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.