NATIVE NEWS

NATIVE_NEWS: Letter From The Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation To All Native American Tribes And Nations

ishgooda Mon, 18 Oct 1999 10:24:13 -0700

And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Reply-To: "Office of Taino Tribal Affairs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Office of Taino Tribal Affairs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> PRESS RELEASE: OCTOBER 12, 1999 Letter From The Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation, To: All Native American Tribes And Nations. : The Taino Tribal Council of Jatibonicu' : US Regional Tribal Affairs Office : 703 South Eight Street : Vineland New Jersey 08360 : : October 12,1999 Tau Ah Taiguey Adanatiao, Hello and Good Day to All Our Relatives, We bid you a warm greeting from The Jatibonicu Taino Tribe, its Telcesta Florida Tribal Band, the Taino People, and its' Nation. I will speak my heart so that all of my relatives will understand that I, Guanikeyu (Noble Bird of The White Earth), Principal Chief of The Taino Tribe speaks the truth in the eyes of our Creator the Great Spirit. It has been 507 years since our Taino National Homeland of the Caribbean, Bahama Islands and Florida were invaded and overthrown by the Spanish Europeans in 1493. As peaceful people, we stood by and observed the destruction of our Atabey (Mother Earth) and our ancestral ceremonial grounds. With chains on our hands and feet, we stood alone without the power to protect ourselves. The souls of the Taino people cried out in pain and anguish as our daughters were being raped and our people became the victims of mass genocide. A conservative estimate of three to six million Tainos died due to the intentional introduction of many new European diseases. Our ancestral blood fell upon our land like rain drops into a red river of blood, that was caused by the Spaniard's Bull Mastiff hunting dogs and their bloody Toledo swords. Many of our relatives of other Native American Nations do not remember our Taino People, the first nation to encounter Columbus on the morning of October 12, 1492, in the Caribbean Bahama Island of Guanahani (San Salvador). We have been waiting patiently for the completion of our Taino 500 year prophecy. The prophecy states that we the Taino people would reemerge after 500 years as a proud and noble Nation. This would come to pass within our traditional homelands in the sixth generation of our Arocoels (Elders or grandparents) in the year 1993. Presently, The Taino Jatibonicu (Great People of the Sacred High Waters) Tribe and its Tekesta (People of the Good Earth) Tribal Band of Bimini (Mother of Many Waters, the original name of Florida in the Taino language) must beg to our relatives of the other Tribes and Nations to come to our aid. Our Taino ceremonial grounds in Bimini has fallen into the hands of a group of private business people. We have been in a struggle to reaffirm and preserve our traditional Taino cultural heritage within our Bimini and Circum- Caribbean Island homeland. Our Tekesta Taino Tribal Band of Bimini Florida, currently is struggling to help gather the needed funding of 8.7 million dollars to buy back one of the most sacred and ancient ceremonial grounds found within North America. This site is better known in the local Florida newspapers, as The Miami Circle. It seems that a local business person, insensitive to our native spirituality, would like to destroy our sacred ceremonial center. He plans to built a new high rise apartment complex upon the bones of our ancestors. The Miami Circle is known to our people as the Navel of Amikekia (name of Turtle Island or America in the Taino language). This Taino ancestral ceremonial site belongs to all the indigenous people of the Americas. According to The Taino Book of Prophecies, the destruction of this sacred site by the Guamikena (The Covered People, name give by the Tainos to the Europeans) would come to trigger a natural disaster as never seen on Turtle Island since the dawn of its creation. This is prophesied to happen in the seventh generation on or about the year 2005. We can humbly say that our Taino Jatibonicu Tribe and its two tribal Bands are the poorest of the Tribal Nations of Turtle Island. As you already know, all our tribal homelands were lost to the past European colonial powers. We, further, must inform our brothers and sisters that within sixty days we must find a way to buy back our land from this Guamikena business man located in Dade County southern Florida. Our Tribe has never begged nor asked anything from our relatives of Turtle Island. We must stress upon our relatives the importance of preserving this sacred site. The destruction of this site will effect all our families here on Turtle Island. We ask that you open your hearts to the pleas of our Tribe and its Band here in Florida. We ask that you share, in the matum (generosity) Native American way, of sharing whatever money your Tribes and Nations can spare to aid us in this most noble struggle to preserve our past indigenous heritage. It is sad to see in this day and age that what is sacred to the indigenous people is not respected by some people. It is unfortunate that the value of our ancestral heritage and indigenous spirituality is not respected by some. The only value these people seem to have in their hearts is money and power. It seems that, they enjoy running over, native people, fish and foul and breaking up the Sacred Wheel of our Native American way of life. It is also sad to note that we as Native Americans, must now be forced to buy back our own lands and sacred sites. We hope and pray to the Creator that our brothers and sisters of Turtle Island will not abandon us in this time of need. We are all one Nation of Amikekia also known as The Caguama (The Great Mother Sea Turtle). Respectfully Yours, Pedro Guanikeyu Torres Cacike/ Principal Chief of the Jatibonicu Taino Tribe of Boriken Puerto Rico Taino Tribal Council of Jatibonicu Boriken PO Box #253 Orocovis, Puerto Rico 00720-0253 Karlos Rodriquez Nitayno/ Sub-Chief of The Tekesta Taino Tribal Band of Bimini Florida Tekesta Taino Tribal Band of Bimini Florida PO Box #6080 Deltona, Florida 32728-06080 (C) Copyright: Jatibonicu Taino Tribe of Boriken Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/

United States Regional Tribal Affairs Office Puerto Rico

Press Release, 18 July 20020

Tau Tribal Members and Other Interested Parties,

The Taino Tribal Council of Jatibonicu has established its United States Regional Taino Tribal Affiars Office at Don Collins Cigars, 153 Calle Tetuan, Old san Juan, Puerto Rico 00901, Telephone (787) 977-2983. The Taino Tribal Council is calling for citizens of Puerto Rico or mainland US who believe they have Taino blood Lines to register their names and addresses in the Official Taino Indian Registry Book at Don Colins Cigars in Old San Juan, PR. Don Collins Cigars are lending the Taino Tribal Council office the space and other administrative services free of charge. Conact E-mail: sales@don-collins.com for more information.

Please copy and paste to help us disseminate this information.

Sincerely, Rev. Sylvia Inaruki Collazo, Director: Public Relations
Office of Taino Tribal Affairs (Tribal Representative)
The Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation Council Government

TRIBAL GOVERNMENT CONTACT INFORMATION:
Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken, PR
http://www.taino-tribe.org/jatiboni.html
El Consejo Taino de Jatibonicu
PO Box #253, Orocovis, PR 00720-0253

US Regional Taino Tribal Affiars Office, PR
Don Collins Cigars 153 Calle Tetuan
Old san Juan, Puerto Rico 00901
Telephone (787) 977-2983

Tekesta Taino Tribal Band of Bimini Florida, USA
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Tekesta/
Tekesta Taino Tribal Band of Bimini Florida
8902 N. Military Trail, #315 Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410

Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Band of New Jersey, USA
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/taino/jatibonuco.html
The Taino Tribal Council of Jatibonicu:
US Regional Tribal Affairs Office, NJ
703 South 8th St. Vineland, NJ 08360
Tel: 1-856-690-1565 Fax: 856-690-1312

Tribal Motto: Like A Mountain We Stand Alone
Tribal Name: Great People of The Sacred High Waters
Tribal Affiliation:: Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken
Member: Pan Tribal Confederacy of AmerIndian Tribal Nations
(C) All Rights Reserved FHDJ, Inc of Orocovis, Puerto Rico