Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, the President of the Santa Rosa Carib Community in the Borough of Arima, Trinidad, recently contested the Arima West constituency as a candidate for the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) during the recent local government elections that took place on Monday, 14 July, 2003. He was elected to a fourth three-year term as the representative of the area which encompasses the Church lands on which the Santa Rosa Carib Community Centre is based.

Following the results of the election, with the PNM winning the Arima Borough once more, Eustace Nancis was appointed as Mayor by the Executive of the PNM, after having been appointed as an alderman (aldermen are not elected as such, nor are mayors--the mayor is chosen by the central executive organ of the party winning the most constituencies). In this process, Ricardo Bharath Hernandez was selected as Deputy Mayor, one of the highest posts ever held in the Arima Borough by a member of the Carib Community, and the highest political post ever held by a leader of the Carib Community. He was chosen on the basis of his long service to his constituency, which includes a Carib-descended minority within a larger mixed and multi-ethnic population, as well as for his service as the leader of the Santa Rosa Carib Community for most of the past thirty years.

In the past, Arima had at least one other Carib, Egbert W. Alleyne, who served from 1971 to 1977. While he was not a formal member of the organized Santa Rosa Carib Community, as Mayor of Arima he was said to have taken great personal interest in the welfare of the group and its annual Santa Rosa Festival. In 1998 he was formally recognized for his service to the Carib Community by the Arima Borough Council during its annual Civic Awards ceremony. Clifford Carrera (see photo at left), a former interim President of the Santa Rosa Carib Community who served as such during the early 1980s, was also active in the Valencia Village Council.

The appointment of Ricardo Bharath Hernandez to the post of Deputy Mayor apparently continues a long tradition of linkage between the Carib Community and local government in Arima, helping the Caribs to project themselves in a manner that is greater than their actual numbers in the Borough.

• On Sunday, 01 June, 2003, the Santa Rosa Carib Community participated in the annual "Best Village Folk Fair", held at the Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain. The event is designed to showcase the arts, crafts and culinary products of the villages and working class neighbourhoods of Trinidad.

• The Santa Rosa Carib Community will be involved in the launch and maintenance of the photographic exhibition recently held at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, which has moved to Port of Spain, Trinidad. According to Ricardo Bharath, the exhibition is scheduled to last approximately two months, starting from the middle of August of 2003. In Trinidad, visitors can go to CCA7 to view the exhibition.

• The Santa Rosa Carib Community is also sending three of its members, headed by Cristo Adonis, to the CARIFESTA VIII celebrations being held this year in Suriname from 24 August to 05 September. Events are being planned that will bring together indigenous representatives from across the Caribbean Basin.

• As always, the end of this month will see the celebration of the annual Santa Rosa Festival in Arima, Trinidad.

On Tuesday, 27 May, 2003, from around 9:00am until almost an hour later, I sat down with Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, the President of the Santa Rosa Carib Community in Arima, Trinidad. We met at the Santa Rosa Carib Centre on Paul Mitchell Street in Arima. The primary topic of this interview is the history of the modern Carib Community's quest for a land base. Both Ricardo and I decided that it would be wise to begin documenting this history and show the process of the Carib Community building up its proposed model village on new lands that they are to acquire from the state (see the December 2002 issue of The CAC Review for the first news of this land grant). In the process, as the village is slowly built up on unihabited lands, we are to begin filming the various stages of development at different stages over the next several years. This interview is an inaugural part of the project.>>>

In the interview text below, my name is abridged with the initial "MF", while Ricardo Bharath is shortened to "RB".

(The interview was recorded on both audio and video tape and is based on questions provided in writing and in advance to Ricardo Bharath.)

Readers interested in the history of how the Caribs of Arima first "lost" their lands, that is, due to illegal expropriations and sales of Amerindian properties that had been legally protected as inalienable, see the report commissioned by the Santa Rosa Carib Community on its official website, titled "How the Caribs of Arima Lost Their Lands".

MF: Let’s summarize the history of the Carib Community’s quest for lands, starting from when you first became active in the Community. What are some of the key details that we should know?

RB: When I got involved in the Community, we did not start at the beginning by seeking land. Our first mission was to stimulate the people [members] once again to be active, to keep the traditions of the Community from dying, because with the influence of other cultures coming in the original culture and traditions that had survived were fast disappearing and being replaced. So we thought that the first mission was to get people interested and educated as to who they are, their culture, and to keep it up. So when we started we found that it was necessary to have space, to have a home—because you could say that we, as a group, had no home. Our first meetings were held at the Carib Queen’s house, at that time Queen Edith Martinez. It came to the point that, because of the numbers of the people, and her home was small, it became difficult to accommodate the people, and for other personal reasons we had to find alternate places. We ended up going to the parish hall. We ended up going to the home of another Arimian. It was becoming a problem because we had no real home. We discovered this site where we now are, which was vacant, a small forest, no houses were here then. We made inquiries and we found that it belonged to the [Santa Rosa Roman Catholic] Church, the land was Church lands. We needed a place for our own centre, our own hall, so we approached the Church at the time, and they gave us permission to occupy a piece of this land in order to erect a Centre. At that time we didn’t have any money so we erected a temporary structure with a thatched roof, where our people could meet. So that’s how it all started.

MF: Can I just interrupt for one second? Who brought this area [the Church lands] to your attention? How did you discover it?

RB: Well, my grandparents, who lived on Calvary [Hill] sold their property on Calvary and bought some land adjacent to these lands. I was living with them at the time and I came here and of course we saw the lands here. We inquired about it and it was discovered that it belonged to the Church, that is how we knew about it. We went to the parish priest who at that time was Father Clarke, and we made a request to occupy a portion to build a temporary structure for the purpose of meetings, for the assembly of our people. That is how it started. We used that as our main meeting place, and from that it developed to what we have today. But still, where we are is still considered to be Church land. We have made official requests through the Archbishop to be given land as a community, and still today that is not yet regularized.

MF: I am not familiar with the laws, but isn’t it the case that after a certain amount of time of living on a piece of land, doesn’t it in fact become yours whether or not you have been given official documents?

RB: I don’t think you can say, “it becomes yours”. There is some law, I am not sure, that says that after you occupy it for a period of time they cannot just put you out. I was told that even by a priest that succeeded Father Clarke, and that was Father Galt—we talked with him quite a lot about getting some kind of security for the land. He said to us, “that is not important, once you occupy a piece of land for a certain period of time, nobody can put you out”. The thing is that it still isn’t yours, you cannot say that it officially belongs to the Community. In a sense then you are still a squatter.

So we realized that in order for this Santa Rosa Carib Community to survive, and for the culture to survive, and to revive what was lost, that land was important for the Community. It is important for a number of reasons. You would like, first of all, for your people to live as a community, in that way it would be easier, we believe, to preserve the traditions that we hold dear to us and seek to preserve. It will be easier in the sense that we can have land to cultivate, to grow the crops that we use, the food such as cassava and corn, and lots of other crops that are indigenous and important for the Community. Access to the forest is important: in the forest you will find most of the indigenous materials that you would need for craft, for house building, roof thatching, medicines that you would need, wild life, and so on.

From early on we sought to acquire land from the government. We went through the normal channels, just as any other citizen. We applied for lands through the Ministry of Agriculture at the time. The process was that you had to identify a piece of land, you had to then go in and make a request. We did that and that went on for a number of years—it was a very frustrating exercise. There was special day—I can’t remember if it was a Wednesday or Thursday—that you had to go in and see the officer who was responsible for the area, so that you can get him to come out to visit the land, see if it is suitable for what you want, and then he would make his recommendation. That went on for years! Most of the times you go you wouldn’t meet the officer; when you did meet him he had some excuse on why he couldn’t come visit the land. When he did come, he said that the land wasn’t suitable for what you want—“try to identify another piece”. And so it went on and on, until we as a Community got fed up with that and we gave up. We gave up.

It was not until recently—when I say recently I mean about the last five or six years—that we decided…to go directly to the head, of the government I mean. The government of the time was that of the United National Congress. It was the first time that we made an official request to the Prime Minister on the question of the land.

MF: What was his answer? That was Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.

RB: His answer was—he came here to the Community Centre, we had a function where we made the request—he agreed in principle that land should be granted to the Community. In principle he agreed. But, of course, there is a process. Again we had to go through that.

MF: When he said that land should be granted, he meant for free, right?

RB: Yes, yes, certainly, because other communities were granted land. I think the Spiritual Baptists and members of the East Indian Community were granted land. And I mean in this case you are talking about the descendants of the first people to settle Trinidad, who actually had lands, that were then taken away from them or they lost them in some way, and now we are seeking to regain—if not the same lands—lands in place for the loss. So in principle he [Prime Minister Panday] agreed. The process started, and we wrote to the Director of Lands and Surveys. At that time nothing much happened, because the government at the time started to enter into internal problems with themselves, so enough attention wasn’t given to our request. So that was delayed for quite a while. Then the PNM [People’s National Movement] came into power, we reapplied. We have seen some progress in terms of reaching the goal of acquiring the land.

MF: This is my interpretation so tell me if I am wrong, but the whole process of seeking lands seems to have led to a kind of transformation in the way the Carib Community was organized, restructuring it as a limited liability company. Is that a result of searching for a state land grant?

RB: Yes, it was a result of trying to acquire lands for the Community. But that became more apparent to us when we claimed a piece of this Church land, and we made a request to the Archbishop to be given land. His instruction or question was if we were “organized” as a community, are we registered, in order for these lands to be passed on to the Community, because the land wouldn’t be given to an individual but it would be given to a community. At that time, we realized, we had to be organized and structure in a way that if we reach the stage of getting the lands, then they can be given to the Community, and not an individual. So we had to organize, and we were advised at the time that the way to register was as a “limited liability company”, which we did. But we never functioned as that structure that they dictated—we never functioned as that—because before that the Community has its own style, its own way of functioning. After a number of years then we wrote and said that we weren’t interested in being registered as a limited liability company. I think even the laws for that went out, so that now we are restructuring and we have written a new constitution, and we are seeking now to be re-registered as a NGO.

MF: The office, the name—I am focusing on the external appearances I guess—but the title of this office of “President” of the Carib Community…doesn’t that come from the time that you had to be registered as a company? You know, “companies have to have presidents”.

RB: Certainly, certainly, that is how it originated.

MF: Because they wanted to know who the “President” was—

RB: Yes, and the “Secretary” and “Treasurer”, the “Trustees”, you know, you must have all these offices.

MF: So how did they then handle the position of “Queen” in those laws?

RB: Well, the Queen was just there as a figurehead—

MF: Was she the “Vice-President”?

RB: No. No. She was not. All these positions had to be elected. You had to have an election every year, I think it was, to fill these positions. Now in our system, the Queen is not elected every year. She remains there as a ceremonial figurehead, and then you had these different offices that you had to fill every year.

MF: So they were applying these laws without really informing themselves about—

RB: --about the history of the Community, that’s right.

MF: Well tell me…you mentioned what your vision was for the use of a land grant at the very beginning, let’s say back in the 1970s, and you talked about using it for cultivating crops, access to wildlife, to the forest, herbal medicines, etc. Over time, over the last thirty years, has your vision changed at all on how you would use that land? Has it developed in any kind of way, or is it the same program?

RB: I would say that it has developed a bit, but basically it remains the same. Basically it remains the same in the sense that the request for the land is to establish what we call an “authentic Amerindian village”—a community of people living together. I want to stress here that the purpose for that is that we see that as a way and as a means for preserving and building the culture and the traditions. When you have people living miles apart, it is very difficult to come together when the time is right for a certain activity. So that if people live in a community, this makes it a whole lot easier for people to practise together the traditions and the culture—that is number one. Number two, we need land to cultivate indigenous crops—cassava, corn—we want to use these crops to create an industry, that we feel our people can gain some sort of employment, bringing some kind of economic benefit to themselves and to the community as a whole. Access to the forest for an indigenous community is important: it is in the forest that we find most of the material that we need for our craft. The forests today in Trinidad are becoming very depleted of that kind of handicraft material, because you find that “development” is taking place at a rapid pace in most of the areas where we used to get our materials for our crafts, it is becoming more and more difficult. So if the Community has access to an area of forest, it can even cultivate it to ensure a regular supply of handicraft material. We want to do some wildlife farming, because wildlife is very important to the indigenous community. In the early days, when we didn’t have laws protecting species from hunting, the Amerindians were free to go and hunt. Today there is a restriction—we really don’t have a problem with the restrictions because at the rate which people are hunting now, pretty soon the wildlife will be extinct. So if we have enough land we can do wildlife farming, whereby we can get the animals we need for our use. The ideas we have for the land have developed in the sense that we are now contemplating putting up buildings so that people can come from the other Amerindian communities [in the Caribbean and overseas] and spend time in the Community, teaching, and exchanging ideas on how they do things, how we do things, and contributing to building the culture. So that this is an addition that we did not envisage in the beginning but which we are now contemplating at this time.

MF: Would the members of this Community here in Arima be living there on that land full time?

RB: The members who so desire—we are not going to force people to go there—it is going to be out of people’s own free will, those who want to live in that setting, contributing to the different activities that we want to introduce, they will be living there full time.

MF: So what will they do with the homes that they currently occupy?

RB: Well if they own their homes, they continue to own them. Probably some relative may live there, I mean, it is their choice what they do with them. They can rent it, it is up to them. That is their personal home. When they go to live in the community, the space that they occupy will not be theirs in the sense of, “this is mine and I can do what I want with it when I feel to do it”, there will be certain restrictions.

MF: How many members seem interested to move up there?

RB: We have about twelve to fifteen families who have indicated that they would like to be relocated and live in that kind of setting.

MF: How has the question of “membership” been affected by the promise of a land grant? Is the land grant for all people of Amerindian ancestry in all of Trinidad? Or is it, more specifically, for actual members of the Arima Carib Community? How is the potential membership and residence on that land to be determined?

RB: At present, this is how we see it: basically, it’s for the members of the Santa Rosa Carib Community. The reason for that is that it is the only established [Amerindian] community in Trinidad. It is a community where people meet regularly and where we come together to do things, we have regular meetings, and so on. Now, it does not mean that somebody of Amerindian descent who does not presently belong to the Carib Community, who doesn’t live in Arima, they may live outside of Arima but they are of Amerindian descent—if at some point in time they become members of the Community and they show an interest in wanting to live there because they like what is happening there and they want to be a part of it…this is my personal view now, I haven’t really fully discussed it at the Community level, but I am not seeing any reason why they should be debarred from being accepted. What we are looking for is people committed to the principle and to the idea of preserving and building the traditions and the culture. If you have someone of Amerindian descent who is not now in the Community, and lives out of the Community, at some point in the future they become so interested and feel this is what they want and want to contribute to, I don’t see a reason why not. But at present, because we don’t have people like that, or we don’t know of people like that out of the Community, it is now just focused on the Santa Rosa Carib Community.

MF: This is a hypothetical question of course, that is, I don’t know that this will happen, and it’s also kind of a political question too. What if seeing that the Carib Community, that is, the formal Santa Rosa Carib Community, is being granted land, what if people in other parts of Trinidad say, “you know, but, I am of Amerindian ancestry too, so where is my land?” And then other people start saying the same thing until it becomes a chain reaction and you find out that 99% of Trinidadians claim Amerindian ancestry, either because they really have it, or because they think this is an easy way to get free land. What do think about this exploding into such a situation?

RB: It could happen, I am not ruling it out, because these things happen. But you see we are going on the basis that the Santa Rosa Carib Community started from a Mission town. It started with the Amerindians who came from the three areas—Caura, Tacarigua and Arouca—and we have some historical information that tells us that land was allocated for this community. Through some way…the land was lost to these people, and they are now like wanderers. They are homeless in a land that was theirs. The people of this Mission of Santa Rosa be given lands in place of what they had lost. For the wider public and population of Trinidad, I don’t know at this point exactly how we are going to deal with it if it ever happens. But at this time we are going forward on the basis of the Mission of Santa Rosa, and what was supposed to be theirs, and was lost, and we are now looking to re-establish that in some way.

MF: Are you concerned about the “slant” that might be placed on this grant of land by certain authorities, that is it being portrayed as you were given land as a favour, as a gift, or others might say that this is a profit-earning resource and it has to be taxed. How do you think that governmental authorities are going to portray this grant of land when they’re speaking to the wider public? How do you think they will explain why this community got this grant of land?

RB: What language do I expect them to use? I don’t know how they will talk about it, but I will expect that it will be given on the basis of our ancestors having inhabited this land, having contributed in many different ways, and the land for the indigenous peoples was vital, it was their home. The early ancestors had no restrictions, they roamed wide and free. It is when the colonizers came and took the island for their respective countries, that you had laws and so on being imposed on people. In other countries where there are indigenous peoples, such as the United States, such as Canada, such as Australia, and I think there are even United Nations declarations on how indigenous people are to be treated as far as land is concerned. Even in Guyana, even in Dominica, there are territories, there was land set aside by the colonizers, by the British, for these people, because the land was theirs—well the land is nobody’s own, it is the Creator’s own—but the fact that they were first, and the importance of the land for their survival, were vital. Those who came and met these people existing and surviving on this land, found it fit to allocate lands to these peoples. In all these places that I just mentioned, in some way, in some form, in some fashion, lands were made available for these people and their survival, so they can have a place of their own to practise their culture, to preserve their culture, in whatever way they want to use it—the governments of the day found a way to make it available to these people. So that in Trinidad, I don’t see what is the reason they can give for it not being the same. The descendants of the first peoples in Trinidad are the last in the society, at the bottom of the society. The East Indians came, the Africans came, their cultures are more preserved and intact that ours. We have suffered more at the hands of the colonizers. For all these reasons I feel it is important for any government that is serious and really caring that they will say, “this portion should be allocated for these people because of the history, because they are remnants of the oldest sector of the society, for the preservation of their culture we feel that it is important that they be given land for their survival”. In these terms they should look at it and it should be afforded to the Community.

MF: What are the remaining stages to go through now before you are to be in final possession of this land?

RB: What remains to be done is that we are now called upon to have the land surveyed. After the land is surveyed, then it’s going to be sent to Cabinet for its approval. These are the last two stages. We received correspondence where the Director of Lands and Surveys is in favour of recommending that lands be given to the Community. They are calling it a “lease”. We are saying we don’t want a “lease”—we have to more meetings with them to talk and find out really under what conditions these lands are going to be given. So the last stages are for the lands to be surveyed, to know the amounts, and then to go to Cabinet for its approval.

MF: What were the first three stages again?

RB: The application, then the inspection, that is, a visit to the site which was done, then to be sent to Town & Country, which was done, and now we are on the last two stages.

MF: What is Town & Country in charge of?

RB: They are to give approval for the project we want to do, and the things we say we want to do with the land, Town & Country approves it.

MF: Let’s say that you receive lands today. What’s the very first thing that you would do on that land? Do you have a list of priorities.

RB: Well the first thing we will do is a ceremony to give thanks for the land [laughs—I interject, “no, I mean in terms of use of the land”]….In terms of use of the land we need infrastructure, it is all virgin territory, so we will need access roads. Right now the way to get on the land is by tracks [trails], and I think if you want to do anything meaningful it means that you must have some kind of infrastructure. Roads in the first instance to have access, and then other facilities, like getting water to the site we are going to occupy—there is water around on the site itself, but depending on where we build we have to get water onto the site itself. Then we are going to map it out and see how we are going to structure the village.

MF: How long do you think it will take before the whole thing is complete?

RB: Well, at the pace it is going…the whole development is going to take some time. The Community doesn’t have any money of its own to develop, to do the kinds of things we have to do. So it means we are going to be heavily dependent on government, the business, the international community, for this kind of development. I think it will take a few years, these kinds of things don’t happen overnight. I am confident and hopeful that government will make the initial start so that other people can follow.

MF: Definitely your planning for all of this to be complete in your lifetime.

RB: No, I don’t see it as being complete in my lifetime, you know, complete complete. At least the infrastructure and the mapping out of the village is in place, and then I can say that I have accomplished my mission. [Loss of audio due to static]

MF: Do you ever hope to see the Santa Rosa Carib Community becoming fully independent?

RB: I would hope so, yes. It is my vision and belief that that day would come. Yes.

MF: In general terms, how do you see the future for the Carib Community?

RB: The land will allow us to set up industries, and provide employment. You will see some of our young people who are unemployed and wandering about, will be interested and will see the benefit. So we are laying the foundation for that. If that doesn’t happen, then everything will be lost.

MF: Is there a name for this complex, this village?

RB: It will have a name, but we have not yet discussed that.

MF: Untl the next phase of our documentation project, perhaps we can leave things here for now. Many thanks again Ricardo for your time.
..

1. Continuing with the issue of the loss of Amerindian lands in Trinidad, the Santa Rosa Carib Community commissioned a historical report from Dr. Maximilian C. Forte in May of 2003 that details and analyzes under what conditions the Amerindians of the Mission of Arima held lands, how they apparently began to lose these lands, and what the implications of these facts are for questions of equity and reparations. The report, available on the official website of the Santa Rosa Carib Community is titled,

HOW THE AMERINDIANS OF ARIMA LOST THEIR LANDS:

Notes from Primary Historical Sources, 1802-1880s.

Available at: http://www.kacike.org/srcc/landreport.html

The report is based on the author's research of treaties, archival documents, primary sources in texts of the time as well as official testimonies given before public commissions. The principal research questions selected were as follow:

• Why did the Amerindians have land?

• How much land did they have and where?

• Under what conditions was the land held?

• How did they lose the land?

• Where did they end up after losing the land?

• Why should they receive compensation?

1. The contents of the report are listed below:
2. Introduction
3. The Historical Background of the Amerindian Mission of Arima
4. The Amerindian Population of the Mission of Arima
5. The Identities of the Amerindians
6. The Legal and Administrative Organisation of the Mission of Arima
   • The Rights of the Amerindians and the Extent of their Lands
   • Evidence of Spanish Laws Enforced as per the Treaty of 1802
7. The Undoing of the Mission and the Alienation of Lands
   • The Political Economic Displacement of a People
8. Asserting the Rights of the Mission as Not Extinguished: The Catholic Church
9. Summary: Key Testimonies
10. Conclusions: Addressing Our Questions

Here are some of the report's main conclusions:

Why did the Amerindians have land?

Lands were given to the Amerindians on the Mission of Arima, in part as compensation for prior lands that were taken from them when they were moved out of the Missions of Caura, Arouca, and Tacarigua.

How much land did they have and where?

1,000 acres bordering on what is now Lord Harris Square. Another 320 acres on the southern slope of Calvary Hill, facing Lord Harris Square.

Under what conditions was the land held?

They held both lands in common as well as private plots allocated to heads of households. The latter lands were to be passed on to their heirs. These lands could not be sold or transferred, by anyone. The landholders were also exempt from taxation.

How did they lose the land?

The illegal penalty of land seizure for failing to show a deed to lands held, or pay taxes on said lands. Amerindians at the time were not literate and often were not even aware of the contents of Government Notices posted in public places in Arima. Lands in some cases were simply seized and put up for sale by the Government. Out of as many as 200 families, only nine (9) were left with their properties in Arima.

Where did they end up after losing the land?

Many moved to squat on lands on Calvary Hill, or in nearby districts where cocoa was grown, whether in the Northern Range, or in places such as Tumpuna (now San Rafael), Talparo, Aripo, Rio Claro, and places along the Central Range.

Why should they receive compensation?

They never should have lost these lands to start with. The British Government in Trinidad simply violated the terms of the Treaty of Amiens which it had signed with the Spanish Crown. On the grounds of basic justice, aboriginals and their descendants should have access to natural resources as was their birthright, in this the only nation which they have ever possessed.

In conclusion, Amerindian rights to land were never lawfully extinguished, and rarely were they yielded voluntarily. Even in cases where Amerindians sold their lands, those actions too were illegal. In addition, the Mission of Santa Rosa de Arima was never abrogated under any law. Colonial governments’ recognition of the rights of the Church of Santa Rosa de Arima to select lands in Arima imply recognition of rights that preceded the British conquest, nullifying the ‘terra nullius’ position adopted by some Colonial officers. This inevitably entails at least tacit recognition that where the rights of the Church were being recognised and validated by the Government of the Crown Colony, so too must it recognise the rights of the Mission Amerindians, as the rights of the Church were staked out and rooted within the history of the Mission itself. Two parties constituted the Mission: the Church and the Amerindians. The recognition of the land rights of one necessitates the recognition of the land rights of the other. So far, only the Church has been successful in having its rights recognised, unsurprisingly given its local power as a prominent social institution. The fact that the rights of the Church were formally recognised, as in the case of the park in Lord Harris Square, also meant that Colonial Government accepted the bases on which the claim was made, rooted in the oral history of elderly Amerindians of the Mission. This sets the precedent for accepting oral history by third party witnesses as a valid evidentiary basis for settling land disputes in Trinidad. As the post-1962 Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has inherited the institutional arrangements, treaty obligations, and in many cases the laws bequeathed by the British Crown, the historical irony may be that it has also inherited the duty to compensate victims of unjust and unlawful land seizures that have targeted and discriminated against an entire people. I am not aware of any reasons why the current Government of the United Kingdom should be exempted from making compensation, offering restitution, or paying reparations to the descendant families of Amerindians in Trinidad, who possessed lands under the Spanish Crown and then lost them completely under the British Crown. This reality is in stark contrast to what the British Crown itself set in place to protect the landholdings of aboriginal communities in Dominica in 1903 and in Guyana in 1910. The failure of post-colonial governments to negotiate these rights on attaining Independence does not necessarily mean, as far as I can ascertain, that the rights themselves are null and void. Compensation can be determined and measured in many different ways, though I suspect that most would expect that all 1,320 acres should be returned, if not more given natural population growth, as well as compensation for lost income for the period in which such lands were not held by their rightful heirs, free of taxation.
 

2. Janette Bulkan Forte has produced a detailed and extensive review essay covering the recently published Atlas of the Languages of Suriname, edited by Eithne B. Carlin and Jacques Arends, and published by KITLV Press, in Leiden, The Netherlands (ISBN 90 6718 196 X.  Price: 37.50 Euros). The review, following the text, has a considerable amount of material on the socio-linguistic situation of contemporary Amerindian languages in Suriname that should prove valuable to anyone with an interest in the surviving aboriginal languages of the Caribbean Basin. In addition, as with the text itself, the review discusses the complex multi-lingual situation of contemporary Suriname. Janette Forte is a current editor with Kacike: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology as well as an editor with the Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink. She is a noted anthropological specialist on Guyana, with training in linguistics. Janette's review essay is available at:

http://www.kacike.org/ForteAtlas.htm
...

In the May 2003 issue of The CAC Review, we presented news sent to us from Cheryl Kolander concerning the distressing possibility of lands currently occupied by Taino-descended families being sold for a tourist development, the lack of those families' access to formal titles to their lands, and the possibility of setting up an alternative development project. We were originally contacted in the latter half of 2002. Unfortunately, a year later, not much has changed, as Cheryl Kolander explains in her report below. Many thanks to Cheryl for including some photographs of the individuals at the heart of her report.

Indigenous life in Quesqueya in peril.

By Cheryl Kolander

July 2003

E-mail: cheryl@aurorasilk.com

The last remaining indigenous lifestyle native group on the North coast of the Dominican Republic may be about to go extinct.

The land upon which their community has lived for uncounted generations is in the hands of the Central Bank of the government. They have been trying to sell it for tourist development for many years. Two years ago we proposed an amazing business solution to solve the problem of land value and native occupancy by forming an international production and marketing co-operation, with the banks’ cooperation, but no investment. Our plan would give both employment and land rights to the rather large village called Boca Nueva, (3,000 souls and growing, mostly one large intermixed family of native descendants), as well we proposed a preserve of the natural area of dune ecology  (no dune ecology is protected in that entire island – Columbus’ first colony). And we would protect the natural, traditional living community known as Los Cocos.

Some young men playing music at a fiesta in Los Cocos. Below, a traditional kitchen.

Photos courtesy of Cheryl Kolander.

We hope the bank will recognize the land rights of these “poor”.  We understand the national Supreme Court has mandated that all such villages receive the right to buy their house lots and hold title and a future in them.  These villages are the expansions of company towns that were allowed to grow on unusable land, as cheap housing for the workers for the sugar mills.  However, to our face, bank officials have told us of their plan to move everybody off the land and into cement block, small apartments on a yet to be developed tiny parcel of land near the nearest small town.  No trees, improvements nor land will be compensated for, so the people will lose all contact with the earth and any ability to grow food to feed themselves.  Note, there is no employment and no money in this region.  What little tourism there is produces money only for the European or rich Dominican resort owners.

The people of Boca Nueva – Los Cocos have no resources to fight this injustice. We do not even know when the meeting will be, to announce the future or the destruction of all these people, their community culture, and the remnant of the native (Taino) lifestyle that yet remains alive and ”merengue-ing” at Los Cocos.

Even if the people are granted the right to buy their house-lots, the bank’s plan almost certainly will still call for parceling and destruction of the currently still intact natural area and its few remaining natural living native households.  A living heritage will be lost to the world, and especially to all who care about the gentle, natural ways and knowledge of the first peoples of these islands.

I do not know if there is anything you can do; but at the very least, please alert people to the probable imminent destruction of one of the very last remnants of the peaceful and cooperative culture that was the native culture of most of the Caribbean.

Appeal composed by Cheryl Kolander de Pérez, on behalf of the Pérez-Brito family of Los Cocos – Boca Nueva.  Date June 28, 2003.  Expected announcement by bank: July 15, 2003.   *Banco Central, Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana.

Photographs © Cheryl Kolander, 2003. All Rights Reserved.
....

According to a July 11, 2003, Stabroek News report, the Guyanese Amerindian People's Association (APA) denounced Robeson Benn, the director of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), for seemingly defending environmental degradation in the Mazaruni River. Spokespersons for the APA argued that dredging operations in the Upper Mazaruni area have resulted in the creation of sandbanks that make river navigation difficult if not perilous. Yet Benn argued that even without the dredging operations, sandbanks would still be moving down river. The APA condemned the comment as tantamount to a defense of the environmental degradation of the area. The dredges are caused, the APA states, by unlicensed mining operations in the area, which cause the build-up of tailings and water contamination as well, this according to Toshao [Chief] Anderson Hastings of Kako and former Toshao Lawrence Anselmo of Paruima, Upper Mazaruni.

APA leaders said that many complaints in writing have been sent to Prime Minister Sam Hinds and the GGMC by residents of some of the communities affected by the mining operations. The APA said the problem of navigation was also highlighted, but despite the many pleas, not much has been done to address their concerns.

 

One APA spokesperson explained the problem as follows: "It is not common to see sandbanks building up in the middle of the river in a short space of time and disrupting navigation. Our ancestors have navigated this river for centuries without playing hide and seek with numerous sandbanks. These sandbanks are created by mining activities in the form of tailings. The river does not remain high throughout the year and therefore, tailings cause even more inconvenience for those of us travelling by river during the dry season. The truth is that miners do not comply with the regulations".

 

APA leaders exclaimed that Benn's response that miners should regulate themselves was an exercise in complete futility, according to the report, since most miners did not live in the area, and therefore it was unlikely that the environmental destruction and threats to lives caused by their operations would matter to them.

 

In a statement, the APA said: "We live there and observe the way these miners operate. If Mr Benn should spend six months in the Mazaruni, camouflage his identity and have a look at the way miners behave, he would think differently. Communities have made recommendations to the GGMC in the past as to how to deal with the mining problems. We have asked that community members be trained to do the monitoring of activities ourselves. While this was accepted, it seems as though this idea is shelved somewhere. In the meantime, more huge dredging equipment is being permitted by the GGMC to work in the Mazaruni River to the detriment of the surrounding communities. Meetings with GGMC, Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and the Prime Minister have not yielded fruit. We challenge the Commissioner to carry out his responsibilities in a responsible and humanitarian manner. Being the Commissioner responsible for mining means that you are also responsible for the well-being of all those involved in and affected by the effects of mining".

Brazilian Miners from the Amazon entering Guyana, illegally and otherwise, and receive praises from the head of the Geology and Mines Commission.

In the meantime, Robeson Benn of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission revealed that he expects more investment in the local economy to arise from the transport and utilization of mining equipment by Brazilian miners entering Guyana through the use of the Guyana-Brazil road.

At present, foreign nationals transport their equipment to Guyana via sea for small and medium scale mining operations. Benn argued in a recent interview with the Government Information Agency: "We have to recognize the presence of the non-nationals as a representation of foreign exchange into Guyana". Clearly then, the GGMC director is showing a friendly bias in favour of foreign and especially Brazilian miners, many of whom are in Guyana illegally.

Benn estimated investments made into the local economy by the Brazilian miners between US$10M to US$15M over the past few years. Guyana's increased revenues from diamond mining over the past two years have also been linked to the presence of Brazilian miners whose employment of new technology has yielded positive results, according to Benn.

Benn added that because of Guyana’s porous borders it might always be inevitable that persons will enter the country in an unregulated fashion, but he confirmed that some 15 to 20 non-nationals are currently at various stages of being documented.

The GGMC Commissioner noted that work permits and accompanying documentation were originally intended for use by non-nationals upon their arrival through the regular port of entry, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. However, he explained, because of Guyana's close proximity to Brazil by virtue of the Lethem trail, a significant number of Brazilian miners come into the country to work in the diamond field.

"There are a number of persons who are at various stages of regularisation in terms of documentation", Benn disclosed, adding that if a person moves from one mining district to another, his mining privilege has to be changed. Benn also said that the GGMC and the Ministry of Home Affairs are continuously engaged in regularisation exercises to ensure the proper documentation of non-nationals working in the minefields.

Yet, Benn noted, expulsion is the most severe sanction legal authorities could implement against undocumented non-nationals, suggesting that this only be done as last resort since this would damage the mining industry.

In the meantime, a high-level team from the Ministry of Home Affairs and technical officers from agencies charged with establishing the physical infrastructure of the Guyana/Brazil Road Transport Agreement recently visited Lethem to examine the Lethem-to-Linden road project, according to the Government Information Agency. The visit represents part of this country’s efforts towards the implementation of the Guyana-Brazil Road Transport Agreement which will govern the movement of goods and people between the two countries following the completion of the road.

Toshaos form development council
 

According to a May 31, 2003, report in the Stabroek News, a National Toshaos Council (NTC) has been established to represent Amerindians. In addition, it established a framework for the development of indigenous communities. Village leaders and Toshaos met at the Lake Mainstay Resort on the Essequibo Coast for three days to discuss a number of issues affecting Amerindians.

 

Colin Andrews, Toshao for Region 5, spoke at news conference at the Carter Centre in Georgetown, and explained that the aim of the new NTC is to represent the interests of indigenous peoples and to promote their development. According to the report, he added that the aim of the NTC should be realized "in collaboration with local, national and international institutions and organisations in an equitable manner that provides continuous social, cultural, economic and ecological benefits".

 

Toney James, a Toshao of Region 9, said the conference was well-attended, with over 100 Toshaos gathered for the event. The formation of the NTC was one of the recommendations inscribed in the Amerindian Act (see: http://www.sdnp.org.gy/apa/topic7.htm).

 

The new terms of reference for the NTC state that it will seek to provide and facilitate the training and education of Toshaos and village councillors in their roles and functions. Colin Andrews stated that over the past years some Toshaos have been unable to carry out their duties due to the lack of basic skills, according to the SN report. The NTC will therefore act to provide and facilitate access to modern technology for the Amerindian communities, to serve as a dispute resolution body and to help promote and protect the preservation of indigenous culture. In addition, the NTC will appoint individuals to the Indigenous People's Commission, as well as providing links between donor or development agencies and indigenous communities. The NTC will also monitor village council elections.

 

At the moment the NTC does not have a fixed or organized structure, but the Toshaos are hoping to meet very soon to elect officers to serve at the executive level of the council. The elected members of the NTC include Toshaos from all of the regions. The Toshaos elected to serve on the NTC by region are: Region One in the Mabaruma sub district, Toshaos Andrew Ramascindo, Mark Atkinson, Moruca sub district and there is one vacant spot for a Toshao at Port Kaituma. Region Two: Yvonne Pearson and Thomas Charles; Region Three there is a vacancy; Region Four David Simon; Region Five Colin Andrews; Region Six, Ann Vantrompe; Region Seven there are three vacancies; Region Eight, Noel Thomas, Bruno Martin and Sylvester Joseph; Region Nine, Wilson Laurentino, Tony James and Zachariah Norman and Region Ten, Salome Henry and Frank Macedo.

 

At the conference some Toshaos were also sworn in as Justices of the Peace and Rural Constables. James told the media that financial support for the effective running of the NTC would come mainly from the various communities, Amerindian NGOs, donor agencies and the government through the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs. James added that the establishment of the NTC provides a rare opportunity for indigenous people to be more involved in national life, in the words of the SN report.

Under Fire, World Bank Launches Indigenous Peoples Fund

According to Thalif Deen in a May 13 report published by Inter Press Service, the World Bank has created a fund to provide small grants for indigenous peoples' development projects. This comes after years if not decades of indigenous peoples condemning and protesting World Bank financing of mega schemes that have ruined aboriginal lands and the environment in which they live.

The new fund is called the "Grants Facility for Indigenous Peoples" and consists of a relatively modest total of $700,000 US. The fund came into being in June of this year. According to Deen, World Bank Vice President Ian Johnson claimed that the fund is "symbolic of our relationship with indigenous peoples", and the aim is to build "partnerships" with indigenous peoples.

In response to critical questions concerning the World Bank's history of funding large-scale development schemes designed to extract natural resources from many areas inhabited by indigenous peoples, the Bank VP could only say: "We don't have a perfect record, but we do have a good track record."

The World Bank plans to offer $150,000 to the recently instituted UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Members of the Permanent Forum had yet to respond to, let alone accept, the World Bank's offer at the time of Deen's report.

One issue that may prove to be a sticking point, according to the report, is whether or not indigenous peoples will have any control over the fund, or whether the fund will be solely administered by World Bank officers. In addition, even if an indigenous body were to accept financing for a project approved by the World Bank, the offer would still have to be approved by a national government. Given that in most parts of the world indigenous peoples and states have less than a cordial relationship, this issue may prove to be much more than a mere sticking point.

The World Bank plans to seek contributions to the fund from donor nations. The aim is to provide, on average, $30,000 per project. Recipients of loans would be expected to make a cash, or in-kind contribution of a minimum of 20% of a given project's cost.

Ian Johnson also claimed that the fund will be governed by an "advisory board" of indigenous leaders, donor agencies, governments, representatives of the Permanent Forum and the World Bank. What the limits on the role of such a board would be, or how voting would be weighted remains unclear. However, Johnson stated that the desire of the Bank is to play a "supporting role at a critical moment in the evolution of the worldwide indigenous peoples movement"..

Another interesting and probably contentious feature of the fund is that it is designed to support indigenous peoples' projects in "a culturally appropriate and gender-inclusive manner". Apparently Bank officers have not yet realized, or wish to sideline, the fact that notions of "gender inclusivity" seen from one perspective may not in fact be "culturally appropriate" from the perspective of a given aboriginal community.

To date, the only other financing facility for indigenous peoples has been the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations. The Chair of that fund, Vicky Tauli Corpuz, told Deen that the fund has helped provide much-needed visibility to indigenous peoples in the UN system, with an optimistic evaluation that fund demonstrated evidence of a growing partnership between governments and indigenous peoples, according to Deen.

What Deen's report left unaddressed was the question of what is meant by "development" in the context of indigenous cultures, who gets to define what constitutes an indigenous "development" project, and what the effect will be of further incorporating indigenous peoples into a global cash economy when they will be required to earn monetary revenues in order to repay their grants.
...

In May of 2003 the CAC received several e-mails from Dulph Mitchell, the General Secretary of the Archipelago Movement for Ethnic Native Self-Determination on the Caribbean island of San Andrés which is claimed by Colombia. The message is at once very distressing and urgent. The main forces at work appear to be the forced assimilation of indigenous residents of the territory into the national culture of an occupying power they view as illegitimate; the militarization of their territory; and, the possibility of the area's indigenous peoples being thrust into the cross-fire between two states, each with territorial ambitions where the island is concerned. As Mr. Mitchell is quite effective at presenting his case, the main text of his messages are simply reproduced below.

1. Carlalynne Melendez, Anthropology PhD at the State University of New York at Binghamton, has produced a voluminous and richly informative website that primarily concerns culture, health and environment with special reference to the Dominican Republic. Caralynne describes the site as follows:

"The site forms part of my PhD dissertation which was completed on 1/10/03. This multidisciplinary study embraces methods emerging  from anthropology, geography, epidemiology and environmental health. It examines how the combination of biogeophysical processes, cultural (behavioral) patterns, and  socioeconomic structures influence pesticide exposure in four rural communities in the Constanza intermountain region, Dominican Republic."

CAC readers will be especially interested in Caralynne's materials devoted to the question of Taíno history and identity in the Dominican Republic. In particular see: "Cemies, Ceremonial Parks and DNA: The Creation of a Taino Identity in Boriquen and the Cibao, Dominican Republic", available at http://anthro.binghamton.edu/graduates/cmelendez/BoricuaCibao.htm.

Carlalynne has also provided a very well structured list of significant links related to the Cibao, Boriquen, and other Taino-related materials, in addition to a valuable list of published references.

2. NACIÓN TAÍNA DE LAS ANTILLAS (Taíno Wara-a Bawakén/Taino Nation of the Antilles), has launched its new Website in the last months. The Taino Nation describes its purposes as follows: "the mission of the Taíno Wara-a Bawakén...since the proclamation of the restoration has been to organize, educate and advocate for all Taíno people". The Website allows individuals to be enrolled in a registry of Taino ethnicity, if applicable. In addition the Website allows visitors to participate in a discussion forum. Contact information, both postal and e-mail is also provided. We look forward to seeing this site develop over the next months as it represents one of the older and longest-standing Taino bodies. For now, the Website largely remains under construction, yet with a few important statements affirming Taino survival and revival.

3. Though a little out of the geographic range of the CAC, readers may be interested in knowing that there is a new Chilean Indigenous People Portal at http://www.beingindigenous.org. This resource may also be significant for CAC readers in that Chilean aboriginals, like their Caribbean counterparts, have been relatively neglected and marginal in the mainstream media and social scientific studies of the Southern Cone. The authors of the site describe its purpose and nature as follows:

"The main goal is to promote the cultural Indigenous customs and values, showing the spiritual, artistic and cultural production, through articles and features. This project is supported by Chilean Indigenous People Department under The Ministry of Culture of Chile - MINEDUC. In our Portal, available in English and Spanish, we have include useful information, like historical and cultural information about Aymara's, Kolla's, Rapa Nui's, Diaguitas's, Mapuche's, Selknam's etc., Native Languages Dictionaries, Digital Books, Music, Video and a interesting directory of web links. It's our special interest to give you any support about Chilean Indigenous People Issues, so do not hesitate to contact us. We have news every month and if you want to stay up dated we suggest you to subscribe to our monthly Newsletter at:
http://www.beingindigenous.org/index_english/subscribe/mailinglist.htm".

4. UNESCO has also developed a useful Web resource titled the UNESCO Libraries Portal, with over 10,000 links to a wide range of regional, cultural and heritage information world-wide. It can be accessed at http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_bib/. The organization of such a large site, like all large sites, was clearly based on a choice between one of two options: a) place as many of the categories and topics on the front page as possible, or, b) reduce the number of categories listed on the front to the basic minimum and thus hide much of what is to be offered with the hope that visitors will know how to search the site. The site designers opted for the latter choice and thus for those of you interested in the Caribbean, I suggest that you simply click on "Caribbean" on the small world map provided on the front page of the portal.

5. SOSIG--the UK's very large and comprehensive Social Science Information Gateway, available at http://www.sosig.ac.uk/, will prove to be an indispensable information resource for researchers wishing to undertake serious investigation of all possible social science materials, incorporating a wide range of disciplines, on all areas of the world. One will find links to essays, films, books, courses, academic CVs, Websites, conferences, and much more.
...

In response to an item by Max Forte appearing in the February 2002 interview with Dr. Albert de Terville that appeared in The CAC Review, one kind and attentive reader--Keisha Josephs--wrote the following:

I was reading your site and I noticed that in the February 2002 issue of the CAC Review there is an interview with Dr. Albert DeTerville, in which the interviewer  states, "I also see that when the Gli-Gli Carib canoe from Dominica stopped in Saint Lucia early in May of 1997, there was no mention of meeting local Caribs. You yourself are a Saint Lucian—what can you tell us about Indigenous Peoples in these territories? " However on the Carib Canoe Project website, on Day 10, May 22 it is written:

 

"After stopping in Vieux Fort, we had an inspiring visit to the Carib pottery makers on the south west tip of the Island. They demonstrated their ancient techniques amongst beautiful wattle daub (wickerwork plastered with mud or clay) huts. To make their pots, they dig, clean and pound the clay on the spot at their pottery studio and at once handbuilt them (no pottery wheel). The pots are then dried and burnished - ready to be fired in an open fire. The older mixed-blood Caribs in this community were happy to meet their fellow tribesmen and had much to talk about. We found out that they had once been great canoe builders (though there is not a tree in sight these days). They passed on useful advice about sailing across the channel to St. Vincent and warned us of the strong currents coming down from Vieux Fort. It was hard to leave them. That evening we bathed by moonlight in the incredible hot springs under the Pitons. - completing the magic of our stay in St. Lucia." (http://www.avirtualdominica.com/gligli/leg2.htm).

I am thankful for this correction and apologize to anyone who may have been impacted negatively by this mistake.

--Maximilian . Forte

The Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink is now providing space for individuals and organizations to host their websites, free of charge. Websites must be primarily about Caribbean aboriginal issues, widely conceived.

The primary aim of this offer is to aid those individuals and communities in what are termed “lesser developed countries” (LDCs) who do not have personal access to the Internet, a computer, or maybe even a telephone and electricity. Most indigenous communities in the Caribbean lack many of these resources, and therefore their presence on the Web is generally limited or non-existent. We wish to redress this severe imbalance in whatever limited way we can.

As a result, we place a low priority on sites submitted by individuals or organizations based in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom.

However, we do place a high priority on pages submitted by students and scholars, if their pages meet the criteria set out on the introductory page for the service, and if their pages are of significant scholarly value.

In return for assistance and three megabytes or more of free space, users will be required to observe the following list of limitations:

1. Purely or primarily personal pages will not be accepted.
2. Pages that include offensive, libellous, and plagiarized content will not be hosted.
3. Sites making outlandish claims, or that lack verifiability and conscientious attention to accuracy and honesty, will not be accepted.
4. Sites with commercial content, or a commercial orientation, will not be accepted.
5. Gateway sites will not be accepted.
6. Hosting priority will be given to websites from applicants based in the following territories:

• Belize

• Cuba

• Jamaica

• Puerto Rico

• Haiti

• Dominican Republic

• Dominica

• St. Vincent and the Grenadines

• Trinidad and Tobago

• Venezuela

• Guyana

• Suriname

• French Guiana

• Other Caribbean or Central American territories

7. Further hosting priority will be given to websites for organizations, over those of private individuals.
8. Content must be serious, original, and a significant contribution to Web-based knowledge about either the history, societies, cultures, arts, and/or religions of Caribbean aboriginals.
9. Websites must be either in English, French, Spanish or Dutch, either as a primary language or in a translated version of the site if it is in an aboriginal language.
10. Websites cannot exceed 3 megabytes.
11. Websites must be submitted either in HTML format, or as HTML code in a plain text file.
12. If at any time your site fails to meet these criteria, CAC Editors reserve the right to delete your site without notice.
13. In the case of organizations, we will require complete verification of your identity.
14. In the case of individuals, we will require verifiable personal information: a home address, telephone number, full name, and any other requirements that we may stipulate.

For more information see,

FREE WEB HOSTING AT THE CAC

or contact the editor responsible at:

mcforte@kacike.org, or, carindianlink@yahoo.com

Always use descriptive and specific subject headings, or you risk that your e-mail will be automatically deleted as spam.
.