Second Annual Puerto Rican Artisans Fair Highlights Taino Culture

New York, NY (UCTP Taino News) - On Saturday, November 17, 2007, Comite Noviembre is sponsoring its second annual Puerto Rican Artisans Exhibition and Fair at Hunter College in New York City. Held in recognition of Puerto Rican Heritage Month, the event will transform Hunter College’s West Building into a “typical Puerto Rican Plaza” with artists, sculptors, and food venders from 11am – 5pm. This year, Taino culture will feature prominently in the celebration with a Taino opening blessing, and a special presentation of Taino music and song with members of the Cacibajagua Taino Cultural Society at 3:30pm.

A family workshop on “Taino history and music” will take place at 11:30am (Rm. W217) and a “Taino Petroglyph Pendant” workshop for children will be held at 12:35pm. All day several prominent Taino artists will be featured in the celebration’s exhibition including Aguilar Marrero, Reina Miranda, and Esperanza Martell.

Established in 1987, Comité Noviembre is the only collaboration of its kind in the United States that brings together the collective talents and resources of the some of oldest and most prestigious Puerto Rican organizations in existence.

Latin America and the Caribbean Advisory Group of Indigenous Leaders meet with the UN System

Quito, Ecuador (UCTP Taino News) - The Regional Meeting of the Advisory Group of Indigenous Leaders with the UN System in Latin America and the Caribbean held from 5 to 6 November in Quito, Ecuador, was jointly organized by UNICEF-LAC, OHCHR and SPFII. It was attended by more than 60 focal points of United Nations regional offices, indigenous members of the Advisory Group of UNICEF, Ms. Otilia Lux de Coti of the PFII, and indigenous authorities from Quito.

Representing the United Confederation of Taino People, Roberto Mukaro Borrero was appointed to the group and participated actively in all discussions. Borrero also had the opportunity to meet with local indigenous leaders of the regional informal gatherings organized in recognition of the meeting.

During two days UN agencies, funds and programmes dialogued with indigenous representatives on the strategies to implement recommendations of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration). As an outcome, recommendations were prepared to Resident Coordinators within the context of the Declaration, the UNDG draft guidelines on indigenous peoples’ issues and the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People in order to integrate indigenous issues in the work of its agencies.

UCTPTN 11.10.2007

Caguana Ceremonial Center

Sitting in the lush central mountain range of Puerto Rico (Borike), the ancestral home of the Boriken Taíno people, Caguana is the largest and most complex ceremonial site in the West Indies. Caguana Ceremonial Center consists of a large central plaza, a ceremonial dance area, ten rectangular earth-and-stone– lined ball courts and plazas and one circular plaza, as well as the remains of an oval-shaped structure and a sacred cemi mound. Ethno-historical accounts of early "explorers" noted that ceremonial sites like Caguana were places where highly important ceremonial ball games were held. Today, one can still see stone collars, elbow stones, and petroglyphs carved on perimeter stones. Caguana is today one of many sacred sites for the Taíno people.

Because of its rich archaeological significance, Caguana became a National Historic Landmark in 1993. However, this designation has not prevented vandalism and tourist devastation to the ceremonial center. Now, the Taíno are calling upon the Puerto Rico government and the U.S. National Park Service to "ensure that any governmental projects promoting tourism go hand in hand with protecting and safeguarding the integrity of local Taíno culture, sacred sites and the environment. "

Read the full report written by DeAnna Rivera with UCTP President R. Mucaro Borrero and Grandmother Naniki Reyes Ocasio at the Sacred Lands Film Project.

The Continuity of Caribbean Indigenous People

UCTP Taino News – On the internet, a UK article entitled “The Continuity of Caribbean Indigenous Peoples” contains a section focusing on Caribbean indigenous revival, solidarity between the “Carib Nations” and the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP). The article also highlights the role of the internet in promoting indigenous culture. See the article at http://www.southwark.gov.uk/Uploads/FILE_25934.pdf

Italians against Columbus Day

UCTP Taino News – In solidarity with American Indian nations, a group of Italian citizens have decided to actively support protests against the celebration of Columbus Day by establishing a petition against it the controversial holiday.

The petition, which was written in Cannara (Perugia) - Italy on October 9, 2007, will be presented to Italian municipalities, presidents of Italian regions, and to Italian American associations.

Mike Graham (Cherokee) of United Native America, Oglala Lakota Patriot Russell Means, and UCTP President Roberto Mukaro Borrero (Taino) have endorsed the effort.

The Italian petition against the celebration of Columbus Day can be found online at http://www.petitiononline.com/cd1ptoit/petition.html.