Maroons, Indigenous Peoples, and Self-Determination: The 13th Annual Charles Town Maroon Conference

 

On Thursday, June 24, 2021, I was honoured to participate (by virtual means) in the 13th Annual International Charles Town Maroon Conference and Festival. My presentation focused on The State, the Church, and Indigenous Self-Determination in Trinidad & Tobago. You can listen to the audio file of the spoken presentation, or watch the video presentation of the proceedings below. The conference program follows next.

The purpose of the presentation was to outline both the advances and successes of the work done over the past four decades (45 years) by the leadership of the Carib Community in seeking greater national visibility, official recognition, and a land grant. At the same time, I discuss some of the constraints that have been imposed by the Community's relationships with both the state and the Catholic Church. This information can be used to reflect on the strategy of trying to build autonomy at the same time as leading a cultural resurgence, in the absence of significant economic resources.

13th Annual International Charles Town Maroon Conference Programme - June 23 and 24, 2021 by Maximilian Forte on Scribd

Trinidad Caribs Inaugurate New Queen

Republished from:
NEWSDAY, October 13, 2019

Caribs crown queen Nona
First Peoples conduct ceremony in Arima

by Janelle De Souza, with photos from Ayanna Kinsale

Carib royalty: Nona López Calderón Galera Moreno Aquan is regal, during her inauguration as the new Carib Queen in the Carib Centre on Paul Mitchell Street, Arima.

It was a very emotional moment for 63-year-old Nona Aquan when she was inaugurated as the new Carib Queen.

The indigenous ceremony took place yesterday at the Carib Centre, Arima, in the presence of First Peoples and political dignitaries alike.

Aquan, full name Nona Lopez Calderon Galera Moreno Aquan, shook, cried and smiled in her seat as she was surrounded and blessed by pyai (shamans or religious leaders) from TT, Suriname, Guyana, Guatemala, and Guyana. She, along with First Peoples chief Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez, will work together for the leadership and upliftment of TT’s indigenous people.

The ceremony started with Aquan cleansing her face and hands with consecrated water before seating herself on a chair at the centre of a large carat shed as Bharath-Hernandez explained the history of the institution of the Carib Queen.

He said the mission of Santa Rosa was established for the First Peoples but some Spanish people, and eventually others, settled and ‘mixed’ with them. He said while the chiefs had the authority there was always a female elder who would be their Keeper of Traditions. However, in the 1800s there was a crisis in the male leadership and so the Carib Queen was sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church.

Carib Queen Nona Lopez Calderon Galera Moreno Aquan receives her blessings from 100-year-old-Moruga Chief Paul Navarro during her inauguration at the Carib Centre, Paul Mitchell Street, Arima

Aquan was then blessed by the pyai. The smoke of incense and tobacco filled the air as the pyai, including 100-year-old Moruga Chief, Paul Navarro, prayed to the great spirits in their native languages, and blessed her by wafting and blowing the smoke in her face and on her body.

During the blessing by the Suriname contingent, the queen’s headdress was placed upon her head. She was then invested with special beads and a cape before several First People’s women held sacred palm branches over her head and sang spiritual songs in tribute to the queen.

Explaining the symbolism of the branches, Bharath-Hernandez said when Jesus was born and King Herod pursued the family as they fled, palm branches fell on Mary to hide her from her attackers. Therefore the branches was a symbol of protection.

For the last part of the ceremony, Aquan knelt in front of her mother to receive her blessing – a kiss on the forehead.

With tears in her eyes, Aquan told members of the media she was touched and overwhelmed to see and feel her connection to all the indigenous people in TT and abroad. In between numerous hugs, congratulations, and well-wishing, she thanked her relatives, friends and all other supporters for being at the ceremony.

Asked what she planned to work on as queen she said, 

“I want to see more things for the youth... get them more involved with the community because we are stronger in numbers. I think they should have a daycare for young mothers. There are a lot of aunties at home, providing (care) so the younger ones can go out and be comfortable.”

Carib Queen Nona Lopez Calderon Galera Moreno Aquan, right, dances with guests at her inauguration held at the Carib Centre, Paul Mitchell Street, Arima on October 12.

Arima Mayor Lisa Morris-Julian attended the ceremony. She said, 

“I am extremely proud. I love how the First Peoples took something so colonial and made it so much theirs. The queen of the First Peoples is not just a title. She’s going to be responsible for so many things in our community, keeping the children of the community alive, so I am very happy.”

There to witness the event were Permanent Representative to the UN, Pennelope Beckles; former culture minister Joan Yuille-Williams; Toco/Sangre Grande Regional Corporation chairman Terry Rondon; PNM PRO, Laurel Lezama-Lee Sing; and former minister of national diversity and social integration, Dr Roger Samuel. Also in attendance were visitors from the US, Belize, Dominica, and Japan.

The indigenous ceremony was followed by an inauguration mass at Santa Rosa RC Church, Arima.

Colonial Myth-Making and the Mission of Santa Rosa de Arima, Trinidad

Was the Arima Mission an “Indian Mission”? For what purposes, and in whose interests, was the Arima Mission established? How many Indigenous people lived in the Arima Mission, and in Trinidad as a whole? Who counted them? How were they counted, and why? Why did Arima come to be seen as a centre of Indigenous culture in Trinidad? Exactly how did the Amerindians “vanish” from the Mission? What “secrets” are revealed by the Baptismal Registers about the nature and impact of the Christian “civilizing mission”?

When under Spanish colonial rule the authorities approved the Catholic Church’s plans for building mission towns in Trinidad, it was as part of dual commercial and counterinsurgency strategy. Mission towns were established in the early to mid-1700s, in an effort to “pacify” the Amerindian population, and to incorporate Amerindians into profitable, market-oriented activities. Missions were multi-pronged: they combined religious, political, economic, and military objectives. While cocoa production increased under the direction of missionaries, and would eventually become a lucrative commodity destined for export, the missions had limited or mixed results on the other fronts. The missions were subject to attacks from Amerindians outside of the missions, and were subject to internal resistance, outright rebellions, and flight of the Indigenous population.

Myths

Among the many things that we learned from studying the primary sources and the baptismal records of the Arima Mission are that certain myths (working fictions) have been in operation and, like all good myths, they are contradicted by documentary evidence. The primary myths include the following:

1. The myth of the Mission as a form of racial segregation and exclusion;
2. The myth of protection of the Amerindians by the authorities;
3. The myth of the vanishing Amerindians; and,
4. The myth of successful assimilation and Christian indoctrination.

Let's start by looking at myth #3, one of the most popular, influential, and enduring because it has been institutionalized.

Extinction via Miscegenation

Extinction via miscegenation was the dominant and thus standard mode of rhetorically displacing Arima’s Amerindians (see Forte, 2013). This idea, that Amerindians became “extinct” by virtue of forming unions with members of other racial/ethnic groups, amounted to the most common and thus most taken for granted “explanation” that was widely reproduced in the literature on Trinidad in the 19^th and even the 20^th centuries. Writers of local histories, memoirs, and travel books reflected what was ultimately state policy: the Mission was only for those persons who were “pure” Indians. Any mixed offspring would lose the right (and the obligation) to reside in the Mission. This policy was succinctly explained by the corregidor of the Mission, Martin Sorzano, in testimony before the Burnley Commission on July 16, 1841. In response to the commissioner’s question, “To what, then, do you ascribe the gradual and rapid diminution in their number?” Sorzano replied:

“Chiefly to the gradual mixture of the races. As pure Indians they were compelled to remain at the mission, and conform to the regulations; but the children born of Spanish and Creole fathers could not be so classed, and would not submit to the restraint of remaining there”. (Burnley, 1842, p. 109)

As a fundamentally racial narrative, the idea of extinction via miscegenation found favour with colonial élites who has busied themselves with formulating and then disseminating—even legislating—the racial ordering of the working class in Trinidad, especially as material questions of rights to property and free labour were determined by such an ordering. Governor Woodford instructed Captain William Wright, on the latter taking charge of the Mission, to do as follows with the Indian residents: “You will then proceed to make a return of them by families, shewing their lineage or descent as well as their trades, and if intermixed with other than Indian blood” (quoted in Fraser, 1971[1896], p. 104). Dating from the earliest years of British colonization in Trinidad, an English writer described Mission Indians in one of the earliest recorded instances of the racial extinctionist theme: 

“Some of the Peons are Indians of South America,—others are the mongrel offspring of the white Spaniard and Indian, the Indian and Negro, or the progeny of any of them, united in such varieties of shade, as almost to have effaced the traits of the aboriginees [sic]. But there are many of the true Indians to be seen, at the different Indian villages, or missions”. (Letter to the Duke of Portland, 1807, p. 60)

One of the first and most prominent local history volumes was that authored by E.L. Joseph in 1838, which is a valuable source of insights into élite thinking of the time, and a source of tremendous misinformation as well. In one notable passage on this topic of race and indigenous identity, Joseph wrote the following:

“This indolent harmless race is here fast merging on extinction – from no fault of the local government, nor from any disease: the births amongst the Indian women exceed the deaths in the usual ratio; the fact is, that the Indian men, since they are obliged to live in society, choose mates of other races, and the women do the same (Mr. Coleridge was misinformed when he stated that the Indians will not intermarry with other races), hence out of every seven children born of an Indian mother during the last 30 years, there are scarcely two of pure blood, as I have been informed; this will of course decrease their population; for those of the mixed race, whether they be Samboes (between Negroes and Indians), or Mustees (between Europeans and Indians), or the countless castes that the admixture between the African, European, and Indian tribes produce, they are not the real aboriginal race, and leave the inactive community of Indians as soon as they reach the age of discretion”. (1970[1838], pp. 102–103)

As if to concretely prove Joseph’s adherence to plainly racial paradigms, he cited in one passage the argument that the Amerindian cranium “is uniformly superior to the cranium of a negro, whose powers of mind are as much inferior to those of the Indian, as those of the latter to the powers of the European” (1970[1838], p. 121).

Extinction via miscegenation as a narrative was as enduring as it was influential. The “approximate extinction” of the Amerindians, through the process of inter-marriage, was a concept used by De Verteuil (1858, p. 172). One travel writer asserted, presumably on the basis of what he was told by his hosts, that by 1797, “probably many of them [Indians] had been absorbed by intermarriage with the invaders. At present, there is hardly an Indian of certainly pure blood in the island, and that only in the northern mountains” (Kingsley, 1877, p. 74). Several decades after Joseph, Fr. Cothonay wrote, “The inhabitants of this earthly paradise are not in effect Indians….they are descendants of the Spaniards, more or less mixed with the Indians [Amerindians] and the blacks” (1893, pp. 241–242).

However, much is missed if we take sources at face value. On the one hand we are told that the Arima Mission was something of an exclusive racial zone designed to preserve Indian purity: thus Harricharan (1983, p. 22) asserts that priests “prohibited ‘mission’ Indians from contact with ‘bush’ Indians, Negro slaves, mestizos or other Spaniards and kept them confined to the missions”; Noel argued that one of the successes of the Capuchins “seems to have been the partial preservation of the Indigenous race as agricultural workers under the external guise of living a Catholic life” (1972, p. 18). How contact with other groups could have been prevented, when these other groups also formed the population of the Mission, would be something that strains credulity. Indeed, what if the opposite were true? What if, in a colony ordered by a racial hierarchy, the Mission Indians had been deliberately made to cohabit with members of other ethnic groups, knowing that the result would be miscegenation, and thus eventual removal from the Mission?

Ethnic Substitution

With the displacement of Indigenous residents of the Mission, which accompanied the rise of the cocoa industry, a new wave of migrants from Venezuela entered the area and furnished the workforce for the expanded industry. To get a sense of the magnitude of the immigration, Brereton (1979, p. 12) indicated that Trinidad’s population increased from 84,438 in 1861 to 200,028 in 1891. Some of the major cocoa estates in the Arima Ward Union included the Santa Rosa estate owned by C.G. Scheult; Buena Vista, owned by Jules Cipriani; and El Retiro, held by the De Martini family (Collens, 1896). Given that many of the migrants were of a similar cultural, religious, and ethnic background as the former Indian and Mestizo residents of the Mission, what transpired was a process of ethnic substitution and what then appeared to be a revitalization or resurgence of a number of key traditions and ritual practices, when viewed from a certain angle (Brereton, 1979, pp. 131–132, 152; Moodie-Kublalsingh, 1994, pp. 2–3, 4, 33, 41). In some areas, there was a fusion of the two groups, that is, the Indians already present in Trinidad and the Venezuelan migrants. The baptismal registers reflect all of these developments and transformations, except for the process of fusion.

---

See the book, ARIMA BORN

First Peoples: We are Trinis too

Originally published in Newsday
Sunday, October 8, 2017

Narad Mahabir acts as Hyarima in the play Hyarima and the Saints written by Gyasi Garcia of St Francis College during the First Peoples Schools Outreach programme, UWI-ROYTEC North Campus, on September 26. This was one of the events leading up to Friday’s First Peoples holiday.

After years of clamouring for greater national acknowledgement, the First Peoples in TT will be recognised formally on Friday with a one-off public holiday.

And to commemorate the observance, the community has organised a week of activities, under the theme, On Becoming Visible Towards Meaningful Recognition, in an effort to enlighten fellow descendants and others about the history and contribution of the indigenous peoples to the country’s development. 

The activities began on Friday with a lecture on the topic, DNA Testing of the First Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago: Identification of their genealogical ancestry, at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port-of-Spain.

Later that day, the group hosted a Waponaka Concert, a rich mix of parang, calypso and other cultural presentations at the Santa Rosa First Peoples Centre, Paul Mitchell Street, Arima.

Today, at 6 pm, the community is expected to host an orientation ceremony for visiting First Peoples delegates at the centre on Paul Mitchell Street. 

Tomorrow, the group is due to host an ancestral journey to Moruga, at which celebrants will perform sacred rites and various musical expressions.

Other events scheduled for the week include a symposium, titled, From Chrysalis to Butterfly: On Becoming Visible Towards Meaningful Recognition, at the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s O’Meara campus; a children’s rally and a ceremonial walk through Arima.

For Chief Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez, president of the Santa Rosa First Peoples, Arima–perhaps the largest and most vocal First Peoples community in the country–the holiday is not intended to encourage relaxation.

Rather, he said, apart from reflecting on the atrocities which were committed against the indigenous peoples, centuries ago, the holiday presented an opportunity to truly celebrate their contribution. 

It gives First Peoples descendants, numbering close to 1,500 in Arima, and others a chance to participate fully in the community’s events.

“Because, in ordinary times, without a holiday, people would usually say they can’t come because they have to work or their children can’t come because they have to go to school. So, my feeling and the community’s feeling was that with a national holiday, nobody cannot use that excuse not to participate.”

Outside of Arima, First Peoples descendants can be found in Lopinot, La Pastora, Maracas/St Joseph, Santa Cruz, Paria, Brasso Seco, Tabaquite, Moruga, Brazil, San Rafael and Talparo.

Bharath-Hernandez, who has said repeatedly they are not just another minority cultural group, insisted they had inherent rights with respect to land titles, which were supported by the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Some 144 countries, including TT, voted for the Declaration.

Bharath-Hernandez was cautiously optimistic that the group’s lobby for a heritage park–a permanent place to call their own–will become a reality.

Plans for the park began during the former People’s National Movement administration, under late prime minister Patrick Manning. A Cabinet decision was taken to give the First Peoples a five-acre plot of land along Blanchisseuse Road, Arima, which they found to be inadequate. The community later identified a hilly piece of land which had once been occupied by First Peoples centuries ago.

When the People’s Partnership came into office, in May 2010, it rescinded the PNM’s offer of a five-acre plot, and gave the community an additional 20-acres at the same site. The land has since been surveyed, following which an offer of lease was issued to the community from the Commissioner of State Lands on September 9, 2015. Alluding to the movement toward economic diversification in this year’s budget, Bharath-Hernandez said First Peoples in other parts of the region, namely Dominica, Guyana and Suriname, were already firmly entrenched in their islands’ tourism initiatives.

“We are still to reach that point but we see potential in our vision for a permanent space to call our own. We can contribute to the tourism sector".

Bharath-Hernandez said the parcel of land which the community has received for its park, is expected to provide employment in the areas of food processing and sales, handicraft, wildlife farming and eco-tourism.

The facility also will contain a museum, cultural/recreational space and living quarters for the Carib Queen and about a dozen families.

Yefan, son of the First Peoples

Originally published in Newsday 
By Tenisha Sylvester
Photo by Enrique Assoon
Sunday, October 8, 2017 

Yefan Sealey shows how his ancestors would have wielded a spear.

Ten-year-old Yefan Sealey is taking pride in his heritage, as he is a descendent of the indigenous people in Trinidad and Tobago.

"I feel very happy that I am a descendant of the First Peoples, it's exciting," said Yefan last Thursday at the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community Centre, Arima.

Yefan means strength and in his daily life he manages to eat a nutritional diet and his favorite foods are corn pastelles and cassava bread. He enjoys listening to parang music which is popular at Christmas time. Parang in TT is also a hybrid of Spanish and Amerindian music.

With less than a week left, the community centre is filled with people working feverishly on props, building huts and practising their singing all in anticipation of the First Peoples holiday on Friday 13.

Yefan explained that many still think that the First Peoples were war-like.

Arima was the home of the Nepuyo tribe whose active resistance to Spanish Rule limited Spanish attempts to control and settle in northern Trinidad. "Even though the best known of the Nepuyo was the war chief, Hyarima, who continuously harassed Spanish settlements from his base in Arima, they were peaceful people despite the war-like nature Columbus recorded. What they did was stand up for themselves against outsiders."

A statue of Hyarima is located in the heart of Arima. On May 25 1993 it was unveiled, in keeping with the theme of -The year of the Indigenous People.

Living in Valencia, Yefan visits the Community Centre twice a week where he learns about the history of the indigenous peoples; that they were nature-worshippers who believed in the Great Spirit who is the God they cannot see but is always present.

"I have also learned that places named Caroni, Arouca, Caura, Tunapuna and Oropouche have Amerindian origin."

He also partakes in the First Peoples rituals where they pray, chant, dance and play their musical instruments like the chac chac, whistles and drums.

"I also enjoy learning archery there because that's one of the main ways the indigenous people hunted for food and I am looking forward to seeing the lighting of the smoke-signal on Friday."

The lighting of the smoke-signal symbolises the beginning of celebrations for the First Peoples community and is followed by a series of ceremonial prayers.

The intelligent standard three student attends Christian Primary Academy, Elementary School where his favourite subjects are science and art.

" I love science because I learn a lot of things about technology and I love art because I like to draw and paint."

Yefan's goal is to become a scientist or an artist because he wants to use his creativity to invent something that could be used by everyone, to make their lives easier.

This straight-A student is encouraged to pursue his dreams by his mother Chelese Arindell , grand-mother Sheila Cumberbatch and the entire First Peoples community.

Yefan enjoys playing with his dog, Ninja and in his spare time he creates colourful drawings and paintings.

The First Peoples celebration begins on Friday at 7am in Arima for the lighting of the smoke-signal. Then there would be a sacred street procession to the Arima Velodrome where various exhibitions would be set up in honour of the indigenous peoples. At 11am there is the formal opening with the Prime Minister, leading up to the concert at 4pm.

" I am really excited and looking forward to taking part in the street celebration on Friday, I encourage everyone to come see the festivities because it will be amazing."

Trinidad & Tobago: First Peoples Public Holiday announced

First Peoples Public Holiday announced

...Gov't comes good on promise

Published on May 11, 2017

In the Daily Express

Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez

IN October 2016, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley promised the First Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago that they would be given a one-off national holiday in recognition of their contribution to the islands.

On Thursday, Government announced that Friday October 13 had been approved as the public holiday.

The call for a public holiday had been made by Ricardo Hernandez Bharath, representing the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community. He said that the holiday would be in recognition of the history of indigenous peoples.

The disclosure of the public holiday came in a statement from, the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Arts, which noted that the First Peoples have been calling for greater recognition of their history and customs.

Click on the image below for the full story as it appeared in the print edition:

New Book: Narratives of Amerindians in Trinidad & Tobago, by Selwyn Cudjoe

Another new book to have come out this year is Selwyn Cudjoe's Narratives of Amerindians in Trinidad and Tobago; or, Becoming Trinbagonian, published by Calaloux Publications. As I wrote in my commentary/endorsement of this volume: "Thanks to Selwyn Cudjoe's intimate knowledge of the history of Trinidad and Tobago, he provides the reader with a fascinating compendium of key documents on the narration of the Amerindian presence in Trinidad. There is much to be learned here, by both the novice and those with an advanced knowledge of the country. Professor Cudjoe has a keen eye for what is unique, central and foundational, coupled with great skill in bringing to light that which is little known at present. I would not want to begin, or continue, a study of the narrative history of Trinidad's Amerindians without the aid of this wonderful resource. In addition, this work is a testament to the efforts undertaken by Trinidadian scholars in deepening and broadening national self-knowledge, in redefining what Trinidadian means, and in revealing the deep roots of the nation". The book brings together a wide range of materials, from poems to plays, stories, and autobiographical essays that directly relate to the Amerindian presence during the end of the 1800s and the start of the 1900s, as well as providing some critically important colonial historical documents.

New Book: The Indigenous Peoples of Trinidad & Tobago, by Arie Boomert

This year has seen the publication of a comprehensive new study by Dutch archaeologist, Arie Boomert, titled The Indigenous Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago: From the First Settlers until Today, published by Sidestone Press, and available for free reading online. The book covers the many changes experienced in the lives of the Amerindian peoples who lived or still inhabit the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, from the earliest occupants, ca. 8000 BC, until at present. Using archaeological, ethnohistorical and linguistic data, it discusses the social, political, economic, and religious development of indigenous society through the ages. The Amerindian struggle with European colonization is chronicled in detail, following centuries of independent existence during pre-Columbian times, as well as the survival of the current people of indigenous ancestry in the twin-island republic. The text has also been endorsed by Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, Chief of the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community in Arima, Trinidad: “This book is a welcome addition to the literature we are now seeking to inform our work here at the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, as it brings to light important aspects of our buried history. Of particular interest is the information on the involvement of the Dutch in the struggles of the First Peoples, and the connection with Hierreyma, our great Nepuyo Chieftain. It is an inspiration to those of us who are currently engaged in efforts to secure the rightful place of the First Peoples of this land – Kairi.”

Indigenous Peoples Of The Caribbean: Podcast

Subject:  Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean: Memory, Identity, and the Politics of History

In this episode of the History Watch podcast series, Dr. Maximilian Forte of Concordia University is in conversation with Dr. Audra A. Diptee. They discuss memory, identity, and the politics of history as it relates to the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. For more on Dr. Forte’s work see openanthropology.org/.

Credits:  Voice credits go to Lina Crompton for the introduction.  This episode was produced by Dr. Audra A. Diptee  and Christina Parsons, M.A of the History Watch Project.

Carib Community want National Holiday.

Carib community want national holiday.
By Camille Clarke
T&T Guardian | Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Amerindians representing different countries during a procession to commemorate
the launch of Amerindian Heritage Week, through the streets of Arima from the Hyarima statue
to the first peoples community centre on Paul Mitchell Street yesterday.
The procession was preceded by a smoke ceremony at the Hyarima statue.
PHOTO: EDISON BOODOOSINGH

Santa Rosa First People’s Community chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez is calling for a national holiday to commemorate the Caribs, the first people to live in T&T. Hernandez was speaking after the smoke ceremony and street procession in Arima.

"The event today was in recognition of our history and Hyarima’s resistance to the Spanish in October 1637. There is a call for an international holiday on the 14th in recognition of the first people of this land. I know the authorities will have to think for another public holiday long and hard before they consider it,” he said. Hernandez said if the holiday was not possible the authorities could consider a one-day holiday event like the Chinese were granted in 2006, to commemorate 200 years since the arrival of Chinese immigrants.

Speaking about the contingent of Caribs from the Caribbean and South America, he said: “Spiritual leaders from Suriname and the other countries were called in for sanctification and interaction. To guide us in spirituality for this purpose. Some are still practicing the original tradition.” Yesterday, the smoke ceremony began at the statue of Hyarima at Hollis Avenue. Hyarima was said to have been known by the Dutch and Spanish forces who referred to him as “the great Chieftain of the Nepuyo people.”

They filled calabash bowls with bay leaves, incense, shells, cassava wine, hibiscus, poui, lilac and other flowers and offered them up to the great spirit. The women and men wore traditional outfits with crocheted tops and feathers in fire-engine red. They beat drums, blew into a large shell and chanted. Hernandez addressed the crowd that gathered to pay homage to the creator.

“We invoke ourselves and surrender ourselves to him/her recognising that we as humans are weak. He is strong and we ask forgiveness for our weakness,” he said. During the ceremony, first one, then another of the women had a “manifestation.” This manifestation, another one of the women said, was “an ancestor showing they were still around because the body is dead and the spirit is alive.”

Hernandez prayed for the ancestors, peace, a stoppage to all negativity and for the ancestors to keep coming in dreams before the group headed up Woodford Street to the Santa Rosa First People’s Centre at Paul Mitchell Street.

Indigenous groups return to Red House to pray.

Indigenous groups return to Red House to pray.
Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday | Tuesday, October 8 2013

AS indigenous groups plan to return to the Red House next week to pray for the peace of the ancestors they believe are buried there, no decision has yet been taken on declaring part, or all of the original seat of Parliament a heritage site.

Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez of the Santa Rosa First Peoples’ Indigenous Community informed Newsday his group, along with the Partners for First Peoples and the Warao indigenous groups, met about a month ago with the Red House Cultural Heritage Team chaired by House Speaker, Wade Mark.

On March 26 last, a number of skeletal remains, cultural and historical artifacts were discovered during initial excavation work as part of the restoration of the Red House. The bones date from 430 AD to 1390 AD.

The Red House Cultural Heritage Team, which includes Senate President Timothy Hamel-Smith and representatives of the National Trust, was appointed by Cabinet to manage aspects of the historical find.

The First Peoples groups believe the remains and artifacts are from their ancestors, and have written the team asking that the Red House be declared a heritage site.

Hernandez reported that the proposal was discussed at their meeting with the team and certain aspects were agreed upon, such as the treatment of the remains — they should be reburied and not exposed or displayed though the cultural artifacts can be — and that an insignia of the First Peoples would be included in the renovation.

He also reported that no decision had been taken on whether part or all of the Red House would be declared a heritage site.

They were informed that the process should be completed by the end of the year, and there were still more tests to be done.

He said, speaking for the Santa Rosa group, certain things were kept “secret” from them, recalling that when they asked to see remains they were told they are “well taken care off”’. “While on one hand we are talking, we still feel as First People we should play a more integral role in what is happening there,” he said.

The team informed them that they will contact them again when they are ready. Hernandez said as descendants of First People according to the United Nations declaration they have a right as it relates to the remains of ancestors but “we are not really given that opportunity fully, (it) still seems as the property of someone else”. “We are hoping at the end of it we will be satisfied,” he added.

He noted that they that they plan to write the Red House Cultural Heritage Team and the police today to request permission to hold a spiritual ceremony on October 17 at 5pm at the Red House. The ceremony is part of the 13th annual First Peoples Heritage Week which will be held from October 11 to 19.

First Peoples group may take Red House case to UN.

First Peoples group may take Red House case to UN.
By JULIEN NEAVES | Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday | Saturday, July 13 2013

LOCAL indigenous peoples group “Partners for First Peoples” says if Government does not agree to make the Red House a national historical site, they will take their case to the United Nations.

“Here is a Government that is taking a sacred site, and depriving the first peoples of their claim to it,” said one of the group leaders, Roger Belix.

First Peoples groups believe that skeletal remains, cultural and historical artifacts unearthed on March 26 last during excavation work at the Red House, which is to undergo restoration works, were that of their ancestors.

At a press conference on Tuesday the various groups called on Government to turn the Red House into a national historical site, and consider the permanent removal of Parliament, which has been housed temporarily at the International Waterfront Centre, since October, 2011.

Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration, Clifton De Coteau, had described the request as “a very tall order”, but reported that he would meet next week with Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez of the Santa Rosa First People’s Indigenous Community.

Yesterday Belix noted that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was “quite clear on burial sites of indigenous peoples that they should be protected and returned.”

Partners for First Peoples was one of the groups that had been engaging with the Red House Cultural Heritage Team, a Cabinet-appointed committee to manage aspects of the historical find.

Meantime, members of the Santa Rosa First People’s Indigenous Community plan to perform today, a spiritual ritual at the Red House in Port-of-Spain to “appease the spirits” of bones disturbed during works at the Red House site.

SMOKE OUT TO GIVE SPIRITS PEACE.

SMOKE OUT TO GIVE SPIRITS PEACE.
By JULIEN NEAVES | Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday | Friday, July 12 2013

MEMBERS of the Santa Rosa First People’s Indigenous Community will be performing a spiritual ritual tomorrow at the Red House in Port-of-Spain to “appease the spirits” of bones disturbed during works at the site, Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez disclosed yesterday.

He explained it is the belief of the indigenous peoples that when bones are disturbed, a special ritual has to be performed “to give peace to the spirit of those killed there”.

About seven people, including himself, will participate in the simple ceremony which will involve smoke as a medium of prayer and will take place at about 2 pm. They will also sanctify the site as a sacred burial area.

In October, they plan to hold an all-night ceremony called a “Purablaka”, similar to a wake. It will start from 6 pm with the ceremonial painting of people, go through various phases with different music, prayers and chants, and end the next morning with a procession around the building and a visit to a river or the sea for ritual baths and cleansing. About 30 or 40 people are expected to participate in that ceremony, Hernandez reported in a telephone interview with Newsday.

He said approval for tomorrow’s ceremony was given by officials of the House Cultural Heritage Team, a Cabinet-appointed committee to manage aspects of the historical find.

On March 26, a number of skeletal remains, cultural and historical artifacts were discovered during initial excavation work as part of the restoration of the Red House. The bones date from 430 AD to 1390 AD. The First People believe the remains and artifacts are from their ancestors.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the community called on Government to turn the Red House into a national historical site and consider the permanent removal of Parliament, which has been housed temporarily at the International Waterfront Centre since October 2011.

Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration, Clifton De Coteau, described the request as “a very tall order”. Speaking with the Newsday, in a brief telephone interview, he noted the Red House is a heritage site for many reasons, including that it is the Parliament building.

“And there is a lot of history on that site where the building is situated,” he added. On possibly converting it to a national historical site, De Coteau explained that because the site is on the parliamentary property, the Red House Cultural Heritage Team will assume responsibility for it. Heritage sites fall under his ministry while the buildings are under the purview of the restoration unit of the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure.

“So that we’ll all have to talk but first of all, I’ll have to talk to Chief Bharath,” he said.

He planned to meet with the Chief of the First People some time next week. Hernandez reported yesterday the community has sent a formal letter to the Red House Cultural Heritage Team, chaired by House Speaker Wade Mark, with the suggestion about the Red House. They have received an acknowledgment and the assurance of a reply. Questioned whether he believed Government would convert the Red House to a national historical site Hernandez replied, “I would want to believe so. I see no reason why it shouldn’t be. Not 100 percent sure of (the) position of those in authority. But we will do all in our power to see that it is made as such.”

Mark yesterday told Newsday he had not received the correspondence, adding he had only recently returned from “another place” — serving as Acting President in the absence of President Anthony Carmona. He noted the request would be reviewed by the committee and at the appropriate time a statement issued.

25 acres of land for indigenous people.

25 acres of land for indigenous people.
By Ralph Banwarie
T&T Newsday | Thursday, March 7 2013

AFTER 20 long years of waiting, the Carib Community of Arima has been given 25 acres of land in Blanchisseuse. Carib Chief Ricardo Bharath, said the granting of the land by the People’s Partnership Government, to the indigenous people of Trinidad and Tobago, “is a good and noble gesture.”

However, he reiterated that this granting of land ought not be considered a “gift”, but rather a “just due” to the “first people of this nation.” Most of the land, he said, belong to the “first people”, but over the years no one has stood up to fight for the rights for the land which was eventually sold.

According to Bharath, the land is located next to what he was told will be a parcel of land to be developed into a gated community. Bharath said the first people are not seeking redress and all they were asking for was space to develop and preserve their culture and way of life.

The Carib Chief said he is happy to know that the first people are now getting some recognition and hopes this will not stop with just the granting of land. He thanked all who were instrumental in having the land acquisition successfully completed.

Attending a brief ceremony on the land yestereday Minister of National Diversity Clifton De Coteau, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister Rodger Samuel, Arima Mayor Ghassan Youseph, chairman of the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation Khadijah Ameen, Minister of State in the Ministry of National Diversity Senator Embau Moheni, that Ministry’s Acting Permanent Secretary Jacinta Bailey-Sobers and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism Vel Lewis.

Work to start soon on model Amerindian village.

Work to start soon on model Amerindian village.
By Wayne Bowman
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Mar 7, 2013 at 10:01 PM ECT

Work is expected to begin soon on the construction of a model Amerindian village on the Blanchisseuse Road, Arima, on lands provided to the Santa Rosa First Peoples Carib Community and other indigenous peoples of the island.

The land was granted to the organisation by the Government through the Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration.

Minister Clifton de Coteau on Wednesday visited the site, where a smoke ceremony was performed by members of the organisation as a thanksgiving for the land.

The 25-acre parcel of land is situated on a plateau off the Blanchisseuse Road, and the intention is to build a model of an Amerindian village as it would have been in the time before the colonists wrested possession of the land away from the First Peoples.

Carib Chief Ricardo Hernandez-Bharath, in his address, thanked the Government for granting his people the land, but made it clear that for the organisation the land is not a gift because it was theirs in the first place before the colonists came and took it away.

Bharath also said they deserved more than 25 acres, and he is hoping the acreage will expand beyond what it is at present as the Government understands more what was taken away from his people.

He expressed concerned over the construction of a housing development by a private developer on a parcel of land bordering the site of the proposed Amerindian village. He said a housing development will not fit well with the village, and he is hoping the development will not take place.

De Coteau said the creation of the Amerindian village will cost about $1.9 million and will feature, among other things, dwelling huts, a restaurant, a gift shop and a cassava processing plant, where visitors will be able to see how the root crop was processed into farine and other products.

Cassava plant for Arima's Carib village.

Cassava plant for Arima's Carib village.
By Louis B Homer
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Feb 24, 2013 at 10:52 PM ECT

A cassava-processing plant to produce and market indigenous cassava products is expected to be installed on the proposed site of the Amerindian village at Arima.

It will be part of the total development of the village, said Minister Clifton De Coteau, Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration

The Carib Community met with Minister De Coteau last week to confirm plans for the survey of the lands as well as other matters affecting the community last Thursday, at the Ministry in Port of Spain.

The group was led by Ricardo Bharath, president of the Carib Community, and Carib queen Jennifer Cassar.

De Coteau said, "The plant will be an integral part of the development of the 25-acre site aimed at the development of heritage tourism in Trinidad, as well as creating sustainable communities in the country."

The Santa Rosa Carib Community is soon to establish the village on lands granted to them on the Blanchisseuse Road.

The group was incorporated as a company in 1973 to preserve the culture of the Caribs of Arima and to maintain their role in the annual Santa Rosa Festival.

The village will provide an authentic Amerindian experience for visitors and will serve as a formal meeting place for both local and Amerindian peoples.

De Coteau advised the delegation to submit their plans for the Santa Rosa Festival as well as the annual heritage fair within two weeks so that favourable financial assistance would be given to the organisation.

After discussions with the group it was decided that a formal visit will be made to the site on March 6, when the community will be expected to conduct a hands-on discussion on the way forward.

Santa Rosa Community gets 25 acres of land...Plans for cultural centre, museum.

Santa Rosa Community gets 25 acres of land...Plans for cultural centre, museum.
By Irene Medina | Trinidad Express Newspapers | Dec 21, 2012 at 9:57 PM ECT

Their 30-year-long wait has ended.

Chief of the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez, is thanking the People's Partnership Government for a dream come true in its award of 25 acres of land along the Blanchisseuse Main Road to the indigenous community to construct a heritage village.

"We have been lobbying for this for 30 years now…and it feels very good indeed that we are one step closer to establishing a proper home for the First Peoples' Community," Bharath-Hernandez told the Express yesterday.

Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration Clifton De Coteau made the announcement in Tobago last Thursday at a post-Cabinet meeting on the island.

According to Bharath-Hernandez, this decision by the Government "shows that something is happening and, at long last, the Community will get an opportunity to put something together to preserve and showcase the heritage and culture of the first people."

He said the announcement was not a surprising one since a year ago Cabinet took the first decision to award the land, but it had to go through several processes.

"I am happy to know that it has gotten to the stage where the portion of land will be surveyed, after which we will move towards developing it," the chief added.

He said the major aim is to have an indigenous industry and ideas are already being collated to form a business plan to move the dream of their own cultural and business space forward.

"We want to have a cassava factory where we will process cassava bread and farine, as well as a handicraft centre to showcase the arts and crafts of our community members so that visitors and tourists can buy.

"Our plans also include the construction of a guest house to accommodate our brothers and sisters; an indigenous museum and a meeting place and cultural centre where we can showcase all things indigenous," Bharath-Hernandez explained.

Plans also include an official residence for the Carib Queen, as well as for other indigenous members who will be responsible for manning the heritage centre and will incorporate agriculture and some aspects of wild life farming, the chief explained.

Bharath-Hernandez, a former PNM deputy mayor of the Arima Borough, heads a community of approximately 600 descendants of the first peoples of which some 90 are active members of the community.

He said, while the group has not heard from Minister De Coteau officially on the matter, he is assured that he will be formally notified sometime during or after the festive season.

Carib Chief complains of neglect. 'Community not getting recognition.'

Carib Chief complains of neglect. 'Community not getting recognition.'
By Louis B Homer
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Oct 14, 2012 at 10:50 PM ECT

Carib Chief Ricardo Hernandez-Bharath yesterday launched a scathing attack on those responsible for ignoring and neglecting the plight of the First Peoples of Trinidad at the launch of Amerindian Heritage Week.

In his address, held at the banks of the Arima River at Roland's Place, Wilson Street on the Blanchisseuse Road, Hernandez-Bharath said, "We are no longer populations like animals for management, but we must now be seen as peoples with rights. We are not child-like. We are not children who must be wards of the State to be administered to by paternalistic policies."

He said despite efforts by missionaries and governments to "commit genocide...we have survived this and we are distinct people, not because we arrived, but survived."

Hernandez-Bharath added, "In many parts of the world, we have distinct identities and we continue to occupy and share ancestral lands."

He said, in the eyes of social scientists and missionaries, "We have moved from being uncivilised savages, beasts of the fields and subhuman species to the status of humans."

In his emotional speech, Hernandez-Bharath said the challenge in Trinidad and Tobago for the development of an indigenous policy based on the recognition of the notion in indigeneity makes the First People distinctive.

"We are not just a racial minority, we are more than just elements or members of a multicultural society and we make a distinct status based on indigeneity."

He referred to the 25 acres of land granted by the Government as an important beginning, but there is still much to be done to the descendants of the First People.

He said if an acceptable level of recognition were not granted to the community he would not be present at next year's Heritage Day festival.

"I will not be around if things do not improve for the community," he said.

Hernandez-Bharath said it was an insult to the First People that on the eve of the launch of the celebration the Government had not yet decided on the allocation for the festival.

The festival was postponed by a week because of late funding.

"Others who came after have been given suitable recognition," he said.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration, Embau Moheni, Minister in the Ministry of National Diversity, said his government is in the process of developing a programme that will give status to the First Peoples.

"It will be one of the priority projects that my Ministry will undertake," he said.

Rodger Samuel, MP for Arima, was unable to attend the function but his greetings were relayed via telephone.

The launch was preceded by a smoke ceremony held at the feet of the statue of Carib warrior Hyarima outside the Arima Velodrome.

Among those who brought greetings were Amerindians from Guyana, Suriname and Miami.

Carib Queen Jennifer Cassar attended the ceremony along with her contingent of the Santa Rosa Cairb Community.

Carib Queen to descendants: Get involved.

Carib Queen to descendants: Get involved.
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Sep 2, 2012 at 10:54 PM ECT

Carib Queen Jennifer Cassar is pleading with young people of Amerindian descent to get involved in the work and traditions of the Indigenous Community.

Speaking with the media at the 226th Anniversary of the Carib festival of Santa Rosa De Lima yesterday, Cassar said her main focus at this time is to sensitise young people who are of Amerindian blood to be a part of the community.

"We are pleading for them to come and join with us, because as seniors we will not be here forever and we need to pass on the traditions onto the younger folks."

Cassar said she also wants to see the indigenous people playing a more active role in the government.

"We have the ear of the government but we need to do a little more," she said.

She also called for unity among the three groups that make up descendants of Amerindians which she said have already reached a mutual understanding.

"We have been meeting with the two other groups one off the southwestern peninsula and the other in Arima in the past and have reached a memorandum of understanding and that has not been signed on yet but they are a part of us.

"And they are going to be celebrating with us on a united front at the Amerindian Heritage Festival on October 14," Cassar added.

Preserve heritage sites. New Carib Queen:

Preserve heritage sites. New Carib Queen:
By Louis B Homer
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Aug 7, 2011 at 11:42 PM ECT

As newly-elected Carib Queen Jennifer Cassar took up office on Saturday, she immediately called for the preservation of all special Amerindian sites in Trinidad.

In her maiden speech as head of the Santa Rosa First Peoples Carib Community, Cassar said: "I am emboldened to engage the attention of the authorities and the national community on the preservation of Corita, a petroglyphics stone at Maracas St Joseph, site of the old church at Caura Valley, Banwarie site in south Trinidad, and La Venezuela Statue on Old Santa Cruz Road."

She said the positive contributions made by their forefathers to the development of these areas have been largely ignored, and the history of Trinidad and Tobago has been no different.

Cassar said her first step would be the realisation of a heritage village which is critical to the preservation of Carib culture, spiritual traditions, and the social and economic development of young people.

She said Government has agreed to grant the community 25 acres of land on Blanchisseuse Road.

"My first duty will be to pursue discussions with the Cabinet-appointed committee to complete the paper work to officially hand over the land to the community next year."

She said the village will be used as a catalyst to generate employment, provide food security and the understanding of indigenous food and craft, create an environment for the education of children, create a museum to showcase the diversity of the nation, and to develop activities in eco- tourism and sustainable business activities.

Cassar, a descendant from a full Carib bloodline from Guyana, was inaugurated as the new Carib Queen at a colourful ceremony during Holy Mass at Santa Rosa Roman Catholic Church, Arima, in the presence of members of the Carib community and officials from the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism and various organisations.

Minister Winston Peters was represented at the historic ceremony by Permanent Secretary Jennifer Jones.

Following her anointment by Monsignor Allan Ventour, parish priest of Arima, the community's new banner was blessed and Cassar was presented to the congregation, with loud acclamation from members of the community, as their fifth Queen of the Carib Community of Santa Rosa.

Her predecessor, Valentina Medina, died recently after serving as queen for 11 years.