The Caribbean is a beautiful place, and that beauty comes at a high price as luxury developers attempt to claim dominion over a slice of paradise. But long ago, before luxury hotels and casinos became the norm, the Caribbean islands were the homeland of the Taíno people. History books tell us that the arrival of Europeans led to the fall of this chiefdom and that the Taíno people slowly dwindled to extinction. However, many people disagree with this notion. Kacike Roberto Mukaro Agüeybana Borrero, president of United Confederation of Taino Peoples and a member of Guainia Tribeis one.

“Currently, the Taíno people would be considered the tenth largest tribe or nation in the United States and its territories,” says Kacike Mukaro.

Yet the Taíno Nation is not recognized by the U.S. federal government. In fact, the only government organization that currently recognizes a tribe of the Taíno people as an indigenous group is the government of the US Virgin Islands.

But why is this? And why is there still so much controversy over whether the Taínos still exist and who can claim this ancestry? Well, a lot of it comes from how colonial powers imposed their policies on indigenous populations, something the tribe still sees the effects of hundreds of years later.

The Impact of Colonialism on the Taíno Nation

“Over the years, the way we understand race, people and connections to community has been affected by colonialism,” says Kacike Mukaro. This is evident in the way the U.S. government treats indigeneity. A number of criteria must be met for a tribe to be federally recognized. These “imposed” criteria make the recognition of tribal peoples extremely difficult.

One of these obstacles is the blood quantum system in the United States. Blood quantum is a way of tracking the amount of Native American blood an individual has. While this may seem well-intentioned on the surface, Kacike Mukaro says there is a darker underlying truth.

“(In the 18th century)… there was a general consensus that if they put a limit, (the tribes) would cease to exist because more people from outside the community would come in and ultimately, there would be no more ‘blood’ gone,” he said.

Although this notion that “there is no blood left” has never come to fruition, the idea that there is no substantial Taíno blood remaining among the islanders continues to be used by individuals and governments to deny the recognition and existence of a modern Taíno nation.

Spain, Trujillo and the genocide of indigenous peoples on paper

Ramona Ferreyra, known as Guatuke Ini Inaru in the community, is the founder of Discussions about Ojalaa brand focused on reclaiming Taíno heritage. She is also a “tekina” based in the Bronx and has found herself facing resistance to the idea of ​​a living Taíno nation. With roots in the Kiskeya region, known today as the Dominican Republic, Ferreyra says the idea of ​​Taino extinction is deeply rooted in the Dominican community, despite the island being the historic seat of the power of the Taíno nation.

“I have always preferred to organize events in the Puerto Rican community because when I go to Dominican spaces, I have to be ready to defend my existence,” Fereyra explains.

But although she describes the fact that her existence was denied and her regalia referred to as “costume” as hurtful, Fereyra sees it as a byproduct of detachment from the island’s indigenous roots. She believes that, like many misconceptions about indigenous peoples, it stems from a colonialist mentality, which persisted under dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, who ruled from 1930 until his extinction in 1961.

As she explains, “For Trujillo to present himself as Western and white, he must deny the existence of an indigenous identity on our island. (Before), in the cédula, one could choose ‘indio’ (like your race). ).Trujillo undoes this.

In the Dominican Republic, the “cédula” is the national identity card that includes details such as the holder’s occupation, blood type and, until 2014, race. This kind of “paper genocide” is a real phenomenon that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for many indigenous descendants to trace their lineage.

Kacike Mukaro remembers a similar genocide on paper that occurred in Puerto Rico, where in 1800 the Spanish removed the category of “Indians” and added a new classification called “color pardos libre” or “people free of color.

“In this category, a person could be Indian, Indian mixed with (another race), African, African mixed with another race, all kinds of mixtures,” explains Kacike Mukaro. “So it’s not just that the indigenous population has disappeared. It’s that the government has removed that option.”

According to Ferreyra, however, the Trujillo government’s actions went further, fundamentally changing the way the population was educated.

“The Dominican is told that ‘the indio does not exist’. Trujillo has all his cabinets full of his allies. So Dominican education is (supervised) by people who agree with him,” Ferreyra said. “It’s a program designed to erase.”

Emerging from erasure and preserving a culture

Ironically, it was the censuses that brought the modern Taíno nation back from the brink of erasure. “One of the elders of our community said, ‘In the same way they took us out of history, we can put ourselves back into it,’” says Kacike Mukaro.

Members of the Guainia Taíno Nation became involved in the U.S. Census in an effort to create engagement and increase visibility around its importance. This, associated with the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination, as permitted by the the Indian Self-Determination and Education Acthas seen the number of self-described Tainos increase over the past 30 years, totaling 112,682 people in the United States and its territories in 2022.

But ancestry is only one aspect of what it means to be Taíno – what it means to walk the path of indigeneity. Another aspect is culture: having spaces for the practice and development of language, art, singing and religion. In Austin, Texas, Kacike Tekina-eirú created such a space, transforming a Puerto Rican cultural center in the heart of a prosperous Yucayeque.

“I started the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (and) for many years we had mountain traditions, bomba, plena and bailes de salon… but I was always sad to know that the heritage that mattered most to my heart, I had no way of conveying it,” explains Kacike Tekina-eirú.

Like many people of Taíno ancestry, her journey began in the dark, with no idea of ​​how to connect with what she knew. Her grandmother, Marcela Serrano, was visibly Taíno, but some aspects of her culture had not been passed down to her. So she found a teacher.

That teacher, Kacike Cacibaopil Martin Veguillam passed away last year, but Kacike Tekina-eirú continues to carry on his legacy. In addition to composing plenas and other forms of Puerto Rican folk music, Tekina-eirú composes Taíno “areytos,” ceremonial dances with important spiritual connotations. She also clarifies that the “yucayeque” that has developed around the cultural center is not just an eclectic educational emanation. It is also an example of the Taíno people not just preserving their culture like an object in a museum, but rather living it. It is a space where they connect to their cemis and can strengthen their connection with nature, the earth and each other.

“For me, the beauty of a yucayeque is the personal time and friendliness,” says Kacike Tekina-eirú.

The indigenous way and its implication on the modern world

For Taínos like Mukaro Agueybana, Guaktuke Ini Inaru, and Tekina-eirú, indigenous roots are more than just heritage. This is the path they are following, a path that has concrete implications.

For example, what happens to Taíno bones and artifacts when they are discovered? How should we interact with sacred caves in the Dominican Republic? Tribal members like Kacike Mukaro and Guatuke Ini Inaru are trying to ensure that the Taínos have a say in these matters. However, the Indigenous mindset extends beyond just Indigenous issues and extends to many of the hot-button issues at the forefront of modern politics.

Whether it is public land privatized throughout the Caribbeanthe impact of industrial agriculture and processed foods on our health and environment, or the lack of affordable housing, members of the Taíno tribe see these as problems created by the same type of colonial capitalism that tried to erase them of history. They see these as problems that cannot be solved by a colonial mentality, but only by a closer connection to the land and to each other – a principle of indigenous identity.

Indigenous identity is not monolithic. It is a mosaic of which the Taíno people have never ceased to be an important part. And they will continue to be as they fight for recognition and to lead us toward a world where we are more in harmony with nature, with ourselves, and with each other.