The UCTP Condemns Actions of US Army Core of Engineers (USACE) and Southeastern Archaelogical Research Inc. (SEARCH, Inc.)

The United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP) condemns the actions of the US Army Core of Engineers (USACE) and Southeastern Archaelogical Research Inc. (SEARCH, Inc.) based in Orlando, Florida, which resulted in the irreparable damage to an ancient indigenous burial site, including human remains and associated funerary objects at Rio la Plata, Dorado, Puerto Rico. 

The UCTP also condemns the decision of the State Historic Preservation Office in Puerto Rico, which granted the permit to and certified the work of the USACE and SEARCH, Inc. as satisfactory even though heavy equipment was used for excavation and human remains and associated cultural materials were removed from the site without consultation with interested local indigenous peoples' organizations. The lack of consultation is a violation of the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

The desecration of the burial site and lack of consultation by the USACE in Dorado is not an isolated incident, as the UCTP has requested consultative status in the past, for example, during excavations at the PO29 Site located at Jacanas, Ponce, Puerto Rico in 2007. The USACE and PR SHPO continue to ignore the established protocol and procedures concerning "consulting parties" in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, 36 C.F.R. §800.2: - Participants in the Section 106 process.

While the United Confederation of Taíno People is not a "tribe" federally recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, it is an Indigenous Peoples Representative Institution that represents descendants of Indigenous Peoples most closely associated with the site in Dorado. Additionally, the UCTP is aware of the availability of the ACHP's guidance regarding consultation with non-federally recognized tribes. 

Therefore, the UCTP calls on the USACE and PR SHPO to cease and desist in their ongoing violation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and comply with the National Historic Preservation Act in Rio la Plata, Dorado, and all of Borikén (aka Puerto Rico). 

In witness thereof,
Roberto Múkaro Borrero, 
President,
United Confederation of Taíno People