Short Film on Taíno Chief Premiers at Venezuelan Embassy in Barbados

Barbados (UCTP Taíno News) - A short film, highlighting the bravery of Taíno Kasike (chief) Guamá premiered at the Venezuelan Embassy in Barbados on Friday, January 27, 2023. The work of First Nations Productions, a fledgling Indigenous media group, led by Lokono Hereditary Chief, Damon G. Corrie was the first ever to feature the chief’s story.

The 23-minute film was premiered along with ”The Last Arawak Girl of Barbados,” another film short by First Nations Productions in collaboration with Poste Creativo based in Venezuela. It was the first and only film ever made entirely in the ancient Lokono-Arawak language. First Nations Productions again collaborated with Poste Creativo on the Guamá project.

 “As Indigenous Peoples we need to tell our own stories,” said filmmaker Damon Corrie. “This is a story that needed to be told. We’ve started with this short, G-rated presentation, but our goal is to make a feature film on Kasike Guamá, as well as other Taíno chiefs.” 

The Guamá film project was financially supported, in part, by the United Confederation of Taíno People, and grassroots donations. The project was commended by the Cuban government, as well as one of the remaining Taíno communities in Cuba, the Ramirez-Rojas clan. Guamá will be available on the Eagle Clan Arawaks’ You Tube Channel on January 28, 2023.

UCTP Taíno News 01.27.2023

Passing of a Lokono Arawak Matriarch

Barbados (UCTP Taino News) – Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawak matriarch Hannah Mariah Corbin crossed over into the Spirit World on Saturday, May 4, 2013. She was 99 year old. Grandmother Hannah Corbin was the sole surviving child of Guyana born, Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawak Princess Marian, daughter of hereditary Chief Amorotahe Haubariria (Flying Harpy Eagle) of Guyana.  Among her surviving relatives are children Daphne, Cecil, Audrey, Judith, and Cheryl, as well 22 grandchildren, including renowned Caribbean Indigenous Rights advocate Damon Gerard Corrie. 

UCTPTTN 05.05.2013

YES – THERE ARE AMERINDIAN CHILDREN IN BARBADIAN SCHOOLS! Opinion from Damon Corrie

"My wife and I kept our last daughter Laliwa Hadali (Yellow Butterfly of the Sun) home from school on Friday January 28th 2011 today because it was her 4th birthday, and 4 & 9 are sacred numbers to us."

Fellow Barbadians,

I am tired of my own Arawak children and other Amerindian children in Barbadian schools (some 40 children in all) being told by mis-educated or ill-informed teachers that the tribe to which they belong ‘no longer exists’ so therefore they cannot possibly be who they say they are. For the information of these ’educators’ there are almost 20,000 Arawaks STILL in Guyana, 2,000 in Suriname, about 1,000 in French Guiana, and around 200 in Venezuela to this day! Also for the record – we do NOT call ourselves ‘Arawaks‘, it is not even a word in our language, we call ourselves ‘Lokono’ which means in English ‘The People’ (Columbus nearly got it right when he wrote that the name of our tribe was ‘Lucayo’); but for the sake of familiarity I shall use the word ‘Arawak’ throughout this letter.

Also good to note is the fact that the word ‘Amerindian’ is merely an abbreviation of two words ‘American‘ and ‘Indian‘, so technically it can be correctly used to describe any Indigenous tribe of the Western Hemisphere except the Inuit (mistakenly called ‘Eskimos‘); many erroneously believe that 'Amerindians' are from Guyana and 'American Indians' are from the USA; but we are all one indigenous race in this so-called ‘New World‘ – just different tribes.

I decided to write this article to hopefully open the minds of my fellow citizens to a little-known (seemingly ‘unknown‘ as far as I can tell) fact about our multi-ethnic Society. My maternal grandmother emigrated to Barbados from Guyana in 1925 with her 5 other siblings and mother – who was the sole surviving child of the last Hereditary Lokono-Arawak Chief in Guyana. My Great grandmother Princess Marian was the first member of the ruling family of her tribe to be Christianised and receive a Western Education, this was done by the Anglican missionary Reverend Percy Austin who was trained at Codrington College in Barbados before being sent into the interior of Guyana among the indigenous tribes; Rev Austin later became the Bishop of Guyana.

Though accepting of Christianity, Great-grandmother – as do I, my wife, and our children, never rejected her Arawak religious beliefs and maintained them BOTH throughout her life, for they are compatible if you know the core values they both espouse.

In the Arawak tribe there is no word for ‘Prince‘ or ‘Princess‘, the children of the traditional leader of the tribe (which was always a hereditary position) were merely called the ‘Sons or daughters of the Chief‘. It was the English speaking British colonial society who gave my Great grandmother the title of ’Princess Marian of the Arawaks‘ when she was introduced to the then visiting Prince of Wales who visited Guyana in the early 1920′s; so out of respect that title remained with her for the rest of her life.

Great grandmother died in Barbados in 1928 and is buried here in Westbury Cemetary – the only known burial site of an Arawak noble in the entire English-speaking Caribbean. Her daughter Hannah, who is my beloved grandmother – is 97 years old and still alive, residing on ‘Arawak Road in Chancery Lane (no pun intended); however all of her 5 other siblings are now deceased. My grandmother married Barbadian George Cecil Corbin, her sister Ruth married Barbadian Philip Serrao, and sister Martha married Barbadian Keith Chandler – and from these 3 sisters who spent the rest of their lives here there are just over 100 persons of Arawak descent in my family born in this country, and about 20 of them are still students within the educational system of Barbados; not mentioning at least 20 more Amerindian children I know personally at school in Barbados today.

I returned to my Great grandmother’s tribe in Guyana on the 500th anniversary of Columbus setting foot in the New World (OUR day of infamy & Holocaust) and at the age of 19 married my then 17 year old Arawak wife, Shirling, we had 5 children together, 4 born on tribal land on Pakuri Arawak Territory in Guyana (who are Barbadian citizens by descent through me), and one born in Barbados at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (a Guyanese citizen by descent through her mother), with one - my first daughter, buried on tribal land on Pakuri Arawak Territory in Guyana where she died as a baby of 3 days.

My wife and I kept our last daughter Laliwa Hadali (Yellow Butterfly of the Sun) home from school on Friday January 28th 2011 today because it was her 4th birthday, and 4 & 9 are sacred numbers to us. All Arawak children will traditionally receive Yuri (Tobacco) smoke blessings at the age of 4 & 9 and have a song written for them on each of those birthdays, if a girl, her next song will be the longest and one she must memorise for the rest of her life during her 9 day long puberty rite of passage, my eldest daughter may have hers any day now, it is determined by the appearance of the first menses and not by age; she is 12, some see it at 11, some 13.

The puberty rite will be the first and most important rite of passage for my daughters, second is her marriage ceremony, 3rd her first childbirth, and 4th her first grandchild being born; but the puberty rite is the FOUNDATION for all that follow and will determine the positivity/negativity of those that follow it.

If my daughter’s time comes during the school term – we as her parents will have no choice but to keep her at home for those 9 days so that her rite can be completed according to our ancient traditions and religious practises; and according to the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples which the Government of Barbados (as well as every other Government on Earth) has officially endorsed, we have the right to do this.

Article 11 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples reads:

1. Indigenous Peoples have the right to practise and revitalise their cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures, such as archaeological and historical sites, artifacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature.

Article 12 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples reads:

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practise, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human remains.

This brings me to the point of Barbadian Society, I applaud the accommodations that the Ministry of Education has made for Muslim children, for Hindu children, for Rastafarian children, and all I now ask is for the same respect to be shown for Amerindian children who follow their traditional religious beliefs – such as my own children.

Yours sincerely,

Damon Gerard Corrie

PS - here is the song I wrote for my daughter on her birthday – and sang to her that night as we asked for the Creator to bless her.

LALIWA YENI (Yellow Butterfly’s song)
ADAYAHULI URAKO AYUNBANA, (Creator in the spirit world,)
ADUKA TOHOBO LOKO ILONTHO, (see this Arawak girl,)
DAKOTA LALIWA TO BUNAHA (show Yellow Butterfly the path,)
TO HEBEYONO KAMUNKA KONA. (The ancestors have walked.)

Artice source: The Bajan Reporter

Sub-regional Indigenous Peoples Meeting to Include North America and the Caribbean

Ottawa, Canada (UCTP Taíno News) - The OAS Summits of the Americas Secretariat, in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), and the Inuit Circumpolar Council [Canada] (ICC), will host a Sub-regional Meeting with Indigenous Peoples’ representatives North America and the Caribbean in Ottawa, Canada, on Monday, December 13, 2010.

The main purpose of the Sub-Regional Meeting of Indigenous representatives from Canada, the United States and the Caribbean region is to provide an opportunity to follow-up on the implementation of the April 2009 Declaration and Plan of Action of the III Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas (III ILSA) “Implementing the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas for Present and Future Generations”. Additionally, this meeting will provide an opportunity for indigenous peoples to begin preparations for the IV ILSA.

Representatives of the United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP) will participate at the meeting to provide a briefing on Caribbean regional follow-up to the III ILSA. Other Caribbean regional representatives are scheduled to attend the meeting from Guyana, Suriname, and Barbados.

This event will make up part of a proposed series of such meetings to allow indigenous peoples from various sub-regions the opportunity to dialogue and coordinate their participation in the Summits process. Each face-to-face event will be complemented by the participation of interested parties through the Indigenous Peoples Group of the Summit's Virtual Community website.

UCTPTN 12.12.2010

GUYANA CONSUL LETTER TO NATION NEWSPAPER: FIRST SETTLERS

The following is a letter to the editor of The Nation Newspaper of Barbados submitted by Norman Faria, Guyana's Honorary Consul in Barbados.

Guyana Honorary Consulate
#19 Pearl Drive, Eden terrace
St.Michael, Barbados
22 February 2010

The Editor
Letters to Editor section
Nation Publications
Fontabelle, St.Michael
Barbados.

To whom this may be presented:

I refer to a news item about the Holetown Festival in your Saturday edition ("Festival to end with a blast", Saturday Sun, 20 February 2010) in which it was printed that a Thanksgiving Service would be held the next day to "mark the first settlement of the island in 1627".

Before I point out your time frame error, I would like to commend the private entity Festival organisers, made up I believe in the main of business owners in the area, for what appears to be another successful Festival. I personally attended during the week and was glad to know that the businesses, including handicraft people and other stake holders were apparently benefiting. Certainly too, this most excellent get together has beome a welcome addition to the island's important tourist product.

It will be recalled that the Festival commemorates the arrival in 1627 of a number of English people and their African slaves who landed at what became Holetown where today a monument is erected to recognise that historical fact.

But there were settlers before 1627. These were the Hemisphere's indigenous people, called Amerindians in Guyana. Archealogical excavations here by University of London teams in collaboration with the Barbados Museum and Historical Society show these first settlers had big villages. They had a language and artistic expression and religion.They had material achievements. They had their own civilisation.

They had reached the island in courageous exploratory voyages up the chain of Caribbean islands in large ocean going canoes. They came from what is today Guyana and Venezuela on the north eastern and northern coasts of South America.

The time frame of their alleged absence from Barbados when the first Europeans sighted what was to become Barbados was not that great a gap in historical migration/settler patterns. Indeed, when the first Europeans sighted the island there may still have been indigenous peoples in the densely forested interior. They may have left an agricultural layout for the first settlers to build on. Guyanese indigenous persons were brought from what is today Guyana in the 17th Century to assist the second wave (after the indigenous peoples) of settlers who came in the 1600s.

The website of the private entity Holetown Festival organising committee is also incorrect in stating that Barbados' history began with the 1627 arrival, however noteworthy that happening may be.

Are the first true settlers, the indigenous peoples of the Americas, not worthy of any mention at all? Are their civilisations, past and present , not worth anything?

Their descendants make up sizable parts of the population of several of our Hemispheric neighbours (Bolivia, Guatemala and Mexico for example). It is a wrong message the organising committee is sending , perhaps unwittingly though the Guyana Consulate has offered research assistance in this area. Is this effective re-writing of history the type of thing should be given to school children and visitors to the otherwise commendable Festival?

I personally knew Alfred Pragnell, said to be the originator and motivator when this most useful event started. Alfred was a friend of Guyana and the Americas and I know he would have liked a more objective and well-rounded historical overview of what the Festival celebrates.

Respectfully Yours,

Norman Faria,
Guyana's Honorary Consul in Barbados

BARBADIAN ''INDIANA JONES' MAKES DISCOVERY OF LIFETIME IN GUYANA REMOTE INTERIOR

PAKARAIMA MOUNTAINS, GUYANA - Word has leaked out to a select few local, regional and International media sources that Barbados born Damon Gerard Corrie (of paternal Trinidadian and maternal Guyanese Amerindian descent) - well known to Barbadians as "the Snake Man'', may soon be well known throughout the Caribbean as 'Barbadiana Jones'' - he's been able to watermark and copyright the pictures of the "discovery of his lifetime" and can now be fully revealed. He became the first person to identify and compile physical and photographic evidence of an ancient Amerindian culture of skilled stonemasons formerly inhabiting an estimated 200 sq. mile mountainous area of Guyana. Since the culture area covers 200 sq miles (known so far) in the Pakaraima mountains of Guyana - He decided to name the long lost ancient culture that inhabited this region and left a treasure trove of unique artifacts - the 'Pakaraimans'. Corrie says he has been searching this area over the past decade at his own expenses - purely to satisfy his own curiosity initially; but realizes now that what he has discovered is too important to keep to himself any longer. Never far from controversy, Corrie says he was careful to amass as much evidence as possible as he is convinced that "unscrupulous individuals in academic and political circles will not waste any time in launching petty and vitriolic attacks and attempted character assassination upon him" in order to caste doubt on the veracity of his discoveries. This solo effort on 36 year old Corrie's part may prove to be an invaluable contribution to the science of Anthropology, and a vital missing chapter to the pre-Colombian history of Guyana. Source: UCTP Taino News

Caribbean Indigenous Peoples to Attend UN Forum

United Nations (UCTP Taino News) – Caribbean Indigenous delegates will join over one thousand Indigenous Peoples representatives from around the world at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII) next week. The Forum’s eighth session will take place from 18-29 May, 2009 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Caribbean representatives to the PFII include Damon Corrie of the Eagle Clan Arawaks (Barbados & Guyana), Chief Charles and Margaret Williams of the Kalinago Carib Nation (Dominica) as well as various delegates accredited by the United Confederation of Taino People.

Some of the issues being focused on at the session include the Second UN International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Permanent Forum is an advisory body to the United Nations Economic and Social Council with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

UCTPTN 05.13.2009

International Mother Earth Day Adopted at the United Nations

Celebrating the adoption of International Mother Earth Day at United Nations Headquarters, Tonya Gonnella Frichner, Josephine Tarrant, Muriel Borst, and Roberto Borrero. (Photo: Miguel Ibanez, Habitat Pro)

UNITED NATIONS (UCTP Taino News) -- In a resolution adopted Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated April 22nd as International Mother Earth Day. The assembly recognized that “Mother Earth” is a common expression for the planet earth in a number of countries and regions, and invited all member states, international and regional organizations and civil society to observe the day annually.

Acting in consensus, the assembly proclaimed that the “Earth and its ecosystems are our home” and stressed that in order to achieve a just balance economically, socially, and environmentally it is necessary to promote “harmony with nature and Earth.”

In a special event celebrating the adoption of International Mother Earth Day, the gathering was called to order with the sounding of the Guamo (conch shell) by Roberto Borrero, a Boriken Taino representing the United Confederation of Taino People. The call to order was followed by a welcome address on behalf of the Onondaga Nation presented by Tonya Gonnella Frichner, the North American Regional Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

In his presentation at the event, United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann thanked President Evo Morales Ayma of the Plurinational State of Bolivia for initiating International Mother Earth Day and for attending the meeting. He noted that President Morales has “proven himself to be fully committed to the transmission of the great spiritual and moral values of our South and Central American and Caribbean ancestors.”

The 63rd GA president further noted that these “values are greatly need to help our world out of the neo-liberal quagmire of greed and social irresponsibility in which we find ourselves.”

Addressing the gathering, President Evo Morales Ayma who is of indigenous Aymara origin thanked all those who supported the Declaration and noted that western thought has long viewed the Earth as a commodity and not as a “living being that has rights”. President Morales also took the opportunity to request that those gathered support a call for the development of an additional declaration on the “Rights of Mother Earth.”

The event continued with a special performance by the Silver Cloud Singers, an intertribal Native American singing and dancing troupe and an expert panel including Leonardo Boff (Brazil), Tariq Banuri (UNDSA), Juanita Castano (UNEP), Thanh Xuan Nguyen (WEDO), Jan McAlpine (UNFFS), and Maude Barlow (Canada).

The International Mother Earth Day resolution was co-sponsored by 50 states, including several Caribbean countries - Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Saint Lucia.

UCTPTN 04.22.2009

Indigenous Summit Begins in Panama

Caribbean indigenous delegates at the 3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas being hosted in Panama. From left to right: Roberto Borrero (Taino), Chief Allan Leow (Lokono), Margaret Williams (Kalinago), Chief Charles Williams (Kalinago), and Roger Guayakan Hernandez (Taino). UCTP Photo.

Panama City, Panama (UCTP Taino News) - The 3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas opened today with a blessing from Gilberto Arias, a traditional leader of the Kuna Peoples of Panama. Arias asked the Great Spirit, Baba and Nana, Mother Earth, to assist the delegates who arrived for the meeting from South, Central, and North America as well as the Caribbean.

The morning session included remarks from Mr. Betanio Chiquidama representing the Kuna Council; Ms. Beverly Jacobs on behalf of the co-chairs; His excellency Jose Miguel Insulza, Secratary General of the Organization of America States; and Her Excellency, Patricia Langan-Torell, Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Panama.

After the opening, co-chair Beverly Jacobs of the Native Women’s Association of Canada introduced the planning committee and technical team, including Chief Ed John (Tl’azt’en) of the Assembly of First Nations; Celeste Mckay (Metis/Canada); Albert DeTerville (Saint Lucia); Roberto Borrero (Boriken Taino/Puerto Rico); Damon Corrie (Lokono/Barbados); Carlos Chex (Mayan/Guatemala); Hector Huertas (Kuna/Panama); Azalene Kaingang (Kaingang/Brazil); Jaime Arias (Kankuamo/Columbia); Chief Wilton Littlechild (Cree/Canada); Ellen Gabriel (Mohawk/Canada); Violet Ford (Inuit/Canada); June Lorenzo (Laguna Pueblo/U.S.A.); Ben Powless (Mohawk/Canada); Lea MacKenzie (Canada); and Irene Lindsey (Canada).

After the introductions, an overview of the previous summits and the 3rd summit work plan was presented by Hector Huertas (Kuna) and Grand Chief Ed John.

The purpose of the 3rd Indigenous Summit is to provide an international forum for discussion of indigenous leaders on a range of policy issues related to the work of the Organization of American States and the themes to be addressed during the 5th Summit of the Americas.

The theme of the 3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit is “Implementing the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas for Present and Future Generations”.

UCTPTN 04.14.2009

Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change

Anchorage, Alaska (UCTP Taíno News) - The Inuit Circumpolar Council is hosting a Global Summit on Climate Change that will bring together indigenous delegates and observers from April 20-24, 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska.

The purpose of the summit is to enable Indigenous peoples from all regions of the globe to exchange their knowledge and experience in adapting to the impacts of climate change, and to develop key messages and recommendations to be articulated to the world at the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009.

Among those represented at the meeting will be a delegation of Caribbean Indigenous Peoples from Watikubuli (Dominica), Barbados, Suriname, and Borikén (Puerto Rico). Each delegate will prepare a report based on experiences in relation to climate change from their local area and these reports will form the basis of a larger regional presentation.

UCTPTN 04.11.2009

3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit On Course

Damon Corrie and Roberto Borrero at the offices of the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa, Canada (UCTP Photo)

Ottawa, Canada (UCTP Taíno News) – A planning meeting for the upcoming 3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas was held February 27-28, 2008 in Ottawa, Canada. The meeting was hosted by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the Native Womens Association of Canada.

Three representatives from the Caribbean Region were invited to attend as members of the planning committee – Damon Corrie (Barbados), Albert DeTerville (St. Lucia), and Roberto Borrero (Puerto Rico).

The Indigenous Leaders Summit will present a Declaration and Plan of Action to the 5th OAS Summit of the Americas that will be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad from April 17 – 19, 2009.

The Summit location has not yet been confirmed, but current choices location choices include Venezuela, Panama, and St. Lucia. Trinidad is also being considered but as a result of the OAS Summit, logistics could present a problem. While the cost and other factors will determine the actual meeting site, members of the local indigenous community are still hopeful that the Indigenous Summit will come to Trinidad.

“To not have this meeting in Trinidad would be a shame” stated Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez of the Santa Rosa Carib Community. Currently, the Santa Rosa Community is the only community on the island recognized by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

Close to 100 hundred indigenous leaders from throughout the hemisphere are expected to attend the meeting. Participants will be representative of 4 regions – South America; Central America & Mexico; North America (U.S.A & Canada ); and the Caribbean with about 20 participants per region.

Corrie was appointed to head the Communications Sub-Committee while DeTerville and Borrero will work with the Technical Committee. Outreach has already been circulated in the Caribbean Region for the delegate nominees.

The 3rd Indigenous Summit of the Americas will take place from April 14-15, 2009.

UCTPTN 03.05.2009

Caribbean Indigenous Peoples at the OAS

Washington DC (UCTP Taino News) - A special guest was introduced this week to the Indigenous Peoples Caucus working on the Organization of American States (OAS) draft Indigenous Rights Declaration, Chief Oren Lyons of the Six Nations Confederacy of North America. Chief Lyons gave an inspirational address to the caucus giving some background information on the three generations of Indigenous activism where he has been at the forefront.

Chief Lyons was made internationally famous in a 1985 National Geographic article featuring the Six Nations Confederacy - where he proudly displayed his Six Nations Passport, a professionally made passport that they created entirely of themselves. This indigenous passport has been accepted by over 25 countries worldwide, much to the chagrin of the United States and Canadian governments.

It is a great inspiration to genuine Indigenous freedom fighters worldwide to see just how far the Six Nations have asserted their 'inherent and undeniable right to self-determination'- to use existing terminology in the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples.

35 year old Damon Corrie of Barbados who is himself of Guyanese Arawak descent remembered the National Geographic article from 1985 and commented: "I was a boy of 12 when I first read that article and I still have the copy."

Corrie continued "I was inspired by the Six Nations example to revive the Pan-Tribal Confederacy that my great-grandfather started over 150 years ago in Guyana with the Arawak, Akawaio and Makushi tribes, now under my leadership it has grown into the world's only multi-racial pan-tribal confederacy with member tribal Nations in the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific; and all headquartered in the little Caribbean island of Barbados. We can't afford to produce our own passports yet, but we did produce our own ID cards, and these are being improved and re-issued with security features in the USA with the collaboration of our closes allies."

Mr Corrie also took the opportunity to voluntarily relinquish his position as Caribbean Co-Chair for the Indigenous Caucus at the 11th session of the OAS on the draft American Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples - in favor of his Caribbean compatriot, the respected Taino Elder Naniki Reyes Ocasio of Puerto Rico. Both Corrie and Ocasio are delegates for the United Confederation of Taino People, a respected regional body with representation throughout the Spanish and English speaking islands.

"I had only intended to temporarily fill the seat - which is normally given to our honorable elder brother the Carib Chief of Dominica, until he had arrived; unfortunately he could not attend this session due to pressing tribal matters" Corrie explained.

"As the interaction with the State Ambassadors and representatives will begin in earnest, and since Naniki is bilingual and has more years experience at the OAS than I do; I think it best that she take charge in the Carib Chief's absence. As for myself, it was an honor to have been granted the seat, but I am happy to fill my autodidact in-house journalist role and help get the news of the proceedings out to the wider world. I will also have more flexibility to meet privately with various OAS Ambassadors and lobby the cause for greater Caribbean States involvement in this process."

UCTPTN 12.10.2008

Barbados born activist co-chair of Indigenous Caucus at OAS

Washington D.C. (UCTP Taino News) - Damon Corrie, the sometimes controversial Barbados born Indigenous Rights activist of Guyanese Arawak descent was 1 of 30 persons selected by the Organization of American States (OAS) to once again to attend the current 11th session (Dec 6-12) of negotiations on the draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; being held in the Colon Room at the OAS headquarters in Washington DC.

Hard negotiations between the Indigenous representatives and the diplomatic representatives of all the member states of the OAS will be held from December 9-12th.

Of the 30 Indigenous representatives from around the Hemisphere present so far, only 2 are from the Caribbean (Barbados and Puerto Rico) and both are delegates for the United Confederation of Taino People.

The other countries currently represented in the Indigenous Caucus are as follows Canada (4), USA (7), Guatemala (2), Honduras (1), Nicaragua (1), Peru (1), Argentina (2), Ecuador (1), Paraguay (1), Colombia (1), Costa Rica (1), Bolivia (1) and El Salvadsor (4) - with additional representatives from the USA, Panama, Dominica and St. Vincent expected.

On day 1 the Caucus voted for 4 Co-Chairs to head the Indigenous Caucus and the un-opposed nominated candidates were June Llorenzo of the USA (North America co-chair), Jaime Arias of Colombia (South America co-chair), Jose Carlos Morales of Costa Rica (Central America co-chair) and Damon Corrie of Barbados (Caribbean co-chair). Corrie was nominated by respected Taino elder Naniki Reyes Ocasio from Puerto Rico. He agreed to act as Caribbean co-chair only until Carib Chief Charles Williams of Dominica arrives.

Chair of the OAS Working Group, Ambassador Jorge Reynaldo Cuadros of Bolivia gave a very inspirational opening address to the Caucus. The Ambassador reminded the indigenous representatives gathered that "Bolivia should be viewed as the motherland of the Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere because Bolivia - with the only Amerindian head of state and government in the entire Western Hemisphere - is quite literally the sharp end of the spear in the Amerindian rights struggle for equity in the Americas".

In November 2008 President Evo Morales of Bolivia became the first Amerindian Head of State to have ever addressed the OAS.

Leonardo Crippa and Armstrong Wiggins of the Indian Law Resource Center presented evidence to the gathering that attested to the fact that as Global conflict over scarce natural resources escalates, indigenous peoples have increasingly become targets of human rights violations associated with efforts to confiscate, control, or develop their lands, territories and natural resources. Many countries in the OAS project a public image of respect for human rights while permitting and committing human rights violations at home.

The representatives were also reminded that the process to achieve the American declaration has been on-going for over 19 years, and the UN declaration took almost 21 years to finally be achieved.

There is a strong sense of hope that the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama will enact real change such as finally ratifying the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is something the outgoing Bush administration strongly opposed.

UCTPTN 12.08.2008

Barbadians slam discovery, naming of tiny snake

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A small snake has sparked a big debate in Barbados. Residents of the wealthy Caribbean nation have been heating up blogs and clogging radio airwaves to vent their anger at a U.S. scientist, who earlier this week announced his "discovery" of the world's smallest snake and named it "Leptotyphlops carlae," after his wife Carla.

"If he needs to blow his own trumpet ... well, fine," said 43-year-old Barbadian Charles Atkins. "But my mother, who was a simple housewife, she showed me the snake when I was a child."

One writer to the Barbados Free Press blog took an even tougher tone, questioning how someone could "discover" a snake long known to locals, who called it the thread snake.

"How dare this man come in here and name a snake after his wife?" said the writer who identified themselves as Margaret Knight.

The man she refers to is Penn State University evolutionary biologist S. Blair Hedges, whose research teams also have discovered the world's tiniest lizard in the Dominican Republic and the smallest frog in Cuba.

Hedges recently became the first to describe the snake - which is so small it can curl up on a U.S. quarter - when he published his observations and genetic test results in the journal "Zootaxa." Full-grown adults typically are less than 4 inches long.

Hedges told The Associated Press on Friday that he understands Barbadians' angry reactions, but under established scientific practice, the first person to do a full description of a species is said to have discovered it and gives it a scientific name.

He said most newly "discovered" species are already well known to locals, and the term refers to the work done in a laboratory to establish a genetic profile. In the study, he reported that two specimens he analyzed were found in 1889 and 1963.

"There are no false claims here, believe me," Hedges said.

Damon Corrie, president of the Caribbean Herpetological Society, acknowledged that Hedges is the first to scientifically examine and describe the snake, but the so-called discovery makes locals seem ignorant.

"It gives the impression that people here ... depend on people from abroad to come and show us things in our own backyard," Corrie said.

Karl Watson, a historian and ornithologist at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, said it's common for people to get excited over very tiny or very large animals.

"Probably people have overreacted. ... It's nationalism going a bit awry," Watson said.

Hedges agreed: "I think they're carrying it a bit too far."

"Snakes are really apolitical," he said.


Source: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080809/D92EF52O4.html

Scientist: World's smallest snake in Barbados

In this photo taken in 2006 and released on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008, by U.S. scientist S. Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University, the globe's tiniest snake is shown curled up on a U.S. quarter. Hedges said Sunday he has discovered the globe's tiniest species of snake in the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados, with full-grown adults typically less than four inches (10 centimeters) long. He named the diminutive snake 'Leptotyphlops carlae' after his herpetologist wife, Carla Ann Hass.
(AP Photo/Penn State University, S. Blair Hedges)

By DAVID McFADDEN, Associated Press Writer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A U.S. scientist said Sunday he has discovered the globe's tiniest species of snake in the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados, with full-grown adults typically stretching less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) long.

S. Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University whose research teams also have discovered the world's tiniest lizard in the Dominican Republic and the smallest frog in Cuba, said the snake was found slithering beneath a rock near a patch of Barbadian forest.

Hedges said the tiny-title-holding snake, which is so diminutive it can curl up on a U.S. quarter, is the smallest of the roughly 3,100 known snake species. It will be introduced to the scientific world in the journal "Zootaxa" on Monday.

"New and interesting species are still being discovered on Caribbean islands, despite the very small amount of natural forests remaining," said Hedges, who christened the miniature brown snake "Leptotyphlops carlae" after his herpetologist wife, Carla Ann Hass.

The Barbadian snake apparently eats termites and insect larvae, but nothing is yet known of its ecology and behavior. Genetic tests identified the snake as a new species, according to Hedges. It is not venomous.

Zoologist Roy McDiarmid, curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, said he has seen a specimen of the diminutive creature. He saw no reason to argue with the assertion that it is the world's smallest snake.

McDiarmid said the Barbados creature is a type of thread snake, also called worm snake, which are mostly found in the tropics. "We really know very little about these things," he said in a Sunday telephone interview from his Virginia home.

Finding the globe's tiniest snake demonstrates the remarkable diversity of the ecologically delicate Caribbean. It also illustrates a fundamental ecological principle: Since Darwin's days, scientists have noticed that islands often are home to both oversized and miniaturized beasts.

Hedges said the world's smallest bird species, the bee hummingbird, can be found in Cuba. The globe's second-smallest snake lives in Martinique. At the other end of the scale, one of the largest swallowtail butterflies lives in Jamaica.

Scientists say islands often host odd-sized creatures because they're usually inhabited by a less diverse set of species than continents. So island beasts and insects often grow or shrink to fill ecological roles that otherwise would be filled by entirely different species.

CARIFESTA 2008 to be held in GUYANA

UCTP Taino News - CARIFESTA stands for the Caribbean Festival of Arts and this year the region’s roving, multidisciplinary, mega arts festival will return to its birthplace – Guyana – from August 22 to 31 2008. CARIFESTA attracts a wide range of creative artists from various Caribbean and Latin American countries and was the culmination of a concept that began in 1970 when participants at an Artists and Writers Convention in Guyana complained about the absence of an outlet to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Region. Since its inaugural launch in 1972, previous CARIFESTA have taken place in Guyana, Jamaica, Cuba, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Suriname. The Indigenous Peoples of the region have historically participated within the festival and in 2006, CARIFESTA coincided with an historic meeting of the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP) in Trinidad. During this meeting the COIP Secretariat was officially “handed over” from Guyana to Trinidad and a Declaration of Unity was entered into between the Santa Rosa Carib Community and the United Confederation of Taino People.

UCTPTN 02.11.2008

Two-Week Session on Indigenous Issues Opens at United Nations

New York, NY (UCTP News) - As delicate ecosystems supporting millions of lives hang in the balance, indigenous representatives from around the globe began a two-week session of discussions on Monday, May 14 with top United Nations officials, Government representatives and members of civil society to highlight the struggle to defend their rights to access and use the land and natural resources in their territories.

The sixth session was opened with an invocation from Tracy L. Shenandoah, Chief of the Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan. Acknowledging “red willow” as the leader of medicines, Shenadoah said the “ the Creator had planted medicines, including berries, for people to use." He also gave thanks to the birds, especially the eagle, and to the “three sisters of all foods: corn, beans and squash.” Shenandoah also gave thanks to the waters for their help in creating peace. His statement was followed by a performance by the Laihui cultural group from Manipur, India.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, addressed those gathered by stating “without access to and respect for the rights over their lands, territories and natural resources, indigenous peoples’ distinct cultures -- and the possibility of determining their on development -- become eroded.”

Highlighting new developments, Tauli-Corpuz stated that one of the major thrusts for 2007 would be to press for the General Assembly’s adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, approved by the Human Rights Council last year. Indigenous peoples worldwide had been “deeply disappointed” by the Assembly’s decision to defer action on the Declaration last year. Noting that amendments had been made to the text in the meantime, she said that every effort should be made to ensure that what was put before the Assembly was the Council-approved version, not one “which mangled the Declaration beyond recognition.” “The fate of this Declaration is in your hands and the Governments who are here today,” she said.

Among the many expert presentations and reports by representatives on United Nations agencies and Funds, Erica-Irene A. Daes, of Greece, an elected member of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and Special Rapporteur on Indigenous People’s Land Rights, said one of the most acute and complex situations facing the world’s indigenous peoples was the refusal by certain Governments to promote and protect their rights to land and natural resources. To understand the profound relationship of indigenous peoples to their lands and natural resources, cultural differences between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples should be recognized.

The doctrines of dispossession that had emerged in developing modern international law, particularly the concepts of “terra nullius” and “discovery”, had well-known adverse effects on indigenous peoples, she continued. Other problems included the State’s failure to acknowledge indigenous rights to territories lands and resources; to demarcate indigenous lands; to enforce or implement laws protecting indigenous lands; and the State’s expropriation of indigenous lands for national interest without the prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples. Also, the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources and the scope of indigenous peoples’ right to own, develop and manage their territories, lands and resources, should be reviewed, she added.

Among the participants attending the meeting, Chief Reginaldo Fredericks of the Joboshirima Lokono Arawak Community of Venezuela noted the importance of meeting stating “it is critical for us as Indigenous Peoples to follow-up on the recommendations made and report on these activities to our peoples.”

Chief Fredericks is a member of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Greater Caribbean, which forms annually at the UN meeting to lobby Caribbean indigenous issues.

Caribbean indigenous delegates also participated along with indigenous representatives of other regions at a rally in support of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Speaking on behalf of indigenous leaders from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Trinidad, Guyana, Venezuela, and Barbados, UCTP President and Chairman Roberto Mucaro Borrero reaffirmed their support of the Declaration as adopted by the Human Rights Council in June 2006.

Also in attendance at the session, Taino artists John Marrero and Reina Miranda joined UCTP delegates Mildred Gandia and Borrero at the opening of the special art exhibition, which would run through the Forum. Selected works of Marrero and Miranda were on display along with various works of Lokono and Taino artists: George Simon, Mildred Torres-Speeg and Naniki Reyes Ocasio.

The Forum’s sixth session will run through 25 May and will consider solutions to end the senseless exploitation of traditional lands and natural resources, a key issue at the heart of indigenous people’s efforts to gain recognition of their rights.


UCTP delegates at the UN, (from left to right) Reina Miranda,

Roberto Borrero, Mainaku Borrero, John Marrero,

and Mildred Gandia. (UCTP Photo)

Lokono Arawak Model in Barbados

Barbados (UCTP Taino News) - “Natural Beauty, Natural Talent” - those are the four words one can most fittingly use to describe Barbados born Ellen Victoria St. John; with no formal training and no previous experience - she wowed a coterie of professional photographers during various photo-shoots across Barbados. Photographs of the 16 year-old beauty and current 5th form student of the prestigious Queen's college Secondary School in Barbados were recently published on pages 22-24 in the MACO Destinations Magazine, Volume 2 Issue 3 of 2006.

Ellen is of diverse ancestry and is a fifth generation maternal descendant of Princess Marian of the Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawaks of Guyana, and at age 15 participated (along with her brother Seth) in the 2006 Arawak and Carib joint reclamation of Culpepper Island off Barbados; pride in their Arawak roots is strong in the family. Ellen’s mother Lisa Elena St. John (nee Corrie) was the first Barbadian to be professionally trained as a high fashion model in Italy in the 1970's - at the Koesia School of High Fashion Modeling in Rome. Ellen recently registered with a well known American Modeling Agency, in the near future do not be surprised if this young lady becomes the 'new look' sensation on the catwalks of North America and Europe!

Taino is Nominated for UNPFII Membership 2008-2010

New York, NY (UCTP News) - The Secretariat for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) has received over 35 nominations from indigenous organizations for UNPFII membership for the period 2008-2010. The deadline for nominations was 1 February 2007 deadline.

New UNPFII members will be appointed by the President of ECOSOC towards the end of April 2007. Further information will be posted at the Forum's web page as it becomes available.

Nominations for UNPFII members for Central and South America and the Caribbean include Mr. Roberto Mucaro BORRERO (Taino), President and Chairman of the United Confederation of Taino People. Support for Mr. Borrero’s nomination was received from indigenous organizations from Puerto Rico, Dominica, Barbados, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.

The Permanent Forum is comprised of sixteen independent experts, functioning in their personal capacity, who serve for a term of three years as Members and may be re-elected or re-appointed for one additional term.

Eight of the Members are nominated by governments and eight are nominated directly by indigenous organizations in their regions.