Documento Oficial: Declaracion del CGTB

29 de noviembre del 2006

Declaracion:

El Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos, organo unificador de nuestra madre tierra Boriquen, principal organizacion de la nacion taino-boricua, no reconoce representacion, ni credibilidad alguna a la organizacion conocida como "Nacion Taina de las Antillas, dirigida por el Sr. Rene (Cibanacan) Marcano ya que la misma no representa los mejores intereses del pueblo taino, nativo de Boriquen. El Consejo no reconoce "Nacion Taina" alguna que no se origine en el corazon d nuestra madre tierra y que desde la diaspora pretenda establecer supremacia sobre el pueblo taino que reside aca, en la isla.

La acciones de estos supuestos "lideres" no han dado un buen ejemplo a nuestro pueblo, y por el contrario carecen de autorizacion para continuar enganando y confundiendonos. Estas personas no respetan ni practican los principios y valores de nuestros abuelos ni de sus descendientes. Sus acciones obstaculizan y atrasan el desarrollo positivo del movimiento taino en general.

Porr tanto declaramos que no aceptaremos a imposicion de falsos lideres en nuestro movimientos y que esto constituye una falsa representacion ya que dichas personas no fueron elegidas por nuestro pueblo y se autodenominan faltandole el respeto al movimiento serio y que trabaja por adelantar honestamente nuestra causa.

Personas que usurpen nuestro nombre, no representan bajo ningun concepto la seriedad de nuestro trabajo ni nuestro compromiso con mantener la memoria de nuestros anscestros en alto.

El tratar de ocultar la existencia de las organizaciones autenticas ya establecidas constituye una traicion a nuestra integridad como herederos de un pueblo noble.

Deseaamos aclarar ademâs que el senor Martin Diaz Veguilla no pertenece al Consejo General e Tainos Borincanos y que por el contrario, pretende falsamente representarnos en union con la supuesta nacion defraudando asi el movimiento real nativo nacido en Boriquen y que hoy dia goza de gran credibilidad nacional e internacionalmente por haber diligenciado un trabajo honesto y en pro de los descencientes tainos que viven en la madre tierra.

Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos
Elba (Anaca) Lugo: Directora

Human Rights For Indigenous Peoples Not Supported by States

UCTP News - Today at the United Nations a non-action motion resolution put forth by African States, seeking to block the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was voted upon and approved. According to preliminary reports a majority of Nation States, 82 voted in favor of the resolution proposed by the African Group with 67 States voting not in favor and 25 Nation States abstaining.

While fierce opposition to the Declaration was openly declared by New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the United States, around the world Indigenous Peoples were shocked and outraged by the action of African States, most of whom had chosen not to participate throughout this standard-setting process.

"Considering that we have entered the Second UN International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, an initiative based on the theme ‘action with dignity’, the hijacking of the Declaration is an utter disgrace.” stated Roberto Mucaro Borrero (Taino), Chairman of the NGO Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which represents more than 20 years of work within the UN, was acknowledged to constitute the minimum standards for their survival, dignity and well-being.

Grand Chief Ed John, of the Assembly of First Nations, stated “Today is a very sad day for the United Nations and a very serious setback for the integrity of the newly formed Human Rights Council who urged the General Assembly to formally adopt this historic document. It now appears that the most likely outcome will be that the United Nations never formally adopts the Declaration. This is a remarkable and bizarre development.”

Adopted in June of this year, the Declaration was considered a substantial achievement of the Human Rights Council.

In a statement issued by the Indigenous Peoples Caucus at the United Nations, the group clearly noted that "these actions are a politicization of human rights that show complete disregard for the ongoing human rights abuses suffered by Indigenous Peoples. This betrayal and injustice severely impacts 370 million Indigenous people in all regions of the world, who are among the most marginalized and vulnerable."

Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the JamaicanTaino
by Lesley-Gail Atkinson (Editor)

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: University of West Indies Press (July 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9766401497

This book highlights the variety of research conducted on the island's prehistoric sites and artefacts. The text is a compilation of thirteen articles, five of which have been previously published but not widely available. The remaining eight new articles are based on archaeological research within the last five years. The book will appeal to a wide audience of archaeologists, historians, students of archaeology and anyone interested in Jamaica's history.




You can find this book at:
amazon.com/Earliest-Inhabitants-Dynamics-Jamaican-Taino/dp/9766401497

37th Annual Jayuya Indigenous Festival

2006 Taino Queen of Jayuya

A series of photos from the 37th Annual Jayuya Indigenous Festival (Nov. 17-19) in Boriken (Puerto Rico) have now been posted at:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/uctp_ny/album?.dir=/f956re2&.src=ph&.tok=phaCm4FB8byKm.Fq

The photo of the 2006 Indigenous Festival in Jayuya, Boriken were taken by Roger Atihuibancex Hernandez, UCTP News Special Correspondent.

LATIN AMERICA: Kids Pay Dearly for Lack of Clean Water

Diego Cevallos* - Tierramérica

MEXICO CITY, Nov 16 (IPS) - In Latin America and the Caribbean, one-third of childhood deaths are the result of diarrhoea. The problem could be resolved with clean water and appropriate sanitation systems, but millions of people, especially the indigenous and Afro-descendant populations, lack access to either.

Statistics for the region show that coverage of water and sanitation services is among the best in the world. But the figures can be misleading.

Although 91 percent of the region's population does have access to potable water, there are still 50 million people who don't, and 34 million live in rural areas. As for sanitation, coverage reaches 77 percent, but 103 million people lack access to that service.

Those shortfalls are behind the majority of diarrhoea-based illnesses, which today are the second leading cause of infant mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean, after respiratory infections.

Worldwide, 1.8 million children die each year from diarrhoea, which proves more deadly than tuberculosis, malaria or HIV/AIDS.

"For the children who don't have water and sanitation, the future is poverty and illness, and will probably follow them the rest of their lives," Liliana Carvajal, one of the authors of the 2006 Human Development Report, presented Nov. 9 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told Tierramérica.

The report states that "clean water and sanitation are among the most powerful preventative measures for child mortality." And that investment in this area "is to killer diseases like diarrhoea what immunisation is to measles -- a lifesaver."

Halving the proportion of people without access to potable water and basic sanitation is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations, with the deadline of 2015.

Latin America and the Caribbean are well on their way to meeting that goal. But it will only be in terms of averages, because millions of people will still lack access to those services.

"We can't be shouting victory, because there are specific cases that are very complicated," said Carvajal.

"It is no longer ethically or politically acceptable to use averages as indicators of the level of compliance with the MDGs, because they hide very difficult realities," says Nils Katsberg, Latin America and Caribbean director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The fact is that the people who live in rural areas and are indigenous or of African descent -- in other words, some 200 million of the approximately 523 million people in the region -- face serious obstacles in achieving the levels of development set by the MDGs, Katsberg told Tierramérica.

"There is still much to be done, especially with the children," he added.

One-third of Latin America's rural residents do not have safe sources of drinking water, and more than half do not have adequate sanitation facilities, according to UNDP studies.

In Bolivia, 95 percent of the urban population utilise potable water sources, but in the countryside the proportion is just 68 percent. As for sanitation services, access is 58 percent for the urban dwellers and 23 percent for rural residents, according to the agency's figures.

Only 54 percent of Bolivian children under age five who suffer diarrhoea receive oral rehydration treatment. In neighbouring Brazil, where there is greater coverage of both sanitation services (75 percent) and potable water services (90 percent), such treatment reaches just 28 percent of young children with diarrhoea.

In Guatemala, where 95 percent of the population has access to sources of clean or treated water, just 22 percent of children with diarrhoea receive rehydration treatment.

The reverse is true in Haiti. There, only 54 percent of the population has access to potable water and just 30 percent have sanitation services, but 41 percent of children under five with diarrhoea receive treatment.

"A child born without access to water and sanitation is going to have constant cases of diarrhoea, which will affect the immune system. The child will have anemia, which will affect schooling, and the child will learn less," said development expert Carvajal.

"It is a cycle of poverty that will follow the child for the rest of her life," she added.

The Human Development Report, which the UNDP has published annually since 1990, emphasises that investment in water and sanitation would save millions of lives, but also stresses that improved services would be of great economic benefit.

Universal access to potable water and sanitation services would reduce the financial burden of the health systems in developing countries by an estimated 1.6 billion dollars annually.

In countries like Nicaragua, clean water would cut diarrhoea cases by more than 20 percent; in Peru 15 percent; and in Guatemala nearly 40 percent, according to UNDP.

Latin America and the Caribbean "must make a much greater effort in everything related to water and sanitation in the rural sectors, and put a stop to discrimination against indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in access to those services," said UNICEF's Katsberg.

(*Originally published Nov. 11 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.)

(FIN/2006)