An Indigenous News Service dedicated to increasing the visibility of Taino and other Native Peoples from throughout the Caribbean region and the Diaspora in the Spirit of Our Ancestors.
Utuado, Borikén (UCTP Taíno News) – Celebrated artist and elder community member, Miguel Angel Guzmán will be featured in a special exhibition honoring his 50 years in the Arts. The exhibition will be held at Galeria Maboití, Museo del Cemi in Cedetra, Jayuya. The exhibit will open on July 2 at 6pm with a musical presentation by Guzmán and a reception. The honorable Georgie Gonzalez, the Mayor of Jayuya will host the event.
Born in Barrio Caníaco in Utuado in 1939, Guzmán recently celebrated his 70 birthday in Utuado at a special gathering attended by local artists, friends, and supporters including representatives of the Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos and the UCTP Borikén Liaison Office.
Among his many distinctions, Guzman is credited with founding Taller Herencia Indigena, the Taino arts workshop operating near the Caguana Ceremonial Center in Utuado. The Taller Herencia Indigena celebrates Borikén’s (Puerto Rico) indigenous legacy through the arts.
UCTP Taino News – As part of the island of Bermuda’s 400th anniversary celebrations, the St. David’s Island Community will host its fifth Native American Festival on Saturday June 20th and Sunday June 21st, 2009. Previous festivals were hailed as over-whelming successes locally and internationally. The special event is held on the St David’s County Cricket Field and it continues to grow with about 2000 local people attending.
The festival began as a project to reconnect St. David’s Native American descendants with their contemporaries from East coast areas of the United States. The historical record reveals that Indigenous Peoples were taken from the United States as well as from around the Caribbean region to Bermuda as part of the slave trade in the 1700s.
About 80 American Indian representatives have been invited to attend and participate in the cultural festival, which will highlight American Indian song, dance, story telling and craft making as well as local artisans.
Among the invited delegates, Mildred Karaira Gandia (Boriken Taino) will represent the United Confederation of Taino People at this historic anniversary event. Gandia will present an official statement to the gathering which is expected to include Bermuda’s Governor, his Excellently Sir Richard Gozney among other Bermudan government officials and dignitaries.
North of the Bahamas in the mid-Atlantic, Bermuda's settlement began in 1609. Contrary to popular belief Bermuda is not one island – but a string of islands now linked by causeways and bridges.
Ponce, Boriken (UCTP Taino News) – Representing District 25, Ponce – Jayuya, the Hon. Victor L. Vassallo Anadón this week urged the citizens and government of Puerto Rico and federal agencies to respect the island’s “sacred national patrimony” and the rights of the Taino People. The official statement was presented to the Boriken Liaison Office of the United Confederation of Taino People in the form of a proclamation displaying the seal of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives. The proclamation issued by Vassallo recognizes Taino People as pre-Columbian inhabitants of Puerto Rico whose descendants remain on the island today.
Photo: In Ponce, UCTP Boriken Liaison Roger Guayakan Hernandez looks on as the Hon. Victor L. Vassallo Anadón signs the official proclamation urging respect for Taino People in Puerto Rico.
Los Angeles, California (UCTP Taino News) – As part of the “Bringing the Circle Together” Native American Film Series, the film “Quest of the Carib Canoe” will be featured at 7pm on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy (NCPD) in Los Angeles, California.
Directed by renowed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, the film highlights the voyage of a group Kalinago Carib community members and supporters as they sail nearly 1000 miles in a traditionally made canoe from their home on the island of Dominica in the British West Indies to South America to rediscover their ancestral heritage.
Special guests for the evening include poet Kantuta and Cheryl Noralez of the Cheryl Noralez, a Caribbean Indigenous organization in LA that focuses on the preservation of Carib and African roots.
The free screening of ‘Quest of the Carib Canoe” will take place at the NCPD located at 111 North Central Avenue, between 1st Street and Central Avenue, in downtown Los Angeles. The NCPD can be reached via train, bus, or parking in the area. Films will begin at 7pm, and it is advisable to arrive at least 15-20 minutes prior for seating.
The “Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series” is a free monthly series established to present quality documentaries by and about Indigenous cultures of the Americas.
The film series is hosted by Lorin Morgan-Richards and is sponsored by Garifuna Heritage Foundation, The Japanese American National Museum; Hecho de Mano; Nahui Ohlin; and SCIC-InterTribal Entertainment. For additional information see http://www.myspace.com/nafilmseries. UCTPTN 06.10.2009
Peru (UCTP Taino News) - Effectively shutting down parts of the Amazon and the Andes for over 50 days, local Peruvian communities have been engaging in massive strikes organized to protest government proposed development in the region. On Friday, June 5 the peaceful protests were met with a violent military response by the Peruvian government leaving civilians and police dead with hundreds more injured.
As a result of an almost total media blackout, unconfirmed casualty reports from the area have ranged from 38 civilians and 10 police to 100 civilians and 22 police dead.
On April 9, an "indefinite strike" began throughout the Amazon region to protest the Peruvian Congress' failure to review six government decrees that are identified by local leaders as endangering the rights of Indigenous Peoples. These decrees were issued by Peruvian President Alan García Pérez and relate to the implementation of Free Trade Agreements signed with the United States and Canada. Opposed by Indigenous Peoples, the legislation paves the way for oil, mineral, and agricultural exploitation in the ecologically sensitive region.
Following an international Indigenous Peoples summit held in Puno, Peru last week, the Coordinating Body of Andean Indigenous Organizations (CAOI) issued a call for an “international denunciation” of President García Pérez and his administration for the “bloody repression of Indigenous Peoples in the Peruvian Amazon”. The CAOI has called upon indigenous organizations, social movements and human rights organizations around the world to take concrete action by sending letters to the Peruvian government, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples and other relevant parties to demand an end to the violence and respect for indigenous rights.
A coalition of indigenous, human rights and environmental organizations are urging the Garcia Government to step down and cease violent confrontations by the military.
AIDESEP, the national indigenous organization of Peru has called for a nationwide general strike starting June 11th. Emergency solidarity demonstrations are being scheduled at Peruvian Embassies around the world to coincide with the national actions. For additional information visit theAmazon Watchand AIDESEP websites.
The UCTP flag represents a Unified Taino Nation reaching out in solidarity across the waters in all the sacred directions to our relations on other islands, lands, and beyond. The flag symbol was created for and gifted to the UCTP by artist Marie Crooke.
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Utuado, Borikén (UCTP Taíno News) – Celebrated artist and elder community member, Miguel Angel Guzmán will be featured in a special exhibition honoring his 50 years in the Arts. The exhibition will be held at Galeria Maboití, Museo del Cemi in Cedetra, Jayuya. The exhibit will open on July 2 at 6pm with a musical presentation by Guzmán and a reception. The honorable Georgie Gonzalez, the Mayor of Jayuya will host the event.
