Taíno Welcome Indigenous Relatives from Guyana

Taíno Community members Little Wolf and Kasike Múkaro Borrero welcome the Wapishana Cultural group Karao while the Hon. Sydney Allicock, Vice President of Guyana looks on

Brooklyn , NY (UCTP Taíno News) - The Karao Cultural Group is visiting New York from the South Rupununi, Guyana to take part in Guyana Folk Fest 2017. The group, made up of indigenous Wapishana tribal members, has captivated audiences with their cultural presentations since their arrival to the U.S. On Thursday, August 31st, the Karao Group gave a presentation at the "Desrey Fox Memorial Lecture" held in Brooklyn, NY and organized by the Guyana Cultural Association of New York (GCA-NY). Taíno community members, Kasike Roberto Múkaro Borrero and Little Wolf were invited to provide a welcome and spiritual opening at the event, which also included a presentation by Guyana’s Vice President and Minister of Indigenous People's Affairs, Hon. Sydney Allicock. The event also featured a lecture on Guyana’s indigenous languages presented by Dr. Walter Edwards and remarks from President of the Guyana Cultural Association of New York, Dr. Vibert Cambridge, and other executives of the body.

UCTPTN 08.31.2017

Trinidad & Tobago Celebrates First Peoples Heritage

Trinidad & Tobago (UCTP Taino News) – Under the theme “exploring heritage, consolidating traditions, and creating a legacy” First Peoples Week was celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago from October 11-19, 2013. The celebrations raised the visibility of Trinidad’s Indigenous Peoples, as well as other Indigenous Peoples from around the Circum-Caribbean region. 

The events began with an international conference held at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UCTT) and continued through the week with several cultural events in Arima, home of the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community. The activities were co-sponsored by the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), the Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration.

Invited participants to this year’s celebrations included delegates of Indigenous Peoples of Guyana, Suriname, Belize, Venezuela, Dominica, St Vincent, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Ecuador, Canada and the USA. Among the various issues presented during the week, the Santa Rosa First People’s Community is calling for a national holiday to honor the island’s Indigenous Peoples. 

The final day of the scheduled activities included a meeting of the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP). The meeting was held at the newly expanded Santa Rosa First Peoples Community Center in Arima. During the historic proceedings COIP officially welcomed its newest member, the United Confederation of Taino People. 

 UCTPTN 11.01.2013

11th Indigenous Peoples Forum Opens at United Nations

Delegates of the United Confederation of Taino People on the first day of the 2012 session. From left to right: Damon G. Corrie, Vanessa Inarunikia Pastrana, Taino AnaYuisa Pellicier, and Roberto Mukaro Borrero.

 

United Nations, NY (UCTP Taíno News) – The 11th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues opened on Monday at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Almost two-thousand representatives of Indigenous Peoples, non-governmental organizations, and academia have per-registered to attend the two-week session. The special theme for the year is the “The Doctrine of Discovery: its enduring impact on indigenous peoples and the right to redress for past conquests.” 

 The session opened in the General Assembly Hall with a traditional welcome greeting from traditional Onondoga spiritual leader Sid Hill and a ceremonial Mayan blessing. In the afternoon, various statements were made concerning the special theme “The Doctrine of Discovery” by governments, UN agencies, and Indigenous Peoples. Several conference room papers were circulated that highlighted the history of the Doctrine of Discovery and cited examples of its specific impact on Indigenous Peoples. 

The Doctrine of Discovery is a concept of public international law used to support judicial decisions invalidating or ignoring aboriginal possession of land in favor of colonial or post-colonial governments. The Doctrine is linked to Christian expansionism being in 1452 and again in 1493 with Columbus in the Caribbean. Among the Indigenous Peoples attending the historic session are Caribbean Indigenous Peoples representatives from Barbados, Boriken (Puerto Rico), Guyana, and Waitikubuli (Dominica). 

 The opening of the Forum was however not unmarked by controversy as changes in accreditation did not allow all the registrants to attend the opening session. The issuance of secondary passes and pass limits added to confusion and frustration many attendees experienced upon their arrival to UN headquarters. According to the Secretariat of Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues the use of secondary passes is suspended for Tuesday, May 8th. 

UCTPTN 05.08.2012

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

Dr. Desrey Fox of the Akawaio Tribal Nation passes on

Georgetown, Guyana (UCTP Taino News) - Dr. Desrey Fox, 54, passed away this morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital in Guyana. Dr. Fox, a member of the Akawaio Tribal Nation was a Minister in the Guyana Government’s Ministry of Education. Local reports indicate that she sustained back and head injuries in a tragic auto accident on Tuesday evening. Her grandson was also injured in the accident and remains in the hospital’s pediatric ward.

Dr. Fox was born in Waramadong Village, Upper Mazaruni District in Guyana. She was awarded a Ph.D and MA in Linguistics from Rice University, an MA in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Kent at Canterbury, and a B.Sc in Sociology from the University of Guyana.

"I was deeply saddened by this tragic news” states Damon Corrie a Lokono Arawak activist. “I had known Dr. Desrey Fox since the 1996 United Nations sponsored SIDS (Small island Developing States) conference in Barbados.”

Corrie continued stating “Truly, Guyana has lost its most famous Amerindian daughter. May her soul rest in peace knowing that her allotted time on this Earth was well spent.”

Dr. Desrey Fox is survived by three sons and other relatives.

UCTPTN 12.11.2009

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

Pakuri Arawak Community Elects New Chief

Pakuri Lokono Territory, Guyana (UCTP Taino News) - On Saturday May 30th 2009 democratic elections were held on the 2,000 person 240 sq. mile Pakuri Lokono Arawak Territory in Guyana, South America.

At Pakuri, 25% of the population is of voting age (18 years+), with 75% of the population of Pakuri being of 17 years or younger. The population of Pakuri has doubled in the last 16 years - up from a 1992 estimate of 1,000 persons; making it one of the fastest growing indigenous communities in Guyana.

Campaigning for the post of Chief were 3 Lokono-Arawak men - Telford Taylor, Mark Bernard, and Ernest Dundas.

Chief Dundas won with roughly 60% of the vote, Mr. Bernard came second with approximately 30%; and Mr. Taylor third with about 10% of the vote.

The community also democratically elected all 8 members appointed by Chief Dundas to form his Village Council - which is the Tribal Government of Pakuri Arawak Territory. The new council includes former Chief Pierre Andrews - who recently represented Pakuri at the 3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas held in Panama, Central America.

The next elections at Pakuri are due to be held again in May 2012.

Photo: Pierre Andrews and Ernest Dunda in Pakuri Lokono Arawak Territory, Guyana

Reporter: Damon Corrie
UCTPTN 06.04.2006

Author Dr. Ivan Van Sertima passes at 74

UCTP Taino News - Guyanese-British historian, linguist, journalist, and anthropologist Ivan Van Sertima passed away on 25 May, 2009 at 74. Van Sertima was noted for his ‘Afrocentric’ theory of pre-Columbian contact between Africa and the Americas. One of his best known publications is titled “They Came Before Columbus”. This work was criticized by academic specialists who accused Van Sertima's cultural outlook of being disparaging to Native American achievements among other issues. Van Sertima also appeared before a United States Congressional committee in 1987 to challenge giving credit for the discovery of America to Christopher Columbus.

UCTPTN 06.02.0229

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

Increased access to social services a priority among indigenous women

Guyana - Increasing access to social services is among the priorities identified by indigenous women leaders in the region as key to empowerment, against a backdrop of development.

Participants at the `Conference on Indigenous Women in the Caribbean:Voice, Participation and Influence for Development' that opened last Thursday found that many of their problems were the same. These include poverty, limited access to health, education and other basic social services, while trying to secure recognition of traditional land and rights. Another issue is gender-based violence. One of the challenges facing the conference was creating room for women's rights in the context of the collective indigenous rights. The two-day meeting was organized by the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). It attracted across section of government and civil society participants from Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Suriname, Nicaragua and St Vincent.

Read the full story at http://coipnews.blogspot.com/

Indigenous people in Guyana encouraged to recognise development during Amerindian Heritage Month

By Kevin Lindon

Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent

Email: kevin@caribbeannetnews.com

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: The Ministry of Amerindians Affairs in Guyana on Monday launched the annual celebrations of Amerindian Heritage Month, which is being observed under the theme “Inspiring our nation to move forward in Unity”.

See full story at http://www.uctp.org/

Carifesta X symposium highlights Amerindian artifacts

The Indigenous Art of Hammock weaving demonstrated

at CARIFESTA X in Guyana

GUYANA - A symposium on Indigenous Performance Traditions on Monday focused on the collection of Amerindian artifacts in the Austrian Museum of Ethnology which houses some 350 artifacts from Guyana. Most of these artifacts were collected from the Makushi and Wapishiana regions early in the 19th century by Austrian zoologist Johann Natterer. The symposium was held at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal as part of a symposia panel for Carifesta X, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

Minister within the Ministry of Education Dr. Desrey Fox opened the session and panelists Claudia Augustat, Head of the South American Collection, Museum of Ethnology in Vienna, Austria and Henk Tjon, Theatre and Artistic Director with the Surinamese Delegation to Guyana made presentations.

According to GINA, Minister Fox stated that indigenous performance tradition is probably the most misunderstood since it is not what people are accustomed to as it focuses on birds and animals with specific characteristics which the Amerindians find impressive.

This, she said, impacts on the very lives of Amerindians and helps them to survive in very harsh environments.

“We are in a country with a diversity of cultures and I don’t think we are able to utilize each other’s resources,” Minister Fox is quoted as saying. She noted also that this will “lead to understanding each other and to have a sense of deep identity which we are still grappling with.”

Meanwhile, Augusta said that according to records in the archives of the Austrian Museum, Natterer made his journey in 1831 by travelling up the Rio Branco River to the Brazilian border, then on the Takutu, Ireng and Pirara Rivers before reaching British Guiana.

The collection pieces featured body ornaments, weapons, basketry and musical instruments created and used by the indigenous peoples.

These include objects made from feathers, beads, seeds and animal teeth, GINA added.

Source: Stabroek News

Museum Recognizes Caribbean Heritage

Photo: Several works by Arawak artist Foster Simon of Pakuri Territory in Guyana will be exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History’s Caribbean Festival.

New York, NY (UCTP Taino News) - The American Museum of Natural History will host a Caribbean Heritage Festival in recognition of the region’s cultural legacy and diversity on Sunday, June 22, 2008 from 12 noon – 5:00 p.m. The celebration will highlight the region's contributions and cultures through family friendly programs with guest presenters, performers and films. A Caribbean art display will be featured in the Museum’s Grand Gallery with artists representing Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Caribbean indigenous artists Aguilar Marrero and Reina Miranda of Taino Spirit as well as acclaimed Lokono Arawak artist Foster Simon of Guyana will have works exhibited. The program is presented in collaboration with the Haitian Centers Council, Inc. and is free with suggested Museum admission.

UCTPTN 06.20.2008

Taino and Arawak Works on Display at UN Headquarters

United Nations (UCTP Taino News) – Contemporary Taino artists Reina Miranda, Mildred Mukara Torres Speeg and John Aguilar Marrero were among the indigenous artists whose selected works were featured at the opening of the United Nations Art exhibition entitled “Spirit of Our Ancestors”. The exhibition was launched in conjuction with the 7th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the opening took place on Tuesday, April 22nd 2008 at United Nations headquarters in New York. A testament to Caribbean indigenous survival, the paintings and their accompanying explanatory text have the potential to educate thousands of international visitors daily. Marrero and Miranda are members of the Cacibajagua Taino Cultural Society. Torres-Speeg is a UCTP representative in the state of Georgia. Also on display are three wood sculptures by Foster Simon, an acclaimed Lokono Arawak from Guyana. Mr. Simon’s works are also featured in the Presidential collections of Guyana, Venezuela, and Bolivia. This special exhibition is free and open to the public during weekdays for a limited engagement closing on May 18, 2008.

Photo: Taino women at the opening of the "Spirit of Our Ancestors" exhibition at the United Nations. From left: Leenda Bonilla; Mildred Karaira Gandia, Maria Itomacunana Diaz, and Reina Miranda

UCTPTN 04.23.2008

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

Taino Welcomed by Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples

Arima, Trinidad (UCTP Taino News) – On October 16th, 2007 Indigenous leaders from throughout the Caribbean meet in Arima, Trinidad to discuss critical regional issues under the auspices of the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP). Hosted by Trinidad’s Santa Rosa Carib Community, delegates attending the COIP meeting represented Indigenous Peoples from Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad, and Puerto Rico.

In an historic affirmation of Caribbean Indigenous solidarity, COIP officially welcomed Puerto Rico’s Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos as full voting members. As COIP is a recognized by Indigenous Peoples, governments, inter-governmental organizations as a Caribbean regional organization, the inclusion of the Consejo General now provides an opportunity for Boriken Taino to officially raise their concerns within this collective.

During the meeting, another important agenda item focused on COIP representation at International Forums such as the United Nations. The increasing visibility of COIP at this level is already evident as a communication from the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was received and transmitted to the participants during the opening ceremony for the meeting.

Held in Arima’s Town Hall, the opening ceremony for the important meeting began with welcoming remarks from the honorable Mayor of Arima, Adrian Cabralis, as well as Government Ministers, Excellencies Penelope Beckles and Joan Yuille-Wiliams.

Funding for many of the delegates to attend the meeting as well as the concurrent activities celebrating Trinidad’s “Amerindian Heritage Week” was made available by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

Arawak Master Woodcarver Names Son After Bolivian President

Pakuri Territory, Guyana (UCTP Taino News) – Internationally renowned master woodsculptor, Foster Simon of Pakuri Lokono Arawak Territory (St. Cuthberts Mission) celebrated the September birth of his newborn son by naming the child “Evo” Simon after President Evo Morales Ayma of Bolivia.

President Morales is hailed as the hemisphere’s first “full-blooded” indigenous Head of State in over 450 years of the European and neo-colonial occupation of the Americas. Many Indigenous Peoples throughout the Caribbean and the Americas consider President Evo Morales to be “their President”; he is a well-respected and revered personage among First Nations of the Hemisphere.

Foster Simon’s wooden sculptures form part of the Presidential collections of Guyana, Venezuela, and Bolivia. One of Simon’s most recent art works was presented to Bolivian Ambassador Reynaldo Cuadros who received the unique piece on behalf of President Morales. The work was gifted to the Ambassador by Simon’s brother-in-law, Damon Corrie (Arawak), who was invited to make the special presentation at the Presidential Palace in La Paz during a session of the Organization of American States held there in April 2007.

Photo: Proud Arawak parents, Margaret and Foster Simon with new

baby "Evo Simon" in Pakuri Territory, Guyana

===============

See related stories at:

Caribbean and North American Indigenous Peoples present sacred gifts for

President Evo Morales Ayma of Bolivia.
http://uctp.blogspot.com/2007/04/caribbean-and-north-american-indigenous.html

Bolivians mark Columbus Day and Indians' return to power
http://uctp.blogspot.com/2006/10/bolivians-mark-columbus-day-and.html

President of Bolivia Meets with Indigenous Leaders in New York
http://uctp.blogspot.com/2006/09/president-of-bolivia-meets-with.html

Pakuri Arawak Women Take National Cricket Competition

Georgetown, Guyana (UCTP Taino News) - The Amerindian Ladies Softball Cricket Team from Pakuri Arawak Territory played in the exciting final match of the National Amerindian Heritage Competition on Sunday September 16th 2007. Held at the Carifesta grounds in Georgetown, Guyana, the challenging team was the Kabakaburi Ladies Softball Cricket Team (from Region #1). The final score was 88 runs in 15 overs with 2 out for Kabakaburi - and 89 runs in 15 overs with 7 out for Pakuri (better know as St. Cuthbert's Mission)from Region #4 (Demerara/Mahaica).

The Captain of the winning Pakuri Arawak team, Denise Daniels received a trophy and GY$50,000 ($246 USD) in prize money on behalf of her team. The second place team received a trophy and GY$35,000. This was the fifth consecutive year that the talented Lokono Arawaks of Pakuri/St. Cuthbert's have won the National Amerindian Heritage Cricket Competition.

Since 1995, Amerindian Heritage Month has been officially celebrated annually in Guyana.

GUYANA TAKES RETRORADE STEP ON UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

As Guyana and the rest of the world commemorate another International Day of Indigenous Peoples on August 9, 2007, the Guyanese Organization of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP) and the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) are calling on the Government of Guyana to vote for the approval of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration) when it again comes before the UN General Assembly next month.

See full story at:
http://indigenouscaribbeancaucus.blogspot.com/2007/08/guyana-takes-retrorade-step-on-un.html