Lou DiVizio sits down with New Mexico Secretary of Indian Affairs Lynn Trujillo to talk about the state’s inaugural ‘Missing in New Mexico Day.’ It’s just one of several steps the state is taking after a formal response plan was drafted to address the crisis of missing indigenous people.  

Host: Gene Grant 

The Line opinion panel: 
Dede Feldman, fmr. NM State Senator 
Merritt Allen, Vox Optima Public Relations 
Serge Martinez, professor, UNM School of Law 

Segments: 

Candidate Conversations: Navajo Nation President, Jonathan Nez 
Correspondent: Antonia Gonzales 
Guest: Jonathan Nez, President, Navajo Nation 

Candidate Conversations: Navajo Nation Presidential Candidate, Dr. Buu Nygren  
Correspondent: Antonia Gonzales 
Guest: Dr. Buu Nygren, Ed.D., Candidate, Navajo Nation President 

Working to Protect the Greater Chaco Landscape 
Correspondent: Laura Paskus 
Guest: Mario Atencio, Greater Chaco Energy Organizer, Diné CARE 

NM’s Inaugural ‘Missing in New Mexico Day’ 
Correspondent: Lou DiVizio 
Guest: Sec. Lynn Trujillo, NM Department of Indian Affairs