Boriken Youth to Begin Sacred Run

Yari Sierra promoting the 2012 Peace and Dignity Run in Ponce

Ponce, Boriken/Puerto Rico (UCTP Taino News) – One of the coordinators of the 2012 Boriken Peace and Dignity Run, Yari Sierra, hosted a final fundraising activity at Ponce's Plaza del Caribe shopping mall to promote the upcoming Taíno sacred run and related events in the Ponce area. Sierra is working hard to generate the necessary funds to cover the expenses of this year’s Run scheduled to begin in two days.

Equipped with promotional material brochures and summary pages, Sierra presented video clips of last year's successful Peace and Dignity Run along with photographs to an interested public. Many individuals stopped by her information table to learn more about this historic event and the young Taíno community members that are putting this all together.

Participants and supporters of the Boriken Peace and Dignity Run will camp out at Jayuya's "Cemi Cedetra y Casa Canales" located in Coabey on Tuesday afternoon to begin preparations for Wednesday's Sunrise ceremony. This ceremony will officially begin the 2012 Peace and Dignity Run on the island, which links to an additional run down the East Coast of the U.S., and the main continental run schedule to end in Guatemala this December. An additional run will take place in Kiskeia (Dominican Republic) around the same time period.

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Runners will make the journey from CEDERTA in Jayuya to Utuado's Caguana Ceremonial Center on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday's morning events will start at Jacanas from where runners will trek to Tibes Ceremonial Park in Ponce.  From Tibes, the runners will head to Mayaguez with activities scheduled till the end of the week.

For more information on how you can support the 2012 Boriken Peace and Dignity Run contact yarisina1@yahoo.com or visit http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/164824 .

Author: Roger Guayacan Hernandez

Source: UCTP Taino News

Alvarez Family Returns to Boriken

The Alvarez family returns to Boriken to reconnect with their roots.

Ponce, Boriken/Puerto Rico (UCTP Taino News) - The Alvarez Family returned to their old stomping grounds in Utuado, Boriken after half a century away. During their recent family reunion trip, they visited indigenous ceremonial sites on the island to further connect to, and reaffirm their roots. The trip was organized by Susan Alvarez, who contacted the United Confederation of Taino People for assistance. Alvarez is enrolled with the Confederation.

The family delegation included Susan Alvarez, along with her two children, Kathleen and Charles, and her sisters Judith and Carmen Pagano, and Carmen’s two daughters Hyacinth and Heather. They started their journey on a Friday morning, visiting ceremonial centers between Ponce and Utuado crossing thru “Las Indierras” and the Cordillera Central mountain range.  “The mountains always call me, I never felt more at home as when I was passing our beautiful, majestic mountains” said Carmen (Mita), the family matriarch.

With trip itinerary prepared by “Mountain Tours”, proprietor Roger Guayakan Hernandez was the official guide for the family. Hernandez is also a Liaison Officer for the United Confederation of Taíno People on the island. Their first stop was to Ponce's Tibes Ceremonial Center.  At the Center’s museum, the many artifacts and informative dioramas complimented the orientation presented by Taíno community member Luis Santiago of Wakia Arawaka.  This Center features a film explaining what researcher call the Igneri (Saladoid) culture to the so-called Pre-Taino who settled the site along the “Valley of Tibes” from around 300AD to 1000. The grounds feature seven "batei” and two large ceremonial "plazas".

Kathleen, Susan, and Charles Alvarez at Caguana

“This educational tour was so interesting and it explained a great deal” stated Judith.

After a tasty roast “pernil”, pollo and “costillas “luncheon at Adjuntas family restaurant - "El Boriqua", the tour proceeded to Utuado's Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial Center thru the winding mountain road along the Adjuntas/Dos Bocas River Valley.  The Caguana Ceremonial Center features 22 large stone petroglyphs lining the numerous, and large “batu (ballgame)” courts along the Tanama Valley hillside facing the spectacular “Semi” mountain peak.  This Taino site has been occupied since 900AD indicative thru “Ostiones” artifacts found along with Capa style highly decorated ceramics (1280AD- 1500AD).

The renowned petroglyph known as "mujer de Caguana" shows her elaborate “crown” with large ear rings representing an advanced age woman of a respected social position. Her eyes are closed and her bony thorax with her lower extremities similar to a frog's legs are said to denote vitality. The circular figure on her abdomen with a dot in the middle represents her navel and her evident reproductive organ implies her as a fertility figure giving birth to many children.  Her squatting position is a sign of power and commands respect.

Commenting on the petroglyph Carmen stated “How wonderful we as women were treated with the highest of respect and honor. My grandparents were so loving and respectful to each other so we as Taino-Boricua women had a great base as how we should be treated.”

After passing thru the half century improvements (since the family’s time in the Diaspora) made to the Utuado area, the tour returned thru the old Camino Reale (King's Road Route 123), which is awaiting the last stage of the $20 million dollar connection between Adjuntas and Utuado to complete a new expressway Route 10 between Ponce and Arecibo.  The 3,000 ft elevated rural central mountain range has kept this region relatively isolated. This continues as it has for the past 500 years holding the ancestral secrets of the many villagers who have settled along the many rivers and tributaries for the past few thousand years.

“WOW!” exclaimed Carmen. “The trip thru the mountains was hair-raising in many ways, from the winding roads to the majestic views. We all knew we were home”. She continued stating “It feels so good to be home.  We will be back.  We will continue to study and learn about our people’s ways.  We will teach our children.  I was so happy my daughters, sisters, nephew and niece were here to experience this wonderful beautiful experience.”

With great pride she added “We came home to the land of enchantment, we Taino came home to the beauty of Boriken.”

UCTPTN 05.31.2012

Government Oppression of the Taino People in Puerto Rico

The General Council of Tainos Borincanos has planned to clean-up the Bucana river in Jacanas (Tibes - Ponce), Puerto Rico on April 12 but their attempt has been impeded by the Department of Natural Resources.

The General Council of Tainos Borincanos having proposed - as part of our activities to promote conservation and respect of the environment - the clean-up of the Bucana river to mend the damage caused to the sacred site of Jacanas, Ponce, PR and to renew its integrity; had made efforts since the beginning of February to contact the Department of Natural Resources, the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and other governmental agencies through various means of communication such as faxes, telephone calls, letters and personal visits. The Taino Council’s requests were never officially answered.

The Department of Natural Resources sent a delayed and confusing letter with no instructions on the procedures for carrying out such an activity; however they implied that the Taino Council needed to have the endorsement of federal agencies to clean our rivers and to protect Mother Earth.

On April 11th representatives of the Taino Council received a visit in the area designated for the activity, from agents of the Department Natural Resources who indicated that we could NOT hold this activity and that they had received orders from their superiors in San Juan.

At that time, leaders of the Council asked what law existed that prohibited the cleaning of the river and what violation constituted their action. No answer was received from the agents. This is ironic since the government of Puerto Rico and the Department of Natural Resources invest so much money and energy in announcements to the people of Puerto Rico insisting that the public mobilize to clean-up the environment. Here in Jacanas the government of Puerto Rico and the Department of Natural Resources has gone against the public mandate of set by their organizations.

This situation is especially sad since garbage continues to accumulate at the river and contaminate such an important and sacred place. There are NO signs to indicate that garbage should NOT be thrown. All of these realities offend the dignity and disrespect the memory of our ancestors and in general the people of Puerto Rico.

As this is happening at this very moment in Puerto Rico, this unfortunate and possibly dangerous situation is evidence of the state of repression that the descendants of the Taino-Boricua People and the People of Puerto Rico are facing. These actions taken by the government of Puerto Rico and the Department of Natural Resources clearly constitute discrimination and a violation of law and the freedom to exercise our rights.

General Council of Tainos Borincanos is requesting support from all Puerto Rican/Boricua environmental, cultural and indigenous communities as well as international indigenous rights organizations in order to exercise our rights as a people as well protect our patrimonial legacy.

To support, endorsement, or reactions, and ideas, write to
anacaotoao@hotmail.com or call 787-568-1547 or 787-858-4855.

Kearns: Federal grave robbing of Taino remains

by: Rick Kearns / Indian Country Today
© Indian Country Today November 23, 2007. All Rights Reserved

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its associates took ancient indigenous remains and artifacts from a newly discovered site in Puerto Rico in late October and flew them to a lab in Atlanta, Ga., for tests. There are laws in Puerto Rico prohibiting anyone from removing these kinds of materials from the island, and there are Taino people, real live human beings, who are furious over this latest episode of federal body snatching.

Probably in response to the public complaints of Puerto Rican scholars and archaeologists, the feds have promised to return everything that they have stolen, although we have to take their word for what has recently appeared as the list of items that will be returned.

As Yogi Berra once said, ''This is deja vu all over again.''

For Puerto Ricans of all kinds, especially for those of us with Taino roots - and that means most Puerto Ricans - we've heard this line before and we have no reason to believe them. On top of everything else, there is a sad echo effect at play here: It's the racist way in which the United States treats Puerto Rico and the way some officials treat Tainos or even the idea of Tainos that creates a sickening echo, one that keeps ringing in our ears and should be telling us something.

That something is to gain sovereignty for the island. It's the only way we can protect our heritage, our people and even the remains of our ancestors, as our Native cousins in North America have learned over and over again.

The series of events that lead to this latest outrage played out fairly quickly. Within the last few months, the Corps started clearing a section of southern Puerto Rico for the construction of a dam, for the purpose of preventing flooding that is all too common in that region. At some point the Corps hired New South Associates, an archaeological and historical consulting firm, to handle any potential discoveries. It has been widely known that the area north of the city of Ponce was home to some major Taino ceremonial sites; the centers at Tibes and Caguana are good examples of these highly developed community areas.

Near the end of October, a major Taino site was unearthed during the construction process. Archaeologists from both the United States and Puerto Rico are hailing it as being the best-preserved pre-Columbian site in the Caribbean, with the potential to reveal many aspects of Taino and pre-Taino life in the area, from eating habits to spiritual ceremonies. The newly discovered site has a ritual ball field (known as a batey) that measures 130 feet by 160 feet, surrounded by giant stones etched with petroglyphs, one of which portrays a masculine human figure with legs of a frog. Along with the plaza, many ceramic pieces were unearthed as well as graves of ancient peoples, some of whom were buried facedown with their legs bent at the knees.

Experts are already estimating that the site includes materials dating back as far as 600 A.D. with other items from approximately 1,500 A.D., a few years after the invaders arrived.

These facts are the only points of agreement. Otherwise, the tableau turns into a crime scene.

According to members of the General Council of Borinquen Tainos, leading Puerto Rican archaeologists and scholars from the island's Institute of Culture, the Corps and New South destroyed untold amounts of artifacts and human remains with bulldozers and backhoes. Puerto Rican archaeologists and local Taino leaders then protested these procedures, eventually embarrassing the federal grave robbers enough so that they had to halt the excavation. Sadly, the official chicanery did not stop there.

See full story at:

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416166