Taíno Elder Hector “Barakutei” Gonzalez Crosses into the Spirit World

Taíno elder Hector Barakutei Gonzalez displays a traditional Taíno drum

Groton, Connecticut (UCTP Taíno News) – Taíno Elder Hector “Barakutei” Gonzalez Benitez, 71, a member of the Elders Advisory Council of Guainía Taíno Tribe and a Liaison Officer of the United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP) crossed into Koaibei, the Spirit World, on Friday, February 22, 2019.

In a condolence message sent to the Gonzalez family, UCTP President, Roberto Múkaro Agüeibaná Borrero stated “Arokoel Barakutei, was a Taíno guaribo (warrior) who now has a special place among the ancestors.”

Elder or arokoel Barakutei was a veteran of the 19th and 20th Special Forces Group, which are the two National Guard groups of the United States Army Special Forces. Gonzalez was also a retired security officer of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. As Liaison Officer for the Confederation, he consistently sought out ways to raise the visibility of the indigenous Taíno Peoples and regularly gave talks on Taíno culture. A passionate flute player, he often voluntarily performed for children at local area hospitals.

“The passing of this dear brother leaves a profound feeling of sadness in our hearts, as he was a beloved community member, a warrior, yet a gentle loving man who loved this Taíno Family and all Native American Peoples” stated Angel Lionheart Ortiz, a UCTP Liaison Officer in Connecticut.

Barakutei Gonzalez is survived by his 4 children Michelle Cruz, Myree Allen, Melody DaSilva, and Marc Gonzales, as well as 13 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild. His is also survived by his mother, Francisca Gonzalez Benitez and his brother, Julio Gonzalez Benitez.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 9th from 11am-1pm at the Byles-Groton Memorial Home, 310 Thames Street, Groton, CT.

UCTPTN 03.7.2018

Taíno participate in 26th annual "Medicine Wheel" Vigil

Boston, Massachusetts (UCTP Taino News) -  Taking place on December 1, 2017, in conjunction with World AIDS Day/ A Day With(Out) Art, “Medicine Wheel,” a 24-hour vigil with a major art installation brought together a diverse representation of society to commemorate the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic, or any loss, in their own communities and worldwide. Medicine Wheel is an epic work of art created by Michael Dowling, Artistic Director of Medicine Wheel Productions, whose primary visual component is the wheel itself: thirty-six pedestals and portable shrines arranged in a circle. Among the 1000 artists and community members taking part in vigil where Patricia Chali'naru Dones and her son Vinny Tata'niki Dones. Chali'naru and Tata'niki are registered with the United Confederation of Taíno People and members of the Guainia Taíno Tribe. 

Dowling developed Medicine Wheel to be a part of A Day Without Art, the visual arts community’s annual response to the AIDS crisis that flowered in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s in New York City and other artistic centers. Medicine Wheel has grown in importance as Boston’s largest annual observation of World AIDS Day.  Each year the installation is based around a different element: fire, water, earth or air.  This 26th incarnation of the Medicine Wheel is an AIR year and will focus on the power of art to heal, nurture, and transform.

UCTP Taino News 12/03/2017

Taíno join opposition to Financial Control Board for Borikén (Puerto Rico)

Vanessa Inarunikia Pastrana and Roberto Mukaro Borrero sound the guamo 
(conch shells) to open the demonstration in New York opposing the 
U.S. imposed Financial Oversight and Management Board for Borikén 
(Puerto Rico). Photo courtesy of Mario Rubén Carrión

New York, NY (UCTP Taino News) - On Friday, September 30, a diverse group of human rights defenders rallied in New York to voice their opposition to the first formal meeting the newly created and U.S. imposed Financial Oversight and Management Board for Borikén (Puerto Rico). The rally was held outside the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York, home to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in NY. The rally opened with an indigenous Taíno invocation to the 4 directions and followed with about 3 hours of passionate calls to abolish the board and end colonialism for Puerto Rico. 

The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico was created by the Obama administration’s Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act, or Promesa as a way to deal with Puerto Rico’s economic crisis, which includes a debt of over 70 Billion dollars. Many activists and analysts note that it is the colonial condition of Puerto Rico that has created the crisis and the U.S. should be accountable for the debt. This control board named Jose Carrión III as chairman, clearing the way to officially take over financial decision-making from Puerto Rico’s government. A Republican, Carrión was recommended by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). He also presides over the Puerto Rico subsidiary of HUB International, a global insurance brokerage company. His appointment is controversial as he is the brother-in-law of Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s non-voting member in Congress. 

At the demonstration, Roberto Múkaro Borrero stated the “imposition of this financial control board by the United States violates Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination.” Borrero continued stating that “Promesa and along with the continuance of the Jones Act are clear proof of the island’s colonial status.” Borrero is a community leader representing the Guainia Taíno Tribe and is the current President of the United Confederation of Taíno People. Borrero continued stating that a specific area of concern with the legislation is that “it gives the board the power to expedite approvals of energy and other projects they deem critical, which could have severe consequences to the island’s environment if the projects are not evaluated properly.” 

Puerto Rico’s central government, three retirement systems (teachers, judicial and employees), university (UPR) and all its public corporations, including the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority and Electric Power Authority, are now under the immediate control of the new entity. The board also has oversight over the restructuring negotiations with creditors. The governor of Puerto Rico holds a non-voting position on the board, In addition, the board and its employees are exempt from liability claims. 

There is no information as to when the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico will meet next. 

UCTPTN 09.30.2016

Taino Attends Keystone XL Rejection Celebration in South Dakota

Taino Community member Heriberto Guaragua'niki of the Guainia Taino Tribe
addresses Keystone Rejection Victory Celebration in South Dakota
on behalf of the United Confederation of Taino People

Mission, South Dakota (UCTP Taino News) - Taino community member Heriberto Guaragua'niki Martinez attended the "Success through Prayer" Keystone Rejection Victory Celebration in South Dakota on November 14, 2015. The event was hosted by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and featured many speakers including grassroots leaders like Faith Spotted Eagle and various supporters who advocated against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Martinez, a member of the Guainia Taino Tribe was asked to officially represent the United Confederation of Taino People at the event by UCTP President, Roberto Mukaro Borrero. 

The UCTP actively protested against the proposed pipeline in solidarity with North American Indigenous Tribal Nations on the front lines of the fight against the Keystone KXL. Organizers of the event including elder Chief Duane Hollow Horn Bear requested that Martinez share remarks with those gathered. Martinez shared historical information about the Taino and he recounted how community members attended marches and wrote letters to government officials against the pipeline. He also shared how the Boricua community, including Taino People, recently defeated a gas pipeline proposed for the island of Boriken (Puerto Rico). 

On November 6, President Barack Obama denied the permit to carry tar-sands crude oil from TransCanada Corporation into the United States through the proposed KXL pipeline. The "Success through Prayer" Keystone Rejection Victory Celebration was held at the Sinte Gleska University. 

UCTPTN 11.18.2015

Street Co-Naming Honors Matinecock Nation of Oueens and Long Island, NY

Chief Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Nation,
Chief Osceola Townsend of the Matinecock
Nation, and Chief Roberto Mukaro Borrero
of the Guainia Taino Tribe. 

Little Neck, NY (UCTP Taino News) – The indigenous Matinecock Nation was honored in Little Neck on Monday, October 5, 2015 with the unveiling “Matinecock Way”, the new co-name of Northern Boulevard and Marathon Parkway. The special ceremony was the culmination of a joint effort by Matinecock descendants, the Bayside Historical Society, Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside), Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside), Community Board 11, the Douglaston-Little Neck Community Library and other community partners. 

“Today we honor their legacy as a noble and harmonious people who remain our neighbors,” Councilman Vallone said. 

“Long before the arrival of Europeans, the Matinecock Tribe called the areas of what is now Douglaston and Little Neck home” stated Assemblyman Braunstien. 

In solidarity with the Matinecock and their Chief Osceola Townsend, various representatives of other indigenous Nations were attendance at the historic event including Chief Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Nation and Roberto “Mukaro Agueibana” Borrero, President of the United Confederation of Taino People and chief of the Guainia Taino Tribe. 

The Matinecock are a branch of the Algonquin Indigenous language and cultural group, and once inhabited villages where Flushing, College Point, Bayside and Douglaston now stand. 

UCTPTN 10/06/2015

The Taino Tradition of Generosity Lives in Arizona

Flagstaff, Arizona (UCTP Taino News) - Desire Caballer, a Borikén Taino of the Guainia Tribal community, lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and began organizing to assist homeless persons in her area in June of this year. Her volunteer efforts have grown from a personal initiative, to receiving food, clothing, and toiletries donations from others; bringing her interactions with Flagstaff’s homeless community up to 3 times per week. 

Desire was inspired to make a difference after seeing a homeless teenager begging on the street for money. The scene touched her personally, as she also experienced life on the streets of Phoenix as a teen before being taken in by a concerned family who treated her as their own child. Once she was able to secure employment, the family urged her to get her on place, which she did. Today, she is married and has two beautiful children, a son - Pedro - and a daughter - Katrina. She really “wanted to give back” and her husband, Lorenzo Lee, and children are supporting her initiative with the area’s homeless. 

Katrina Caballer,  Desire Caballer, and Lorenzo Lee documenting their work in Flagstaff

“All the people [I meet on the streets] have different stories,” stated Desire, who does not have a non-for-profit, is on a fixed income, and is dealing with her own personal health issues. She continued stating, “I believe that we all need not to judge, instead we need to learn how to help, love, care, and give.” When Columbus encountered Taino People throughout in the Caribbean, he continuously remarked on their generous nature. While history is clear on Columbus’ response to this generosity, Desire Caballer is proof that the traditional Taino spirit of giving still lives among contemporary Taino people living far from their island homelands. 

 UCTPTN 10.22.2014

Taino Delegates Join Jamaica’s Marcus Garvey Celebration

A delegation of Taino People open the Marcus Garvey Celebration at Rio Nuevo Village in Jamaica

St. Mary, Jamaica (UCTP Taino News) – This year’s annual celebration of the birth of Jamaican National Hero, the “Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey,” was historic in its unprecedented inclusion of an indigenous Taino delegation. The daylong activity was held on Sunday, August 18^th at the RioNuevo Village in St. Mary, Jamaica. The well-attended celebration began with an early morning Taino ceremonial call to the “sacred directions” and featured an interactive cultural presentation later in the day. The Taino delegation included representatives of the Nacion Taina de las Antillas and the United Confederation of Taino People. The Taino delegates were invited to attend the Garvey celebration by event sponsor, Irie FM, Jamaica’s number one Reggae music radio station.  Portions of the day’s activities, including special on-site interviews, were broadcast live by Irie FM. 

Between and after their early morning and afternoon presentations on the event’s main stage, the Taino delegates interacted with an extremely interested public at a Taino kanei (rectangular chief’s home) built especially for the occasion. Hundreds and hundreds of Jamaicans flocked to the site throughout the day to speak to the Taino representatives and take photos. These intense cultural exchanges included emotional interactions with elders and leaders of Rastafarian community, as well as with leaders and community members of several Jamaican Maroon communities. The “Maroons” are the descendants of Africans who escaped enslavement and took refugee in the mountainous interior of the island, and according to local history intermarried with remaining Taino families. The Maroons initiated wars against the British Crown leading to the signing of peace treaties, which included land rights for these communities.

Irie FM's Mutabaruka interviews Taino leader R. Mukaro Borrero live in Jamaica 

“This is an historic and spiritually significant moment in our contemporary history as it marks the first occasion that Taino people are participating in an event of this kind in Jamaica, one of our sacred ancestral homelands” noted R. Múkaro Borrero, a representative for the United Confederation of Taino People and elected kasike (chief) of the Guainia Taino Tribe. Borrero continued stating, “I trust our humble participation will set the stage for more intense campaigns to raise a much needed Taino cultural awareness on the island.”

Borrero led the morning opening ceremony and afterward was interviewed live by Mutabaruka, one of Irie FM’s top radio personalities.  Another delegate, Kasike Rene Cibanacan was also interviewed. These in-depth interviews reached thousands of listeners on the island; many were emotionally and spiritually moved to come to the celebration to meet the Taino delegates.

The “Garvey Celebration” was co-sponsored by Rio Nuevo Village; Bigstones; Petcom Dunrobin; Fly Jamaica; JCDC St. Mary; Contractor Music Marketing; and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. Along with the Taino cultural component, the event featured distinguished speakers, music and dance performances, marching bands, African drummers, storytellers, and more.

UCTPTN 08.24.2013

Investiture Ceremony for Guainía Kasike

New York (UCTP Taíno News) - On Sunday June 24 2012, the President of the United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP), Roberto "Mukaro Agueibaná" Borrero's title of Kasike (chief) was blessed by elders and medicine people of the Guainía Taíno Tribe and other Taíno communities from Borikén (Puerto Rico) and the diaspora.

The ceremony took place at the chief's home in New York and follows a previous, private blessing ceremony that took place in Borikén. Kasike Borrero was presented and accepted the title of Kasike by a group of elder community women in 2006 under the condition that community members would reaffirm the position via election at a later date.

A main impetus for the investiture ceremony was the presentation of a new gold guanin (chief medallion) to Kasike Borrero, which bears the official symbol of the Taíno iukaieke (community)  Guainía. Community members gathered the resources required and commissioned the making of the guainin for this historic presentation. 

After presentations by several bibino (grandmothers) such as Vanessa Pastrano and Mildred Karaira Gandia, Behike (ceremonial leader) Miguel Sobaoko Koromo Sague conducted part of the closing ceremonies in cooperation with Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle Beike and Guainía member Domingo Turey Hernandez.  

A number of other prominent figures of the contemporary Taino Resurgence movement were also in attendance, including Kasike Roman Guaraguaorix of Yukayeke Maisiti and Guainía member Nani Morales, first runner-up for Miss Indian World. Supporting the ceremony were a number of Northern Native American dignitaries including Chief Osceola Townsend of the Matinecock Nation of New York, among others. 

UCTPTN 06/25/2012