The Myth of Indigenous Caribbean Extinction: Continuity and Reclamation in Borikén (Puerto Rico)
by Tony Castanha
by Tony Castanha
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong>
This page <strong>in</strong>tentionally left blank
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Reclamation</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong> (<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>)<br />
Tony Castanha
THE MYTH OF INDIGENOUS CARIBBEAN EXTINCTION<br />
Copyright © Tony Castanha, 2011.<br />
All rights reserved.<br />
First published <strong>in</strong> 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® <strong>in</strong> the<br />
United States—a division <strong>of</strong> St. Mart<strong>in</strong>’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth<br />
Avenue, New York, NY 10010<br />
Where this book is distributed <strong>in</strong> the UK, Europe <strong>and</strong> the rest <strong>of</strong><br />
the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division <strong>of</strong> Macmillan<br />
Publishers Limited, registered <strong>in</strong> Engl<strong>and</strong>, company number 785998,<br />
<strong>of</strong> Houndmills, Bas<strong>in</strong>gstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.<br />
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic impr<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> the above<br />
companies <strong>and</strong> has companies <strong>and</strong> representatives throughout the<br />
world.<br />
Palgrave® <strong>and</strong> Macmillan® are registered trademarks <strong>in</strong> the United<br />
States, the United K<strong>in</strong>gdom, Europe <strong>and</strong> other countries.<br />
ISBN: 978-0-230-62025-4<br />
Library <strong>of</strong> Congress Catalog<strong>in</strong>g-<strong>in</strong>-Publication Data<br />
Castanha, Tony.<br />
<strong>The</strong> myth <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction : cont<strong>in</strong>uity <strong>and</strong><br />
reclamation <strong>in</strong> Boriken (<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>) / Tony Castanha.<br />
p. cm.<br />
ISBN 978-0-230-62025-4 (hardback)<br />
1. Ta<strong>in</strong>o Indians—<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>—History. 2. Ta<strong>in</strong>o Indians—First<br />
contact with Europeans—<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. 3. Indians, Treatment <strong>of</strong>—<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. 4. Jíbaro (<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican identity) 5. <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>—<br />
Population. 6. America—Discovery <strong>and</strong> exploration—Spanish. 7.<br />
Columbus, Christopher—Influence. I. Title.<br />
F1619.2.T3C37 2011<br />
305.868'7295—dc22 2010025263<br />
Design by Scribe Inc.<br />
First edition: January 2011<br />
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1<br />
Pr<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong> the United States <strong>of</strong> America.
For my parents, <strong>and</strong><br />
the late Ronald Arroyo
This page <strong>in</strong>tentionally left blank
Contents<br />
Acknowledgments<br />
ix<br />
Preface: Still <strong>The</strong>re, Always Have Been<br />
xi<br />
1 A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 1<br />
2 <strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 21<br />
3 Early Resistance <strong>and</strong> Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> 51<br />
4 Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 67<br />
5 <strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 89<br />
6 Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 109<br />
7 Conclusion 133<br />
Notes 139<br />
Glossary 169<br />
Bibliography 171<br />
Index 179
This page <strong>in</strong>tentionally left blank
Acknowledgments<br />
This book would never have been realized if it had not been for my<br />
<strong>in</strong>terviewees <strong>and</strong> the Jíbaro I have spent countless hours with. I am<br />
grateful, for they <strong>of</strong>ten took me <strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> shared their food, homes,<br />
stories, knowledge, <strong>and</strong> lives with me. I wish to especially thank Margarita<br />
Nogueras-Vidal for her time, patience, <strong>and</strong> knowledge <strong>of</strong> the<br />
deep spiritual roots <strong>of</strong> our ancestors <strong>and</strong> people, <strong>and</strong> to the late Oki<br />
Lamourt-Valentín, whose push for the dialectic is unmatched. I am<br />
very appreciative <strong>of</strong> those who helped me <strong>in</strong> other ways such as lend<strong>in</strong>g<br />
moral, academic, or technical support. Muchas gracias to Ibrahim<br />
Aoude, Christ<strong>in</strong>a Arce, Kekuni Blaisdell, Guy <strong>and</strong> John Castanha, Jeff<br />
Corntassel, Lynette Hi‘ilani Cruz, Monisha Das Gupta, Masahide<br />
Kato, V<strong>in</strong>cent Kelly Pollard, Joanna Soto-Aviles, Dom<strong>in</strong>ga Trusdell,<br />
Leeta Wolfblack, Warren Nishimoto, Susan Schill<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> Ty Kawika<br />
Tengan. Special thanks to Lorena García-Alej<strong>and</strong>ro for all her translations,<br />
<strong>and</strong> to Nelsonrafael Collazo for the use <strong>of</strong> the replicas <strong>of</strong> the<br />
petroglyphs from his book, Imágenes del Indio <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueño. I have<br />
had my eyes on these for a long time. I would f<strong>in</strong>ally like to thank the<br />
members <strong>of</strong> my dissertation committee at the University <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i at<br />
Mānoa—Kathryn Takara, Lou Ann Ha‘aheo Guanson, Michael Shapiro,<br />
Nevzat Soguk, Leslie Sponsel, <strong>and</strong> especially Glenn Paige—for all<br />
their help <strong>and</strong> assistance along the way.
This page <strong>in</strong>tentionally left blank
Preface<br />
Still <strong>The</strong>re, Always Have Been<br />
<strong>The</strong>y are still there. <strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> (or <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>) are still there <strong>and</strong> have been s<strong>in</strong>ce time immemorial. Such a<br />
statement will elicit surprise <strong>and</strong> wonder from many <strong>and</strong> skepticism<br />
<strong>and</strong> scorn from others. But it is true, <strong>and</strong> it is what will be shown<br />
<strong>in</strong> the pages that follow. I sat down a couple <strong>of</strong> years ago with a 94<br />
year-old elder who told me both her mother <strong>and</strong> father were “<strong>in</strong>dio”<br />
<strong>and</strong> that she had struggled her whole life. She used to be a cu<strong>and</strong>era<br />
(medic<strong>in</strong>al healer) <strong>and</strong> was from a northern coastal town. This woman<br />
had lived a fairly traditional lifestyle with modern amenities. I met<br />
another native elder, 106 years old by his account. He said his mother<br />
used to tell him about the atrocities the Spaniards had committed <strong>in</strong><br />
the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century <strong>and</strong> that a lot <strong>of</strong> Indian people had been fight<strong>in</strong>g<br />
them at that time. Not formally religious, he considered himself a<br />
very spiritual man who believed <strong>in</strong> re<strong>in</strong>carnation. Now these sorts <strong>of</strong><br />
testimonials are not supposed to occur if we are talk<strong>in</strong>g about a people<br />
who have been “ext<strong>in</strong>ct” for over four <strong>and</strong> a half centuries. But I have<br />
found these types <strong>of</strong> stories to be abundant on the isl<strong>and</strong>. It is as if<br />
only the people themselves would refra<strong>in</strong> from amazement regard<strong>in</strong>g<br />
our statement, as if only they knew <strong>of</strong> their true history. And there<br />
are many <strong>of</strong> them. <strong>The</strong>y populate the many barrios <strong>of</strong> particularly the<br />
rural <strong>and</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong> regions <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, <strong>and</strong> coastal areas too.<br />
Whole communities <strong>of</strong> Jíbaro Indian people have survived the Spanish<br />
<strong>and</strong> American colonization process <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ue to practice their<br />
cultural traditions today.<br />
Indeed, I was a little surprised myself to uncover the rich body <strong>of</strong><br />
oral history <strong>and</strong> tradition from my latest trip to <strong>Borikén</strong>. I was already<br />
aware <strong>of</strong> <strong>and</strong> had revealed <strong>in</strong> my doctoral work a few years earlier the<br />
resistance <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ued survival <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>in</strong>habitants. 1 Much<br />
<strong>of</strong> this study focused on the fifteenth <strong>and</strong> sixteenth-century Indo-<br />
European contact era lead<strong>in</strong>g to the late-eighteenth-century native
xii<br />
preface<br />
presence. <strong>The</strong> sixteenth-century ext<strong>in</strong>ction theory had been unraveled.<br />
A contemporary presence was also ethnologically provided, but<br />
more so <strong>in</strong> the form <strong>of</strong> a movement or revitalization process. However,<br />
my travels <strong>and</strong> f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> 2008 would uncover a very recent<br />
history. <strong>The</strong> oral tradition <strong>and</strong> memory exposed a vivid n<strong>in</strong>eteenth<strong>and</strong><br />
twentieth-century story. This filled <strong>in</strong> the blanks <strong>of</strong> the past two<br />
hundred years. <strong>The</strong> sixteenth-century colonial period was suddenly<br />
transported forward three centuries as this immortalized era became<br />
a n<strong>in</strong>eteenth-century one, s<strong>in</strong>ce the Spanish had not colonized many<br />
areas <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> until this time. For many Jíbaro, the <strong>in</strong>truders were<br />
previously nowhere to be found on account <strong>of</strong> their will, <strong>in</strong>novation,<br />
<strong>and</strong> love <strong>of</strong> freedom. So when I was told numerous times how the<br />
Spaniards would “throw the babies up” <strong>and</strong> let them “fall on their<br />
swords,” this was a gruesome tale <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>deed a recent history told by<br />
the children <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>children <strong>of</strong> those who had lived dur<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
time <strong>of</strong> “el componte.” This documented period <strong>of</strong> torture dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the second half <strong>of</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century, when the colonizer went<br />
“door to door” rap<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> pillag<strong>in</strong>g, came alive through the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
voice. Here, representation is important <strong>in</strong> account<strong>in</strong>g for one’s<br />
knowledge <strong>and</strong> experiences. 2 <strong>Indigenous</strong> peoples 3 share the common<br />
bond <strong>of</strong> hav<strong>in</strong>g experienced <strong>and</strong> endured Western imperialism, so it is<br />
vital to develop voices with<strong>in</strong> communities need<strong>in</strong>g representation <strong>in</strong><br />
order to address past <strong>and</strong> present grievances <strong>and</strong> issues. As the oldest<br />
colony <strong>in</strong> the hemisphere, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> fits this description <strong>and</strong> model<br />
quite well. <strong>The</strong>refore, this is a very serious matter. It is not a depiction<br />
<strong>of</strong> a “romanticized” past but <strong>of</strong> a people struggl<strong>in</strong>g right now under<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican criollo <strong>and</strong> American “gr<strong>in</strong>go” dom<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>and</strong> control.<br />
My own personal journey <strong>of</strong> struggle had led me to this po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>in</strong><br />
time, <strong>and</strong> the tell<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> an alternative story <strong>of</strong> our people is the impetus<br />
for this writ<strong>in</strong>g. My family on my mother’s side, who emigrated from<br />
<strong>Borikén</strong> to work on the sugar plantations <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i at the turn <strong>of</strong><br />
the twentieth century, were Jíbaro or Boricua people. In 1996, as my<br />
brother <strong>and</strong> I were stroll<strong>in</strong>g through a store <strong>in</strong> the sleepy rural town<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yauco where our family is from, we came upon a children’s pamphlet<br />
<strong>of</strong> colored draw<strong>in</strong>gs portray<strong>in</strong>g the Indian people <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>.<br />
We were quite surprised <strong>and</strong> excited to see such noble depictions <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples, s<strong>in</strong>ce the objective <strong>of</strong> our trip was to f<strong>in</strong>d out<br />
more about our family roots <strong>and</strong> native ancestry. <strong>The</strong> pamphlet provided<br />
<strong>in</strong> pictures <strong>and</strong> simple captions brief lessons <strong>in</strong> village life <strong>and</strong><br />
some cultural customs <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>habitants such as the types <strong>of</strong> houses<br />
they lived <strong>in</strong>, the musical <strong>in</strong>struments they played, <strong>and</strong> their means <strong>of</strong><br />
subsistent farm<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> fish<strong>in</strong>g. It all looked very appeal<strong>in</strong>g—that is,
preface<br />
xiii<br />
until the arrival <strong>of</strong> the Spaniards. <strong>The</strong> people were enslaved <strong>and</strong> forced<br />
to work <strong>and</strong> pan for gold. <strong>The</strong>y then reorganized <strong>and</strong> rebelled aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />
the colonizer. This seemed accurate enough until the very last draw<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Here a conquistador triumphantly st<strong>and</strong>s over a dead Indian. <strong>The</strong><br />
caption read, “Exterm<strong>in</strong>io De Nuestros Indios.” Beh<strong>in</strong>d the Spaniard<br />
st<strong>and</strong>s a somber <strong>and</strong> attractive native woman, still very much alive,<br />
presumably to be assimilated <strong>in</strong>to the Spanish patriarchic realm.<br />
Most <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican third graders brows<strong>in</strong>g through this book<br />
would get the vivid impression that the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> the<br />
isl<strong>and</strong> were long gone, exterm<strong>in</strong>ated right after the Spanish com<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
That f<strong>in</strong>al draw<strong>in</strong>g would create an <strong>in</strong>delible mark not easily erased.<br />
And this is just about the way the history <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
peoples has been meant to be portrayed for the past five centuries<br />
or so. <strong>The</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>ound paradox is that this “ext<strong>in</strong>ction” has been so<br />
<strong>in</strong>ternalized that many descendants have been completely disconnected<br />
from their native ancestry <strong>and</strong> cultural heritage. This form<br />
<strong>of</strong> cultural genocide has been a trend for many <strong>in</strong>digenous groups,<br />
not unlike the ramifications <strong>of</strong> the board<strong>in</strong>g schools experience <strong>and</strong><br />
enrollment policies for Native Americans <strong>in</strong> North America. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
<strong>in</strong>tended to transform the <strong>in</strong>dividual <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> turn created a false image<br />
<strong>of</strong> the native. <strong>The</strong> Cherokee writer Thomas K<strong>in</strong>g expla<strong>in</strong>s that the<br />
idea <strong>of</strong> “the Indian” 4 was “fixed <strong>in</strong> time <strong>and</strong> space,” <strong>and</strong> has been<br />
largely romanticized as an authentic view <strong>of</strong> the past. 5 In his summary<br />
<strong>of</strong> that distortion, “In the end, there is no reason for the Indian to be<br />
real. <strong>The</strong> Indian simply has to exist <strong>in</strong> our imag<strong>in</strong>ations.” 6 <strong>The</strong> dom<strong>in</strong>ant<br />
public view <strong>of</strong> contemporary <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples automatically<br />
reverts back to this manufactured “Hollywood” type <strong>of</strong> authenticity.<br />
<strong>The</strong> fact that all peoples <strong>and</strong> cultures are vibrant <strong>and</strong> adapt <strong>and</strong> change<br />
over time has been particularly lost on many <strong>in</strong>digenous cultures. As a<br />
result, this has contributed to the false notion <strong>of</strong> a people’s ext<strong>in</strong>ction.<br />
But there have been dissent<strong>in</strong>g voices. For <strong>in</strong>stance, both my mother<br />
<strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>mother had <strong>of</strong>ten rem<strong>in</strong>ded us children <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>children<br />
<strong>of</strong> our “Spanish-Indian” identity for as long as I can remember. This<br />
was always a curious th<strong>in</strong>g to me, s<strong>in</strong>ce there was really noth<strong>in</strong>g more<br />
to the story than that. My gr<strong>and</strong>mother had been separated from her<br />
Indian mother at an early age, so the cultural l<strong>in</strong>k to the family past<br />
had been severed. Yet, I was <strong>in</strong>nately connected <strong>in</strong> some way, <strong>and</strong><br />
grow<strong>in</strong>g up <strong>in</strong> a rural isl<strong>and</strong> environment helped. <strong>The</strong>re was always a<br />
part <strong>of</strong> me that knew that th<strong>in</strong>gs were not right, that someth<strong>in</strong>g was<br />
miss<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> this someth<strong>in</strong>g tremendously <strong>in</strong>fluenced my outlook,<br />
th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g, behavior, <strong>and</strong> attitude toward life. I was shy but <strong>in</strong>credibly<br />
rebellious for some strange reason. This “miss<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>k,” other
xiv<br />
preface<br />
than “test<strong>in</strong>g positive” for the “shovel-shaped” tooth, would come to<br />
expla<strong>in</strong> who I was as a person, where I came from, my becom<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong><br />
essence as a human be<strong>in</strong>g. Likewise, many Boriqueños have similar<br />
stories <strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g told <strong>of</strong> their Indian identity at an early age, <strong>and</strong> many<br />
have ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed an unbroken cultural connection to their ancestral<br />
past. In terms <strong>of</strong> identity <strong>and</strong> the diaspora, I th<strong>in</strong>k poet Juan Antonio<br />
Corretjer’s famous words, “I would be a Boricua, even if I were born<br />
on the moon,” sum up the connection <strong>and</strong> nostalgia many have for<br />
their native homel<strong>and</strong>. In Hawai‘i, the foods still eaten, Jíbaro music<br />
still played, <strong>and</strong> the characteristics <strong>of</strong> the people are testament to this.<br />
<strong>Myth</strong>s, memories, <strong>and</strong> stories have been also kept alive. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Rican community <strong>in</strong> Hawai‘i has always ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed a traditional loyalty<br />
to <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. This is typical <strong>of</strong> many diasporic communities. So<br />
while Hawai‘i is their adopted home where they came to be accepted<br />
by the host Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) culture, <strong>Borikén</strong> will<br />
always be the <strong>in</strong>digenous ancestral homel<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Boricua, wherever<br />
they may be. I would also add that I believe there is an important<br />
<strong>in</strong>herent solidarity <strong>and</strong> sense <strong>of</strong> justice between my “native self” <strong>and</strong><br />
my activism <strong>and</strong> support for Kanaka Maoli rights <strong>and</strong> movement for<br />
sovereignty <strong>and</strong> self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation. My “rebelliousness” <strong>and</strong> thirst for<br />
freedom has been somewhat transported to Hawai‘i <strong>and</strong> has naturally<br />
driven me to help support this important cause.<br />
<strong>The</strong> full realization <strong>of</strong> my Boricua roots would not come about<br />
until my midthirties, when I was read<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>troduction to my late<br />
cous<strong>in</strong>’s, Ronald Arroyo, doctoral thesis <strong>of</strong> 1977. Here I found out he<br />
was writ<strong>in</strong>g about the over five thous<strong>and</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans who went to<br />
Hawai‘i between 1900 <strong>and</strong> 1901. This took place after the hurricane<br />
San Ciriaco had devastated the southwestern region <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong> 1899, kill<strong>in</strong>g over three thous<strong>and</strong> people. Regard<strong>in</strong>g the derogatory<br />
ways these people were portrayed after their arrival, he posed<br />
the question, “Who were these <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans that they should <strong>in</strong>cur<br />
the wrath <strong>of</strong> historians <strong>and</strong> writers?” 7 Learn<strong>in</strong>g from the storytellers<br />
<strong>in</strong> his family <strong>and</strong> through <strong>in</strong>terviews <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>formation ascerta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
from the first generation <strong>of</strong> immigrants, at a time when it was still not<br />
quite “popular” to be “<strong>in</strong>digenous,” he wrote that they referred to<br />
themselves as “Boricuas” or “Boriqueños,” that they were people who<br />
were “Boricua <strong>in</strong>dians,” <strong>and</strong> that they were “proud <strong>of</strong> their <strong>in</strong>dian<br />
culture as <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Boriquen.” 8 <strong>The</strong>y also identified<br />
as “Jíbaro,” whose orig<strong>in</strong> is <strong>in</strong>digenous (“es de origen <strong>in</strong>dio”). 9<br />
Arroyo wrote the Spaniards also called them “jibaros.” 10 <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro<br />
are the people <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>, the campes<strong>in</strong>o farmers who have tilled<br />
the soil forever. As the late Carib-Jíbaro l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>and</strong> scholar Oki
preface<br />
xv<br />
Lamourt-Valentín expla<strong>in</strong>ed, “We are the people who call ourselves<br />
the ‘Jíbaro’ <strong>and</strong> refer to ourselves as, with<strong>in</strong> the context <strong>of</strong> a nationality:<br />
‘Boricuas’, while our country is called ‘Bor<strong>in</strong>quen’ . . . from which<br />
can be seen that these are native language terms.” 11 I, too, have found<br />
that the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> primarily referred to<br />
themselves as Jíbaro. This is the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal word, or form <strong>of</strong> the word<br />
as expla<strong>in</strong>ed below, the people called themselves before the European<br />
arrival <strong>and</strong> the name they still call themselves today. <strong>The</strong>y also identify<br />
as Boricua, as derived from the Indian name <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. 12 <strong>The</strong> names<br />
Boricua, Boriqueño <strong>and</strong> Boricano draw on a national sentiment, used<br />
with “a tone <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>timacy <strong>and</strong> endearment” <strong>in</strong> speech, poetry, popular<br />
songs, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> “all that refers to the character, customs, <strong>and</strong> sentiments<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>habitants.” 13 <strong>The</strong>refore, Jíbaro or Boricua are the ma<strong>in</strong> names<br />
I use <strong>in</strong> this book to refer to the Indian people <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>.<br />
I will also use the words “<strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong>” or “Carib” as<br />
general names for the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> the “<strong>Caribbean</strong>” or “Antillean”<br />
region. <strong>The</strong>re has been considerable controversy about nam<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>and</strong> the division <strong>of</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples that should be touched on here,<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> which I exp<strong>and</strong>ed on <strong>in</strong> my dissertation. <strong>The</strong> Spaniards, like<br />
other European imperial powers, were keen to divide the people they<br />
encountered out <strong>of</strong> their own moral, political, <strong>and</strong> economic <strong>in</strong>terests.<br />
I believe this was also the case <strong>in</strong> the Antilles as eternalized <strong>in</strong> the<br />
largely imag<strong>in</strong>ed ethnical <strong>and</strong> cultural rift created between the “peaceful<br />
Arawaks” <strong>and</strong> “man-eat<strong>in</strong>g Caribs.” In contrast, many scholars<br />
have argued that <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> groups are “closely related.” 14<br />
As they “shared a common material culture,” 15 the social <strong>and</strong> cultural<br />
customs <strong>and</strong> practices between the two ma<strong>in</strong> groups were very similar.<br />
This suggests that other than slightly vary<strong>in</strong>g socioeconomic conditions<br />
depend<strong>in</strong>g largely on isl<strong>and</strong> topography, those present <strong>in</strong> the<br />
region were essentially <strong>of</strong> the same family <strong>of</strong> people.<br />
What regional name did they call themselves, if any at all? Most<br />
scholars realize that the name “Taíno,” like the word “Arawak,” was<br />
not used by <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples as a term <strong>of</strong> self-ascription.<br />
<strong>The</strong> word was used as an adjectival, taken from the word “nitayno,”<br />
which related to one’s rank with<strong>in</strong> society, <strong>and</strong> is basically nonexistent<br />
<strong>in</strong> family histories. <strong>The</strong> name was first affixed to the people <strong>and</strong> language<br />
<strong>of</strong> Haití by Cornelius Raf<strong>in</strong>esque <strong>and</strong> others <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth<br />
century. It became popularized <strong>in</strong> the twentieth century through the<br />
anthropological works <strong>of</strong> Jesse Walter Fewkes, M. R. Harr<strong>in</strong>gton,<br />
Sven Lovén, Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse, <strong>and</strong> Ricardo Alegría. However, the name<br />
“Caribes” or “Caribs” was orig<strong>in</strong>ally attributed to a people by the<br />
Indian people Columbus came upon on his first voyage as noted <strong>in</strong>
xvi<br />
preface<br />
his journal. 16 It is said they were referr<strong>in</strong>g to their “enemies,” but, as<br />
an apparent form <strong>of</strong> resistance, they were really play<strong>in</strong>g jokes on the<br />
admiral <strong>and</strong> try<strong>in</strong>g to get rid <strong>of</strong> him. Many scholars have attributed<br />
a Carib presence to the northern Antilles. Fewkes repeatedly does <strong>in</strong><br />
his 1907 report. 17 Eugenio Fernández-Méndez po<strong>in</strong>ted out that it is<br />
evident to many writers that the Carib resided <strong>in</strong> the northern Antilles<br />
<strong>in</strong> ancient times. 18 <strong>The</strong> Carib lived there, <strong>and</strong> the “men <strong>of</strong> Caniba,”<br />
who Columbus eventually equates to the “canibales,” or “man-eaters,”<br />
turn out to be the people on the unvisited isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. 19<br />
As noted by Lamourt-Valentín, <strong>and</strong> others, Caniba was <strong>in</strong>deed the<br />
northwestern territory <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. 20 Exp<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g on the etymology<br />
<strong>of</strong> the word Jíbaro, the equivalent <strong>of</strong> the Indian name Guajiro <strong>in</strong><br />
Cuba, Lamourt-Valentín expla<strong>in</strong>s that Jíbaro is “a native eponymous<br />
term for Carib (<strong>Caribbean</strong>: can/(j)íbaro - canibaro - Caribe).” 21 <strong>The</strong>re<br />
is also a discussion <strong>of</strong> the orig<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> the word Jíbaro (with a reference<br />
to the word “kanjibaro”) <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>troduction to the 1992 edition<br />
<strong>of</strong> Manuel Alonso’s El Jibaro, but without consideration <strong>of</strong> the place<br />
name Caniba. 22 So as can be seen above, the name Carib or Caribe<br />
emerged from Jíbaro (Canibaro), which, <strong>in</strong> turn, is derived from the<br />
place name, Caniba. When asked years later <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> town <strong>of</strong><br />
Lares what name the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples called themselves, Lamourt-<br />
Valentín replied, “Jíbaro.” “We are Jíbaro.” “We are Indians.” “We<br />
are the Caribs.” 23 <strong>The</strong> regional term, “<strong>Caribbean</strong>,” was further taken<br />
from the people who were liv<strong>in</strong>g there. All <strong>in</strong> all, I therefore use the<br />
name Carib to denote the Indian people <strong>of</strong> the region.<br />
In terms <strong>of</strong> the identities <strong>of</strong> my oral sources, while I reveal the full<br />
names <strong>of</strong> most <strong>of</strong> my <strong>in</strong>terviewees, I use only the native names <strong>of</strong><br />
others. Indian names have cont<strong>in</strong>ued to be used over time, <strong>of</strong>ten as<br />
a sign <strong>of</strong> resistance to the imposition <strong>of</strong> Spanish names. Many people<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> have formal Indian names <strong>and</strong> apodos (nicknames). <strong>The</strong>se<br />
carry real life mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> stories <strong>and</strong> are most appropriately utilized<br />
<strong>in</strong> this text. Three <strong>of</strong> my <strong>in</strong>terviewees wished to rema<strong>in</strong> anonymous,<br />
so I use the names the “Jíbaro man,” “Pepe,” <strong>and</strong> “Cuko” to identify<br />
them. <strong>The</strong>y all have their own Indian apodos.<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, I would like to expla<strong>in</strong> the significance <strong>of</strong> the snake on the<br />
cover. In <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> tradition, the energy <strong>of</strong> the serpent<br />
represents the Earth Mother <strong>and</strong> the waters <strong>of</strong> life. It is a symbol <strong>of</strong><br />
cont<strong>in</strong>uity, a ma<strong>in</strong> theme <strong>of</strong> this book, <strong>and</strong> unity <strong>of</strong> the female <strong>and</strong><br />
male energies. <strong>The</strong> snake is also a symbol <strong>of</strong> awaken<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> the com<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> a new era. 24
Chapter 1<br />
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History<br />
A radical history present<strong>in</strong>g a new version <strong>of</strong> the past will usually<br />
draw on new sources, even though those sources might well be “new”<br />
only <strong>in</strong> the sense that the dom<strong>in</strong>ant version had repressed them by<br />
never even consider<strong>in</strong>g them as sources. With<strong>in</strong> this model <strong>of</strong> radical<br />
history there are then two <strong>in</strong>terdependent but separable moments:<br />
first, a critique <strong>of</strong> exist<strong>in</strong>g versions, partly dependent upon, second,<br />
the presentation <strong>of</strong> alternative <strong>and</strong> contradictory evidence. This<br />
model has its anti-colonial equivalent <strong>in</strong> the rediscovery <strong>of</strong> native<br />
sources that <strong>of</strong>fer a different <strong>and</strong> reveal<strong>in</strong>g light on colonial events<br />
<strong>and</strong> issues. 1<br />
<strong>The</strong> “new version” <strong>of</strong> history presented <strong>in</strong> this book is <strong>in</strong>deed not<br />
new, but one that has been repressed <strong>and</strong>, for the most part, has only<br />
recently been publicly revealed. <strong>The</strong> history <strong>of</strong> the “West Indian” is<br />
neither brief, nor is colonialism “the very base <strong>and</strong> structure <strong>of</strong> the West<br />
Indian cultural awareness,” as has been said. 2 <strong>The</strong> story <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> is <strong>in</strong>complete for it has been primarily told from the<br />
po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>and</strong> perspective <strong>of</strong> European contact <strong>and</strong> colonial <strong>and</strong> neocolonial<br />
bias. Consequently, the most significant body <strong>of</strong> sources that have<br />
been repressed has been the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples themselves. While I am<br />
partly dependent on ma<strong>in</strong>stream sources, this work is an attempt to<br />
draw on alternative sources <strong>of</strong> written <strong>and</strong> oral <strong>in</strong>formation to allow,<br />
most importantly, the <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> voice to speak <strong>and</strong> to<br />
become better recognized, for this voice has rema<strong>in</strong>ed silent for far too<br />
long. A Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o from Lares remarked to me awhile ago, “<strong>The</strong><br />
history was not written by the Indians.” He said government <strong>of</strong>ficials<br />
have come to their communities <strong>and</strong> asked questions, but they don’t<br />
write down what the people say. If these <strong>of</strong>ficials gave the Jíbaro the
2<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
notebook <strong>and</strong> pen, the history would be very different accord<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
him. 3 Another Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o affirmed, “<strong>The</strong> history that is written<br />
is not the real one. We know the real history.” He commented that he<br />
wanted to write down or get out what he knows because many people<br />
want to “take out” what they know. He seemed pleased to be able to<br />
share some <strong>of</strong> his <strong>in</strong>sight <strong>and</strong> knowledge with me. 4<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the greatest myths ever told <strong>in</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> history is that the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>of</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>ly the northern Antilles 5 were ext<strong>in</strong>guished<br />
by the Spaniards around the mid-sixteenth century. Many<br />
scholars have fallen prey to this manufactured ideology. This belief has<br />
been passed down through the centuries a priori <strong>and</strong> has dom<strong>in</strong>ated<br />
the ma<strong>in</strong>stream outside perception <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples.<br />
I say “outside” referr<strong>in</strong>g to the dom<strong>in</strong>ant thought held by the outside<br />
world <strong>and</strong> by most who are non-native to the region. This is because<br />
many Indian descendents have <strong>in</strong> fact known who they are <strong>and</strong> have<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ued to practice their culture. Many others have<br />
had some knowledge <strong>of</strong> their background, <strong>and</strong> some are <strong>in</strong> the process<br />
<strong>of</strong> recover<strong>in</strong>g their heritage. One might thus wonder how it was<br />
possible for the people who Christopher Columbus stumbled upon<br />
<strong>and</strong> subsequently committed ethnocide <strong>and</strong> genocide aga<strong>in</strong>st to have<br />
survived the encounter. 6 This book seeks to unravel this dilemma.<br />
With a focus on the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, I primarily provide a political<br />
history <strong>and</strong> ethnological account <strong>of</strong> five centuries <strong>of</strong> Carib or<br />
Jíbaro Indian resistance <strong>and</strong> cultural survival <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity with<strong>in</strong><br />
native communities or barrios today. To be clear, this work debunks<br />
the deeply held belief <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction. Cultural<br />
survival <strong>and</strong> affiliation are the bases <strong>of</strong> the contemporary <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. Some key questions addressed are the follow<strong>in</strong>g:<br />
How were sixteenth-century theories advanc<strong>in</strong>g the “discovery,”<br />
dehumanization, <strong>and</strong> “ext<strong>in</strong>ction” <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples<br />
mythologically produced? What were the early forms <strong>of</strong> resistance<br />
<strong>and</strong> survival tactics used that contributed to the ma<strong>in</strong>tenance <strong>of</strong> one’s<br />
human dignity <strong>and</strong> sense <strong>of</strong> equilibrium? How did passive resistance<br />
transform the <strong>in</strong>digenous population from the seventeenth to late<br />
eighteenth century? How did the Jíbaro <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>and</strong> shape n<strong>in</strong>eteenth<br />
<strong>and</strong> parts <strong>of</strong> twentieth-century <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican society, <strong>and</strong> what<br />
does the contemporary native voice have to say about this? And what<br />
is the mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> cultural survival, cont<strong>in</strong>uity, <strong>and</strong> the movement for<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence among the Jíbaro-Boricua today?
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 3<br />
<strong>Indigenous</strong> Presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong><br />
To beg<strong>in</strong>, it is necessary to underst<strong>and</strong> three areas regard<strong>in</strong>g some<br />
pr<strong>in</strong>cipal ideas surround<strong>in</strong>g the modern-day <strong>in</strong>digenous presence <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong>. I will call them the “authentic past,” the “revitalization process<br />
<strong>and</strong> resurgence,” <strong>and</strong> “native cont<strong>in</strong>uity,” periodically discuss<strong>in</strong>g<br />
these themes throughout the book. <strong>The</strong>se areas could also be <strong>and</strong> have<br />
been applied to other <strong>in</strong>digenous groups <strong>and</strong> peoples <strong>in</strong> general. <strong>The</strong><br />
notion <strong>of</strong> the “authentic past” romanticizes <strong>and</strong> situates the “Indian”<br />
as a fixture <strong>of</strong> a long ago past. Time st<strong>and</strong>s still, which disallows for<br />
change <strong>and</strong> fuels images <strong>and</strong> beliefs like <strong>of</strong> the “red man,” “cannibal,”<br />
“noble savage,” <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> an <strong>in</strong>evitable ext<strong>in</strong>ction. <strong>The</strong>se ideas began to<br />
develop <strong>in</strong> the sixteenth century <strong>and</strong> came to dom<strong>in</strong>ate the perception<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> world. <strong>The</strong> early Spanish colonizers <strong>and</strong><br />
chroniclers were most responsible for perpetuat<strong>in</strong>g such stereotypes<br />
<strong>and</strong> eras<strong>in</strong>g the people out <strong>of</strong> the history books. S<strong>in</strong>ce the epistemological<br />
<strong>and</strong> ontological boundaries <strong>of</strong> the early history <strong>and</strong> literature<br />
had been written through colonial eyes, key fallacies have been passed<br />
down <strong>and</strong> unequivocally accepted by many scholars <strong>and</strong> society <strong>in</strong><br />
general. This is symptomatic <strong>of</strong> the colonial histories written about<br />
many <strong>in</strong>digenous groups, the myth <strong>of</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction be<strong>in</strong>g one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
most damag<strong>in</strong>g aspects <strong>of</strong> this narrative.<br />
Ironically, the Spanish <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> had cont<strong>in</strong>ued to measure certa<strong>in</strong><br />
segments <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous population through census records, but<br />
the “racial triad” portrait <strong>of</strong> the “<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican” as a mixture <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Indian, African, <strong>and</strong> Spaniard effectively elim<strong>in</strong>ated the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
presence by the end <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth century. Spanish censuses after<br />
1799 removed the category “Indians” when the governor was “faced<br />
with the difficulty <strong>of</strong> fix<strong>in</strong>g ethnic orig<strong>in</strong>s.” 7 <strong>The</strong> birth <strong>of</strong> a <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Rican nationalist identity conveniently formed at the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century. Those who set the political boundaries <strong>of</strong> the<br />
national consciousness were the colonial Spanish <strong>and</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
criollo elite (or “locally born whites,” accord<strong>in</strong>g to Adalberto López),<br />
who were socially <strong>and</strong> politically conservative <strong>and</strong> displayed a “fear<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>and</strong> contempt for the masses.” 8 <strong>The</strong> “masses” here were primarily<br />
the tens <strong>of</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Jíbaro who rema<strong>in</strong>ed a free people at this<br />
time, <strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number <strong>of</strong> African slaves be<strong>in</strong>g brought to<br />
the isl<strong>and</strong>. Not surpris<strong>in</strong>gly, the push for national <strong>in</strong>tegration based<br />
on a capitalist-driven market economy <strong>of</strong>ten came at the expense<br />
<strong>of</strong> the economic, social, cultural, <strong>and</strong> spiritual values <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
societies worldwide. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican elite then came to expropriate<br />
the Indian as a national symbol <strong>and</strong> assertion aga<strong>in</strong>st the Spanish
4<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
authorities. This development would “consolidate the transmutation”<br />
<strong>of</strong> the native “from a recognized group <strong>and</strong> a liv<strong>in</strong>g population <strong>in</strong>to a<br />
symbol to be revived, romanticized <strong>and</strong> manipulated.” 9 This cultural<br />
nationalist ideology promoted the image <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
as frozen <strong>in</strong> time, the l<strong>in</strong>k with the ancestral past now severed. This<br />
idea goes h<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> h<strong>and</strong> with the anthropological concept <strong>of</strong> time <strong>in</strong><br />
relation to the “Other.” Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Johannes Fabian, “<strong>The</strong> posited<br />
authenticity <strong>of</strong> a past (savage, tribal, peasant) serves to denounce an<br />
<strong>in</strong>authentic present (the uprooted, évolués, acculturated).” 10<br />
For many <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican scholars today, this break <strong>in</strong> time means<br />
that while there may be “traces” <strong>of</strong> biological (or physical) <strong>and</strong> cultural<br />
characteristics, the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples “themselves” are long<br />
gone, with no possibility or hope for cont<strong>in</strong>uity or recovery. It seems<br />
<strong>in</strong>credible to some how an Indian identity could be asserted with<strong>in</strong><br />
a multiethnic societal context. Archeologists are fond <strong>of</strong> display<strong>in</strong>g<br />
native skeletal rema<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> museums or from recently excavated sites,<br />
with big smiles on their faces as their photos are snapped. Yet when<br />
someone dares to make an ancestral claim to these rema<strong>in</strong>s, they are<br />
immediately dismissed <strong>and</strong> scorned <strong>in</strong> the process. “Our Indians” are<br />
“ext<strong>in</strong>ct,” the authorities say, but they certa<strong>in</strong>ly were here before!<br />
Richard Grounds po<strong>in</strong>ts out how the adjective “ext<strong>in</strong>ct” <strong>in</strong> modern<br />
dictionaries commonly refers to animals, volcanoes, <strong>and</strong> species,<br />
but obviously not to the human species. <strong>The</strong> exception to the rule is<br />
how the mean<strong>in</strong>g is applied to a certa<strong>in</strong> group <strong>of</strong> humans, specifically<br />
“Native Americans.” 11 <strong>The</strong> Webster’s Third New International Dictionary,<br />
which Grounds cites, seems to be keen to his next po<strong>in</strong>t, perhaps<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the possible consequences <strong>of</strong> acknowledg<strong>in</strong>g a contemporary<br />
native presence, <strong>in</strong> redef<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the word. “Mov<strong>in</strong>g beyond the<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>al mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> dy<strong>in</strong>g out altogether, the dictionary has distilled<br />
the essence <strong>of</strong> one special use <strong>of</strong> the adjective. <strong>The</strong> new mean<strong>in</strong>g registered<br />
<strong>in</strong> the dictionary refers to someth<strong>in</strong>g ‘that no longer exists <strong>in</strong> its<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>al form.’” 12 Logically, this redef<strong>in</strong>ition could be applied to just<br />
about everyone today, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the Greeks, Spaniards, <strong>and</strong> Americans.<br />
<strong>The</strong> idea is most relevant to our study. It is true that Indian people<br />
today no longer exist <strong>in</strong> their “orig<strong>in</strong>al form.” As a consequence, they<br />
are <strong>of</strong>ten seen as nonexistent <strong>and</strong>, therefore, have no bus<strong>in</strong>ess mak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
bogus claims <strong>and</strong> assertions. Perhaps this is one reason why the <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Rican elite have absolutely no respect for a people who cont<strong>in</strong>ue to<br />
struggle <strong>and</strong> identify with their ancestors <strong>and</strong> native cultural heritage.<br />
<strong>The</strong> second category, the “revitalization process <strong>and</strong> resurgence,”<br />
perta<strong>in</strong>s to the <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, but also to the<br />
many <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples around the world who through periods <strong>of</strong>
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 5<br />
<strong>in</strong>tense colonization lost, or nearly lost, their identity <strong>and</strong> connection<br />
to their cultural backgrounds. <strong>The</strong> global <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples’<br />
movement propelled <strong>in</strong> the late 1960s signaled a reawaken<strong>in</strong>g or revitalization<br />
<strong>of</strong> native pride <strong>and</strong> right to reconnect with one’s traditional<br />
past. <strong>The</strong> contemporary <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> revitalization <strong>and</strong><br />
“native cont<strong>in</strong>uity” (as discussed below) are <strong>in</strong>terrelated <strong>in</strong> familial <strong>and</strong><br />
ancestral terms <strong>and</strong> l<strong>in</strong>ked to this larger movement represent<strong>in</strong>g nearly<br />
four hundred million <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples worldwide. <strong>The</strong> movement<br />
can be seen as a challenge to the violent beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> the state system,<br />
perhaps analogous to what Pierre Bourdieu has identified as a<br />
“tool for rupture” <strong>in</strong> the “reconstruction <strong>of</strong> genesis.” By reexam<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
the confrontations <strong>of</strong> the past <strong>and</strong>, thus, discarded possibilities <strong>of</strong> the<br />
future, th<strong>in</strong>gs could be otherwise. 13 In challeng<strong>in</strong>g the norms <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational<br />
state theory, the <strong>in</strong>digenous plight has also been described<br />
as a k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> “social revolutionary movement tak<strong>in</strong>g place on a global<br />
scale.” 14 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> resurgence, spurred on by the qu<strong>in</strong>centennial<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1992, follows a clear pattern <strong>of</strong> regional revitalization <strong>and</strong> activism<br />
beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g with the American Indian Movement <strong>in</strong> the United<br />
States. This helped spawn political <strong>and</strong> cultural revitalization efforts<br />
<strong>in</strong> the 1970s <strong>and</strong> 1980s <strong>in</strong> Sc<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>avia, Central America, parts <strong>of</strong> Asia,<br />
the Pacific region, <strong>and</strong> elsewhere. In 2007, the United Nations General<br />
Assembly f<strong>in</strong>ally came to recognize that <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples have<br />
“the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as <strong>in</strong>dividuals, <strong>of</strong> all<br />
human rights <strong>and</strong> fundamental freedoms as recognized <strong>in</strong> the Charter<br />
<strong>of</strong> the United Nations, the Universal Declaration <strong>of</strong> Human Rights<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational human rights law,” <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g “the right to determ<strong>in</strong>e<br />
their own identity.” 15 In <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>and</strong> the diaspora, the many<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous organizations that have formed <strong>in</strong> recent years <strong>and</strong> cultural<br />
events that have taken place attest to this revitalization process<br />
<strong>and</strong> resurgence. As described <strong>in</strong> the follow<strong>in</strong>g passage, the <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
movement is tak<strong>in</strong>g place on different levels:<br />
<strong>The</strong> notion <strong>of</strong> resurgence will <strong>in</strong>volve different mean<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> different<br />
local contexts across the region. In some cases resurgence only exists as<br />
an expression <strong>of</strong> renewed <strong>in</strong>terest by scholars <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, as they challenge their bl<strong>in</strong>kered <strong>in</strong>attention to peoples<br />
who have never consented to the view that they either disappeared<br />
or were unimportant. <strong>The</strong>ses <strong>of</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction have been a hallmark <strong>of</strong><br />
isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> historiography more than is the case with the ma<strong>in</strong>l<strong>and</strong>.<br />
On the other h<strong>and</strong>, challenges to notions <strong>of</strong> disappearance, efforts<br />
to resist political <strong>and</strong> economic marg<strong>in</strong>alization, the formation <strong>of</strong> new<br />
regional organizations, <strong>and</strong> the recent growth <strong>in</strong> a committed body <strong>of</strong>
6<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
scholarship focused on these issues, collectively produce resurgence.<br />
In all cases, contemporary <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> refuse<br />
to be measured by the relics <strong>of</strong> their past or to be treated condescend<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
as mute testimonials to a disappear<strong>in</strong>g history, or a history <strong>of</strong><br />
disappearance. 16<br />
“Native cont<strong>in</strong>uity” is the most important area explored <strong>in</strong> this<br />
book. It posits that Jíbaro Indian people have un<strong>in</strong>terruptedly ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
many <strong>of</strong> their cultural traditions <strong>and</strong> ways <strong>of</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>gs.<br />
I am talk<strong>in</strong>g about a people who were able to culturally adapt <strong>and</strong><br />
change over time <strong>in</strong> order to survive until today. However, many have<br />
severed the cultural l<strong>in</strong>k between the then <strong>and</strong> now. For example,<br />
Ricardo Alegría has stated that the Indian population <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong><br />
“disappeared as a cultural group <strong>in</strong> the first century <strong>of</strong> the Spanish<br />
conquest.” 17 To him, a viable <strong>in</strong>digenous presence ceased to exist at<br />
this time. I dispute this. Although native cont<strong>in</strong>uity does refer to the<br />
physical <strong>and</strong> genetic survival <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous population, it most<br />
importantly concerns cultural survival <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity, or how all peoples<br />
over time have had to adjust <strong>in</strong> various ways to their particular<br />
circumstances <strong>and</strong> environments, or face possible ext<strong>in</strong>ction. Thus,<br />
while I have met many people over the years <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> who have<br />
strong Indian features, <strong>and</strong> some who were about as “full blooded”<br />
as you can get, this study does not rely on divisive Darw<strong>in</strong>ian biological<br />
notions <strong>of</strong> “racial purity” <strong>and</strong> “blood quantum” measurements.<br />
<strong>The</strong> dom<strong>in</strong>ant scholarly <strong>in</strong>terpretation <strong>of</strong> determ<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
ext<strong>in</strong>ction has been based on the social Darw<strong>in</strong>ian concept <strong>of</strong> “natural<br />
selection.” Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Grounds, “Rather than be<strong>in</strong>g a statement <strong>of</strong><br />
fact or represent<strong>in</strong>g a scholarly analysis, the language <strong>of</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction is<br />
an expression <strong>of</strong> a social idea. This is the language <strong>of</strong> social Darw<strong>in</strong>ism.”<br />
18 This helped allow for the justification <strong>of</strong> racist <strong>and</strong> genocidal<br />
enrollment policies <strong>in</strong> the United States, where American Indian<br />
groups <strong>and</strong> peoples would dim<strong>in</strong>ish <strong>in</strong> blood quantum to the po<strong>in</strong>t<br />
<strong>of</strong> no longer be<strong>in</strong>g viewed as a “real” people, <strong>and</strong> sooner or later be<br />
perceived as a remnant <strong>of</strong> the past. <strong>The</strong>se thoughts have shaped <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>fluenced general public perceptions <strong>of</strong> who <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples are,<br />
historically <strong>and</strong> with<strong>in</strong> contemporary society. <strong>The</strong>refore, when I refer<br />
to “blood” <strong>in</strong> this work, it is as a unify<strong>in</strong>g pr<strong>in</strong>ciple. “Mestizo” Indian<br />
people, or “mixed blooded” Indian as is commonly known <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Spanish Americas, are to be considered no less <strong>in</strong>digenous than their<br />
“full blooded” brothers <strong>and</strong> sisters.<br />
Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, this book is not meant to disparage the African element<br />
<strong>of</strong> our heritage, which has been <strong>in</strong>fluential <strong>and</strong> strong, but the story I
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 7<br />
am tell<strong>in</strong>g here is <strong>of</strong> a people whose dist<strong>in</strong>ct history <strong>and</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g extend<br />
back thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> years, long before the European arrival. African <strong>and</strong><br />
Spanish people <strong>and</strong> traditions were essentially assimilated or synthesized<br />
<strong>in</strong>to the <strong>in</strong>digenous lifestyle as survival strategies. As the Carib were<br />
exogamous, <strong>in</strong>termarriage did not “dilute” the culture <strong>and</strong> people<br />
but rather enhanced them <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>creased their chances <strong>of</strong> survival. 19<br />
This paradox is awfully difficult to grasp <strong>and</strong> accept. Western norms<br />
would generally have us believe that <strong>in</strong>terracial “mix<strong>in</strong>g” necessitates<br />
the dim<strong>in</strong>ishment <strong>of</strong> one’s identity <strong>and</strong> culture through assimilation.<br />
This concept was not a part <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples’ worldview,<br />
where cultures were augmented by rout<strong>in</strong>ely accept<strong>in</strong>g foreigners <strong>in</strong>to<br />
their groups. Instead, the idea <strong>of</strong> blood quantum has been used as a<br />
colonial <strong>and</strong> neocolonial divide <strong>and</strong> conquer strategy aga<strong>in</strong>st them.<br />
Outside heritages <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, <strong>and</strong> others <strong>in</strong>corporated s<strong>in</strong>ce ancient<br />
times, were <strong>in</strong>cluded with<strong>in</strong> the root culture. This process was ak<strong>in</strong> to<br />
how many <strong>in</strong>digenous groups, like the Kanaka Maoli <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i, took<br />
<strong>in</strong> or absorbed numerous foreign or immigrant groups <strong>and</strong> have thus<br />
been able to keep many <strong>of</strong> their cultural traditions alive. Samuel Wilson<br />
refers to the process <strong>of</strong> cultural survival <strong>in</strong> the Antilles. This is the<br />
way traditions have been passed down from generation to generation<br />
<strong>and</strong> how political th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> environmental ways <strong>of</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
<strong>in</strong> the past still <strong>in</strong>form the present: “On many isl<strong>and</strong>s some people<br />
trace part or all <strong>of</strong> their ancestry back to those who lived here before<br />
Columbus’s voyages. On nearly every isl<strong>and</strong>, the modern <strong>in</strong>habitants<br />
relate to the environment <strong>in</strong> ways they learned from the Indians: they<br />
grow some <strong>of</strong> the same plants for food <strong>and</strong> other uses, fish the same<br />
reefs <strong>in</strong> the same ways, <strong>and</strong> follow the same seasonal patterns. Also, on<br />
nearly every isl<strong>and</strong>—even those where none <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous people<br />
have survived—the Indians are powerful symbols <strong>of</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> identity,<br />
national identity, <strong>and</strong> resistance to colonialism.” 20<br />
This description neatly applies to <strong>Borikén</strong>, except that many people<br />
there know <strong>of</strong> their Indian background, perform the same traditions<br />
as described earlier, <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ue to resist colonialism. Cuko, the<br />
Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o from Lares, said the struggle for <strong>in</strong>dependence has<br />
existed for centuries. As <strong>in</strong> so many places, the fundamental issue for<br />
the Jíbaro <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> is l<strong>and</strong> acquisition. <strong>The</strong>y are still fight<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
get their l<strong>and</strong> back. 21 He noted that his gr<strong>and</strong>parents on his father’s<br />
side <strong>of</strong> the family were both <strong>in</strong>dio, <strong>and</strong> were victims <strong>of</strong> the Spaniards<br />
as workers <strong>in</strong> the hacienda system. By this he meant the Spanish,<br />
not by force but by tricks, took the l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> arranged th<strong>in</strong>gs so that<br />
people would labor for them. Even though they were not called<br />
“slaves,” the relationship established was one <strong>of</strong> slavery because, for
8<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>stance, they could “rape your daughters” <strong>and</strong> there was noth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
you could do because the home where you lived was claimed by the<br />
Spaniards. 22 Cuko knew his gr<strong>and</strong>father very well <strong>and</strong> learned much<br />
from him. When I asked him who was liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Lares at the time <strong>of</strong><br />
the 1868 Grito de Lares revolution, he stressed that at the time <strong>of</strong> his<br />
gr<strong>and</strong>father’s birth, about 1880, “mostly everyone was <strong>in</strong>dio <strong>in</strong> Lares<br />
back then.” I then <strong>in</strong>quired about the population <strong>of</strong> other mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
regions at the time, such as Utuado, Ajuntas, Jayuya, Orocovis, <strong>and</strong><br />
Morovis, <strong>of</strong> which he replied that the population makeup was “the<br />
same” <strong>in</strong> these places, as well as <strong>in</strong> many other areas <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. 23 He<br />
said the community where he is from was an extended family who had<br />
had their own l<strong>and</strong>s for hundreds <strong>and</strong> hundreds <strong>of</strong> years. <strong>The</strong> Spaniards<br />
seized them <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century. When he was grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
up, they had no electricity or runn<strong>in</strong>g water <strong>and</strong> there were no roads.<br />
Of the little l<strong>and</strong> they do have today, the people still plant <strong>and</strong> farm<br />
<strong>in</strong> the native way us<strong>in</strong>g conuco (multicropp<strong>in</strong>g) <strong>and</strong> erone (mound<br />
cultivation) techniques, the latter mak<strong>in</strong>g it easier to pull out tubers<br />
like ñame, yuca, <strong>and</strong> big round batata. 24 Mostly all Jíbaro cont<strong>in</strong>ue to<br />
plant by the cycles <strong>of</strong> the moon, just as their ancestors did, <strong>and</strong> they<br />
use many <strong>of</strong> the same plants for herbal <strong>and</strong> medic<strong>in</strong>al purposes. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
types <strong>of</strong> narratives are commonly told among an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number <strong>of</strong><br />
people I have come to know.<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> Jíbaro transformation <strong>and</strong> growth, my thesis is<br />
similar to the renowned Peruvian writer José María Arguedas’s concept<br />
<strong>of</strong> “cultural mestizaje” <strong>in</strong> Peru. Arguedas, who grew up speak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the native Quechua language, did extensive ethnological work among<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous Peruvians. In contrast to historical scholarly discourses <strong>of</strong><br />
mestizaje as a European “civiliz<strong>in</strong>g mission,” <strong>and</strong> a nostalgic “Indianist”<br />
render<strong>in</strong>g that sees change “as degradation <strong>and</strong> contam<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
<strong>of</strong> supposedly pure identities,” Arguedas viewed the idea positively. 25<br />
In his book, Formación de una Cultura National Indoamericana, he<br />
discussed the Inca capacity to change <strong>and</strong> assimilate foreign elements.<br />
For centuries the European <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultures strongly reacted<br />
to <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluenced each other. Yet, through the many important<br />
changes undergone s<strong>in</strong>ce the time <strong>of</strong> the conquest, the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
culture still rema<strong>in</strong>ed dist<strong>in</strong>ct from the occident. 26 This, too, speaks to<br />
how the Jíbaro reacted <strong>and</strong> were able to assimilate Spanish elements<br />
<strong>in</strong>to their lives <strong>and</strong> communities but <strong>in</strong> the process rema<strong>in</strong>ed culturally<br />
dist<strong>in</strong>ct from the imposed culture. Physically, this <strong>in</strong>teraction came<br />
to produce the mestizo <strong>in</strong> both <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>and</strong> Peru, but culturally the<br />
people reta<strong>in</strong>ed many <strong>of</strong> their traditional ways, albeit <strong>of</strong>ten <strong>in</strong> synthesized<br />
forms, <strong>and</strong> connection to their ancestral roots.
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 9<br />
A good example <strong>of</strong> this form <strong>of</strong> cultural adaptation <strong>and</strong> survival <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong> is the use <strong>of</strong> the fogón. This way <strong>of</strong> cook<strong>in</strong>g is based on the<br />
traditional Indian method <strong>of</strong> us<strong>in</strong>g a burén. A round plate made <strong>of</strong><br />
clay, the burén was utilized low to the ground supported by stones<br />
or a clay support. Wood was then used to heat the burén <strong>in</strong> order to<br />
cook on top <strong>of</strong> it. 27 Many <strong>of</strong> my <strong>in</strong>terviewees told me when they were<br />
grow<strong>in</strong>g up their families used a fogón, <strong>and</strong> some still do today. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
all described the cook<strong>in</strong>g method similarly. <strong>The</strong>y make a table <strong>and</strong> fill<br />
it with s<strong>and</strong> or dirt. <strong>The</strong>y then place “3 stones” on the surface <strong>and</strong><br />
put wood between the stones to heat them. Pots <strong>and</strong> pans are placed<br />
on the stones to cook. <strong>The</strong> smoke generated would be used to cure<br />
meat they commonly hang from above. As depicted here, the use <strong>of</strong><br />
the fogón is clearly a similar but more modern adaptation <strong>of</strong> an older<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous technique. This is the way the modern Jíbaro prepared<br />
their food. A native elder named Shachira told me the fogón they used<br />
when she was grow<strong>in</strong>g up was a wooden box filled with s<strong>and</strong>, where<br />
they would place three stones to cook on. She confirmed that the<br />
people <strong>of</strong> the distant past used the ground with three stones as a base<br />
for cook<strong>in</strong>g. 28 <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro man noted that when he was grow<strong>in</strong>g up<br />
they used a square table, filled it with earth, <strong>and</strong> put three stones on<br />
top. He knows <strong>of</strong> four or five families that still use a fogón <strong>in</strong> the area<br />
where he lives. 29 Indeed, it is not uncommon for Jíbaro families today<br />
to have one h<strong>and</strong>ily available <strong>in</strong> the garage.<br />
Thus for Arguedas, the process <strong>of</strong> mestizaje is not about the concept<br />
<strong>of</strong> race but <strong>of</strong> cultural cont<strong>in</strong>uity. For example there are <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
Peruvians, both dark <strong>and</strong> white sk<strong>in</strong>ned, who behave like “occidentales,”<br />
30 or those who have been firmly assimilated <strong>in</strong>to the dom<strong>in</strong>ant<br />
culture. This assimilation process has, <strong>of</strong> course, also occurred <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>,<br />
<strong>and</strong> furthermore, accord<strong>in</strong>g to Liko, “Many native people here<br />
don’t know that they’re native. <strong>The</strong>y don’t know their real history<br />
because modernization overtook them.” 31 As genes have an <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g<br />
way <strong>of</strong> play<strong>in</strong>g games on us, there are also many light-sk<strong>in</strong>ned<br />
<strong>and</strong> “red haired” <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> who know very well<br />
<strong>of</strong> their Jíbaro background <strong>and</strong> identity <strong>and</strong> are unceas<strong>in</strong>gly culturally<br />
connected <strong>in</strong> their heart <strong>and</strong> soul. Some are descendants <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Irish that were orig<strong>in</strong>ally brought to the <strong>Caribbean</strong> by the English <strong>in</strong><br />
the seventeenth century as basically <strong>in</strong>dentured slaves. Once more the<br />
dilemma here is that we have been so thoroughly conditioned to view<br />
the stereotypical “Hollywood type” image <strong>of</strong> the Indian that the multiethnic<br />
mestizo has been discounted <strong>and</strong> ignored both physically <strong>and</strong><br />
culturally. <strong>The</strong>refore this book takes it upon itself, <strong>in</strong> part, as I have<br />
attempted <strong>in</strong> the past, to do what Arguedas had argued for culturally
10<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> the mestizo. Amaryll Chanady summarizes his sentiment:<br />
“. . . the study <strong>of</strong> the mestizo should be one <strong>of</strong> the major tasks <strong>of</strong><br />
contemporary anthropologists, who had always been more <strong>in</strong>terested<br />
<strong>in</strong> native traditions. <strong>The</strong>se traditions, he argues, are <strong>in</strong> no way ‘pure’.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y frequently <strong>in</strong>volve the creative appropriation <strong>of</strong> European elements,<br />
as <strong>in</strong> the case <strong>of</strong> the native ‘danza de las tijeras’ (scissors dance)<br />
which is ‘exclusively an Indian dance for an Indian public’. His argument<br />
that native cultures are not destroyed by change but reta<strong>in</strong> their<br />
specificity <strong>in</strong> spite <strong>of</strong> important transformations will be echoed by<br />
major ethnographers many years later <strong>in</strong> other contexts.” 32<br />
Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Voice<br />
I do importantly acknowledge that the destruction ushered <strong>in</strong> by<br />
the Spanish Crown <strong>and</strong> Roman Catholic Church was prevalent <strong>in</strong><br />
the <strong>Caribbean</strong> region. <strong>The</strong> Spanish encomienda system, or <strong>in</strong>stitutionalized<br />
system <strong>of</strong> forced labor, ak<strong>in</strong> to slavery, where native<br />
l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> people were apportioned to encomenderos (l<strong>and</strong>lords or<br />
slaveholders), was based on both the “discovery” <strong>and</strong> “just war”<br />
theories. <strong>The</strong>se concepts had established Christian dom<strong>in</strong>ion <strong>and</strong><br />
called for the subjugation <strong>of</strong> non-Christian peoples <strong>and</strong> confiscation<br />
<strong>of</strong> their l<strong>and</strong>s. This resulted <strong>in</strong> the massacres, burn<strong>in</strong>gs, torture,<br />
forced labor <strong>and</strong>, most prom<strong>in</strong>ently, diseases that killed <strong>of</strong>f several<br />
million Indian people with<strong>in</strong> the first 30 years. However, the <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
encounter was not as one sided as previously thought, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
depth <strong>of</strong> colonial contact <strong>and</strong> reaction to it differed from isl<strong>and</strong> to<br />
isl<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong>re was a tremendous amount <strong>of</strong> violent <strong>and</strong> nonviolent<br />
resistance to Spanish imperialism throughout the sixteenth century<br />
that is not well documented <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten overlooked. <strong>The</strong> atrocities<br />
that occurred did not happen “overnight,” <strong>and</strong> many <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples survived <strong>and</strong> lived on. This survival was most prom<strong>in</strong>ent<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. Many <strong>in</strong>habitants had been liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>ous<br />
<strong>in</strong>terior regions <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> many other places, for thous<strong>and</strong>s<br />
<strong>of</strong> years before the arrival <strong>of</strong> the Europeans. After the Indian<br />
war <strong>of</strong> 1511, many more fled to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s to escape the Spaniards.<br />
I have been able to <strong>in</strong>terpret from late eighteenth-century<br />
Spanish censuses, <strong>and</strong> the European contact era lead<strong>in</strong>g up to this<br />
period, that thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Indian people rema<strong>in</strong>ed throughout the<br />
mounta<strong>in</strong>s at that time, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> many rural <strong>and</strong> coastal areas too.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce Spa<strong>in</strong> did not fully colonize the <strong>in</strong>terior <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> until<br />
the mid-n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century, the Jíbaro had been present there virtually<br />
unknown to the outside world.
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 11<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce Western scholarship has greatly aided <strong>in</strong> the historical silence<br />
<strong>of</strong> the people concerned, I lend an important space for the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> voice to be heard. <strong>The</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous perspectives <strong>in</strong><br />
the tell<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> native histories is remarkably similar. In the Pacific, for<br />
<strong>in</strong>stance, Hawaiian scholar Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa notes, “In exam<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
the literature <strong>of</strong> L<strong>and</strong> tenure <strong>in</strong> Hawai‘i <strong>and</strong> the Pacific, <strong>and</strong> that<br />
<strong>of</strong> Pacific <strong>and</strong> Hawaiian history <strong>in</strong> general, the lack <strong>of</strong> the Native po<strong>in</strong>t<br />
<strong>of</strong> view is s<strong>in</strong>gularly strik<strong>in</strong>g.” 33 <strong>The</strong> large majority <strong>of</strong> scholars <strong>and</strong><br />
writers who have historically written about or mentioned the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> had either not been to the isl<strong>and</strong> or if they<br />
were there, did not consult with or br<strong>in</strong>g out the views <strong>of</strong> those they<br />
were writ<strong>in</strong>g about. How could they with their preconceived notions<br />
that the people were “ext<strong>in</strong>ct”? Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, non-Western thought<br />
<strong>and</strong> traditions have been typically discredited by ma<strong>in</strong>stream science<br />
as “superstitious” or “myth,” <strong>in</strong> other words as fictions “created <strong>and</strong><br />
susta<strong>in</strong>ed by undeveloped m<strong>in</strong>ds.” 34 Thus, the <strong>in</strong>digenous voice <strong>and</strong><br />
ancestral memory have been illegitimated as alternative sources <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>formation. One rare <strong>in</strong>stance when a writer did reveal a liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
presence by directly speak<strong>in</strong>g to the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican people about<br />
their Indian identity, culture, <strong>and</strong> traditions was as late as 1974, when<br />
Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er published <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s: <strong>The</strong> Worlds <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans.<br />
Through <strong>in</strong>terviews with Jíbaros, he skillfully revealed the memory<br />
<strong>and</strong> modern-day <strong>in</strong>digenous presence. <strong>The</strong> man he called “the storyteller”<br />
had a lot to say about the <strong>in</strong>formation passed down to him<br />
through oral tradition:<br />
His remembrance <strong>of</strong> history was a tribal memory. <strong>The</strong> details he knew—<br />
“Guarionex was a man close to six feet,” he said—had come from the<br />
dim, unrecorded past, that was 460 years ago, almost to the day he told<br />
the old stories.<br />
“All these stories I heard from old people. Who are already dead.<br />
Who have died,” he cautiously said. “My gr<strong>and</strong>fathers. I recall them. As<br />
a little boy I heard some <strong>of</strong> them. As a grown man I heard some. <strong>The</strong><br />
old people used to tell legends <strong>and</strong> stories, I recall. From these th<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
the old people tell me I gathered these stories about our history.<br />
“Our Indians did not die away the way some people th<strong>in</strong>k,” the<br />
storyteller said. “If you look <strong>in</strong> the faces <strong>of</strong> the jíbaros, you know somewhere<br />
the Indian history is liv<strong>in</strong>g.” 35<br />
In <strong>in</strong>digenous societies, oral tradition has been a vital way <strong>of</strong> transferr<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation <strong>and</strong> stories from one generation to another. In<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> tradition, history was, for one, “transmitted orally, from
12<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
generation to generation, <strong>in</strong> the ceremonies called areytos,” 36 or<br />
traditional ceremonial dances, recitations, or songs. <strong>The</strong>se cultural<br />
ceremonies were performed for various occasions such as to celebrate<br />
a good harvest, observe the first moon cycle for young women, or to<br />
honor the Earth Mother, Atabei. <strong>The</strong> areíto is be<strong>in</strong>g revitalized <strong>and</strong><br />
celebrated today <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> as I have witnessed <strong>and</strong> participated <strong>in</strong> at<br />
the ceremonial grounds <strong>in</strong> Jayuya <strong>and</strong> Utuado. Jan Vans<strong>in</strong>a def<strong>in</strong>es<br />
oral traditions as “verbal messages which are reported statements<br />
from the past beyond the present generation. <strong>The</strong> def<strong>in</strong>ition specifies<br />
that the message must be oral statements spoken, sung, or called out<br />
on musical <strong>in</strong>struments only. . . . <strong>The</strong>re must be transmission by word<br />
<strong>of</strong> mouth over at least a generation.” 37 This has been the case with a<br />
good number <strong>of</strong> my <strong>in</strong>terviews as much <strong>of</strong> the data relayed to me has<br />
been passed down orally from at least one generation ago. <strong>The</strong> stories<br />
told have also been quite similar, <strong>and</strong> many <strong>of</strong> them relate back to<br />
ancient times <strong>and</strong> to the early Spanish colonial era <strong>of</strong> the late fifteenth<br />
<strong>and</strong> early sixteenth centuries. 38 Oral tradition as a source <strong>of</strong> history has<br />
been academically substantiated <strong>and</strong> for <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples is paramount<br />
<strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> cultural communication. Vans<strong>in</strong>a expla<strong>in</strong>s, “No<br />
one <strong>in</strong> oral societies doubts that memories can be faithful repositories<br />
which conta<strong>in</strong> the sum total <strong>of</strong> past human experience <strong>and</strong> expla<strong>in</strong><br />
the how <strong>and</strong> why <strong>of</strong> present day conditions. Tete are ne nne: ‘Ancient<br />
th<strong>in</strong>gs are today’ or ‘History repeats itself.’ Whether memory changes<br />
or not, culture is reproduced by remembrance put <strong>in</strong>to words <strong>and</strong><br />
deeds. <strong>The</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d through memory carries culture from generation to<br />
generation.” 39<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce the 1970s, oral history research gathered directly from Indian<br />
descendants by Lamourt-Valentín, Delgado, Ste<strong>in</strong>er, Arroyo, <strong>and</strong><br />
Martínez-Torres, among others, further reveals an alternative version<br />
<strong>of</strong> history that contests the “<strong>of</strong>ficial” established <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
account. Through documental research <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>terviews conducted<br />
primarily with Jíbaros, for example, <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican historian Juan Manuel<br />
Delgado <strong>and</strong> Lamourt-Valentín have documented many Indian<br />
names (many <strong>of</strong>ficially registered <strong>in</strong> sixteenth <strong>and</strong> n<strong>in</strong>eteenth-century<br />
Spanish documents) that have survived orally <strong>in</strong> family histories, from<br />
generation to generation, <strong>and</strong> are still used <strong>and</strong> known <strong>of</strong> today. 40<br />
Hundreds <strong>of</strong> Indian names <strong>and</strong> surnames were hidden or disguised<br />
as nicknames that survived almost exclusively among campes<strong>in</strong>os. A<br />
number <strong>of</strong> Indian apodos are used by my <strong>in</strong>terviewees. This <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
has gone unnoticed <strong>in</strong> Spanish studies <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 41 which<br />
reveals a strong connection to native identity. I also found out that<br />
many stories had been kept with<strong>in</strong> family histories, <strong>of</strong>ten hav<strong>in</strong>g gone
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 13<br />
“underground” as the result <strong>of</strong> an abusive past. Some grow<strong>in</strong>g up on<br />
the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the first half <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century were made to feel<br />
ashamed <strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g Indian. This loss <strong>of</strong> self-esteem was an all too familiar<br />
phenomenon experienced by many <strong>in</strong>digenous groups around the<br />
world at this time. Activist <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner, Baracutey,<br />
recalled that when he was grow<strong>in</strong>g up <strong>in</strong> Utuado <strong>in</strong> the 1960s,<br />
he had repeatedly been told, “Don’t be a Jíbaro.” 42 Pepe, an activist<br />
<strong>and</strong> Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o from the isl<strong>and</strong>, told me that when he was <strong>in</strong><br />
school, around the same time as Baracutey, he “didn’t want to look<br />
Jíbaro” because he felt embarrassed. 43 As five hundred years is not<br />
a long time ago, collective memory, which is “activated when people<br />
perceive that the patterns <strong>of</strong> the past are be<strong>in</strong>g repeated <strong>in</strong> the present,”<br />
44 has been apparent throughout my travels as the colonial past is<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten re<strong>in</strong>terpreted through the colonial <strong>and</strong> neocolonial conditions<br />
exist<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> today.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce 1998, I have conducted many <strong>in</strong>terviews with primarily Jíbaro<br />
people <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. My <strong>in</strong>terviewees have been academics, activists,<br />
artisans, cultural practitioners, campes<strong>in</strong>o farmers, elders, espiritistas,<br />
cu<strong>and</strong>eros, <strong>and</strong> others, all knowledgeable about the <strong>in</strong>digenous history<br />
<strong>and</strong> cultural development. In ma<strong>in</strong>ly rural <strong>and</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong> regions,<br />
I have been fortunate to have spoken with them about the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
past <strong>and</strong> present <strong>and</strong> have established close relationships with some<br />
who strongly identify with their Indian heritage. <strong>The</strong>ir voices are<br />
heard <strong>in</strong> this work, particularly <strong>in</strong> the latter chapters. Despite prom<strong>in</strong>ent<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> archeologist Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse’s claim that ethnology<br />
cannot be used as a basis <strong>of</strong> determ<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural ancestry<br />
<strong>in</strong> the northern Antilles, 45 I have collected an abundance <strong>of</strong> ethnographical<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation from the time I have spent on the isl<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong><br />
familial stories <strong>of</strong> our ancestors have filled my recorder, <strong>and</strong> what I<br />
reveal here is merely a sampl<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the rich body <strong>of</strong> knowledge still<br />
carried most importantly among elders. In addition, my <strong>in</strong>terviews are<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten corroborated by written sources, <strong>and</strong> vice versa, <strong>and</strong> by native<br />
<strong>and</strong> non-native scholars alike. As exemplified <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er <strong>and</strong> Arroyo’s<br />
work on the Boricua exodus to Hawai‘i, some <strong>of</strong> my written sources<br />
already conta<strong>in</strong>ed ethnological data. Parts <strong>of</strong> American anthropologist<br />
Jesse Walter Fewkes’s 1907 work elaborated on the “exist<strong>in</strong>g natives”<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous customs he encountered <strong>in</strong> his research: “<strong>The</strong> ethnological<br />
method considers the survivals <strong>in</strong> the bodily form <strong>and</strong> mental<br />
characters <strong>of</strong> the exist<strong>in</strong>g natives; their peculiar customs, characteristic<br />
words, music, <strong>and</strong> legends, all that is <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> the comprehensive<br />
term folklore, the old-fashioned ways <strong>of</strong> life peculiar to the isl<strong>and</strong>.” 46
14<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
Paradoxically, the very act <strong>of</strong> my writ<strong>in</strong>g contradict<strong>in</strong>g ext<strong>in</strong>ction<br />
seems to be a part <strong>of</strong> what has been prophesied over time. <strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> movement today was prophesied at the height <strong>of</strong><br />
the Spanish atrocities tak<strong>in</strong>g place <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. <strong>The</strong> prophecy <strong>of</strong> Aura<br />
Surey (Morn<strong>in</strong>g Star), the daughter <strong>of</strong> the cacike (regional leader or<br />
chiefta<strong>in</strong>) Jayuya, decreed that come the twenty-fourth generation<br />
the people would rise aga<strong>in</strong>. 47 <strong>The</strong> prophecy is a sign <strong>of</strong> this time<br />
<strong>of</strong> reawaken<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> resurgence for Carib people. <strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>nate ability<br />
to perceive is further directly related to an underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> truth<br />
as recognized with<strong>in</strong> all <strong>in</strong>digenous traditions. 48 Our ancestors communicated<br />
through perception, observation, memory, gesture, oral<br />
tradition, <strong>and</strong> hieroglyphic <strong>and</strong> iconic (ideogramic) forms <strong>of</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
As artisan <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Margarita Nogueras-<br />
Vidal po<strong>in</strong>ts out, “Our symbolism is conceptual <strong>and</strong> encompasses a<br />
series <strong>of</strong> expressions that tell a story. As stone people our ancestors<br />
<strong>in</strong>scribed messages on stone for a time when we would be ready to<br />
receive them. <strong>The</strong> time <strong>of</strong> awaken<strong>in</strong>g is <strong>in</strong> process <strong>and</strong> we are all be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
summoned to jo<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> be part <strong>of</strong> the circle <strong>of</strong> re-member<strong>in</strong>g.” 49<br />
<strong>The</strong> Academy <strong>and</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
While the post-European contact historical <strong>and</strong> ethnical convergence<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> groups is acknowledged, I reject the claim that then<br />
rationalizes <strong>and</strong> asserts that a cont<strong>in</strong>ued Indian identity <strong>and</strong> cultural<br />
presence is no longer viable. Most recognized <strong>and</strong> unrecognized<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous groups today are multiethnic <strong>and</strong> do claim a right to a dist<strong>in</strong>ct<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous identity, or to just cont<strong>in</strong>ue to live their lives <strong>in</strong> their<br />
own way. In 2006, elder Naniki Reyes-Ocasio contemplated how it<br />
was that <strong>of</strong> nearly all Native American groups, <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
peoples were still not taken seriously <strong>and</strong> rout<strong>in</strong>ely ridiculed <strong>and</strong> dismissed<br />
as a people. 50 When they do act or speak out, their credibility<br />
is <strong>of</strong>ten immediately dim<strong>in</strong>ished because their ext<strong>in</strong>ction has been so<br />
historically rationalized. For example, <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>formative but rather disparag<strong>in</strong>g<br />
article titled, “Mak<strong>in</strong>g Indians Out <strong>of</strong> Blacks: <strong>The</strong> Revitalization<br />
<strong>of</strong> Taíno Identity <strong>in</strong> Contemporary <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” Jorge Duany<br />
discounts the Indian presence by expla<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g how the cultural nationalist<br />
<strong>in</strong>tellectuals, led by the Institute <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Culture, have <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
ignored African contributions to <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> while exaggerat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong><br />
romanticiz<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>digenous element <strong>of</strong> society. He notes, “the <strong>in</strong>digenista<br />
discourse has contributed to the erasure <strong>of</strong> the ethnic <strong>and</strong> cultural<br />
presence <strong>of</strong> blacks <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.” 51 Hence, the irony <strong>of</strong> the title <strong>of</strong><br />
his article <strong>and</strong> notion <strong>of</strong> “hybridity” <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>’s “largely
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 15<br />
mulatto population.” 52 In contradict<strong>in</strong>g this assertion, it should be<br />
po<strong>in</strong>ted out that recent DNA results have shown that a majority <strong>of</strong> the<br />
population <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> today are <strong>of</strong> Amer<strong>in</strong>dian descent, or mestizo. 53<br />
Duany, who as <strong>of</strong> 2006 was the Chairperson <strong>of</strong> the Department<br />
<strong>of</strong> Anthropology at the University <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> at Rio Piedras,<br />
is correct to po<strong>in</strong>t out that the African presence has been debased<br />
<strong>and</strong> ignored by the cultural nationalist ideology <strong>and</strong> discourse. This<br />
has not come about on account <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro people or resurgence<br />
on the isl<strong>and</strong>, which acknowledges African contributions <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluence.<br />
Arlene Dávila has noted that <strong>in</strong>digenous activists’ challenge to<br />
the ma<strong>in</strong>stream establishment’s constructs <strong>of</strong> identity, with a stress<br />
on identity that is more cultural than biological, has <strong>in</strong>deed made<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> identification “more <strong>in</strong>clusive than exclusive,”<br />
<strong>and</strong> thus more tolerant than alternative <strong>in</strong>terpretations <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenousness.<br />
54 To state that “Indians” have been “made out <strong>of</strong> blacks”<br />
is <strong>in</strong>tellectually irresponsible <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>fensive. In addition, as Duany<br />
himself subscribes to the “virtual ext<strong>in</strong>ction” <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous population,<br />
55 his piece <strong>in</strong>vokes an <strong>in</strong>ternalized neocolonial image <strong>of</strong> the<br />
“West Indian” <strong>and</strong> “West Indian novel” as predom<strong>in</strong>ately African,<br />
with the orig<strong>in</strong>al <strong>in</strong>habitants nowhere to be found. It is <strong>in</strong> the midtwentieth<br />
century when the West Indian writer emerged <strong>and</strong> “for the<br />
first time <strong>in</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>g related to the West Indies, the Black characters are<br />
not restricted to be<strong>in</strong>g peripheral or background figures.” 56 As we will<br />
see, due to ma<strong>in</strong>ly topographical factors, the number <strong>of</strong> African people<br />
brought to <strong>Borikén</strong> was small compared to other parts <strong>of</strong> the northern<br />
Antilles. Duany also fails to see that the nature <strong>of</strong> “hybridity” is the<br />
production <strong>of</strong> colonial power to beg<strong>in</strong> with. It is “the production <strong>of</strong><br />
discrim<strong>in</strong>atory identities that secure the ‘pure’ <strong>and</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al identity<br />
<strong>of</strong> authority,” <strong>and</strong> is thus a “revaluation” <strong>of</strong> a discrim<strong>in</strong>atory colonial<br />
identity. 57 This phenomenon is replicated through academic <strong>in</strong>stitutions<br />
<strong>and</strong> theories so that questions <strong>of</strong> identity are made contentious<br />
with<strong>in</strong> groups <strong>and</strong> communities seek<strong>in</strong>g mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> respect.<br />
Another <strong>in</strong>stance <strong>of</strong> how academia has m<strong>in</strong>imized or dismissed the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> took place <strong>in</strong> 2005. A group <strong>of</strong> native<br />
people decided to occupy the Caguana ceremonial grounds <strong>in</strong> the<br />
high mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Utuado. Caguana was one <strong>of</strong> the most important<br />
<strong>and</strong> sacred gather<strong>in</strong>g sites for <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples. It is said to<br />
have been a major gather<strong>in</strong>g place for Amer<strong>in</strong>dians from South,<br />
Central, <strong>and</strong> North America. <strong>The</strong> group was protest<strong>in</strong>g the government’s<br />
desecration <strong>of</strong> sacred sites <strong>and</strong> ancestral rema<strong>in</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> the lack<br />
<strong>of</strong> recognition <strong>of</strong> their identity <strong>and</strong> rights as <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples. <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Institute <strong>of</strong> Culture <strong>and</strong> its director flatly denied the
16<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
legitimacy <strong>of</strong> the group <strong>and</strong> even portrayed their actions ak<strong>in</strong> to “cannibalism.”<br />
58 While such a belief is normally not so publicly paraded<br />
today, <strong>in</strong>vok<strong>in</strong>g the anthropophagic myth stirred an outcry from some<br />
supporters <strong>of</strong> the demonstrators. Com<strong>in</strong>g from an authority figure<br />
like the director, these words would certa<strong>in</strong>ly <strong>in</strong>voke a negative image<br />
<strong>of</strong> the cultural past with<strong>in</strong> the general public. As a result, three community<br />
leaders represent<strong>in</strong>g three <strong>in</strong>digenous organizations, Caney<br />
Qu<strong>in</strong>to Mundo (Fifth World Learn<strong>in</strong>g Center), Consejo General de<br />
Taínos Bor<strong>in</strong>canos, <strong>and</strong> United Confederation <strong>of</strong> Taíno People, were<br />
arrested after a 17-day hunger strike. <strong>The</strong> charges aga<strong>in</strong>st them were<br />
eventually dropped.<br />
As we can see, the rationalization <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction<br />
has been so heavily permeated that academic <strong>in</strong>stitutions today<br />
are theoretically <strong>and</strong> practically obligated to uphold the thought. But<br />
why is this belief so strongly upheld if it is not true? In addition to the<br />
idea <strong>of</strong> a biological ext<strong>in</strong>ction that only sees supposed “pure” identities<br />
as credible, it was apparently done for several reasons as explored <strong>in</strong><br />
detail later. Briefly, the early Spaniards <strong>of</strong>ten exaggerated the effects <strong>of</strong><br />
colonization <strong>and</strong> impacts <strong>of</strong> the spread <strong>of</strong> disease to secure favors from<br />
the Crown. Population counts were rout<strong>in</strong>ely downplayed <strong>in</strong> order to<br />
booster the importation <strong>of</strong> African labor. Spanish chroniclers like Fray<br />
Bartolomé de Las Casas, for all the important work he did do, also<br />
deflated the post-contact numbers to promote the argument for the<br />
“peaceful conversion” <strong>of</strong> native persons. In the aftermath <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>vasion,<br />
<strong>and</strong> perhaps most importantly, European guilt, as <strong>in</strong> the Spanish<br />
denial <strong>of</strong> the “Black Legend,” m<strong>in</strong>imized the extent <strong>of</strong> the terror <strong>and</strong><br />
atrocities committed aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>digenous populations, which would<br />
preclude issues for native l<strong>and</strong> claims <strong>and</strong> reparation. <strong>The</strong> Roman concept<br />
<strong>and</strong> rationalization <strong>of</strong> “vacant l<strong>and</strong>s,” or “terra nullius,” allowed<br />
for the justification <strong>of</strong> the seizure <strong>of</strong> territory through the grant<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
certa<strong>in</strong> fifteenth-century papal edicts that viewed non-Christians as<br />
subhuman <strong>and</strong> therefore expendable. This ideology was passed down<br />
to other European powers <strong>and</strong> became solidified <strong>in</strong> the 1648 Treaty<br />
<strong>of</strong> Westphalia. <strong>The</strong> later American Republic would come to basically<br />
duplicate the Spanish model <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terpret<strong>in</strong>g a nonexistent native presence.<br />
As Grounds writes, “Even so, the notion <strong>of</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction, like a<br />
signed death certificate, was <strong>in</strong>tended to release American society from<br />
a multitude <strong>of</strong> obligations, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g political <strong>and</strong> economic commitments,<br />
but above all from the guilt <strong>and</strong> moral concerns associated<br />
with dispossess<strong>in</strong>g the recognized owners <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong> best way<br />
to ensure an ext<strong>in</strong>ct title for a Native l<strong>and</strong> claim is to have an ext<strong>in</strong>ct<br />
Native tribe—even if the people themselves are still persist<strong>in</strong>g.” 59
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 17<br />
Lamourt-Valentín had echoed this view <strong>in</strong> regard to <strong>Borikén</strong>. At<br />
the time <strong>of</strong> his death <strong>in</strong> 2007, he was the preem<strong>in</strong>ent l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>of</strong> the<br />
native language on the isl<strong>and</strong>. He was an assistant to Richard Weissk<strong>of</strong>f<br />
while study<strong>in</strong>g at Iowa State University <strong>in</strong> the late 1970s <strong>and</strong><br />
corresponded with the former curator <strong>of</strong> the Smithsonian Institution,<br />
Clifford Evans. Commonly known among those who knew him well,<br />
Lamourt-Valentín believed the dom<strong>in</strong>ant <strong>in</strong>stitutions <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong><br />
have cont<strong>in</strong>ually rationalize the ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous population<br />
<strong>in</strong> order to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> control <strong>and</strong> avoid hav<strong>in</strong>g to deal with l<strong>and</strong><br />
rights issues <strong>and</strong> claims. Because his work <strong>and</strong> views did not conform<br />
to the ma<strong>in</strong>stream academic l<strong>in</strong>e, he was basically ostracized by the<br />
academy. I know <strong>of</strong> other scholars who have also been marg<strong>in</strong>alized<br />
because their views have challenged entrenched theories. As a result,<br />
they have lost opportunities for teach<strong>in</strong>g positions <strong>and</strong> their works<br />
have sometimes gone unpublished.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> Lamourt-Valentín’s writ<strong>in</strong>gs, called Cannibal Recipes,<br />
which provides an important <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>in</strong>terpretation <strong>of</strong> the work<br />
<strong>of</strong> Fray Ramón Pané, the Jeronymite missionary who accompanied<br />
Columbus on his second voyage, falls <strong>in</strong>to the aforementioned category.<br />
Cannibal Recipes is a sociol<strong>in</strong>guistic account <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> culture <strong>and</strong> rebuttal <strong>of</strong> Pané’s Antiquities <strong>of</strong> the Indians,<br />
but has not been published. Lamourt-Valentín challenges the myth<br />
<strong>of</strong> Jíbaro ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>and</strong> the widely held scholarly view that the first<br />
alphabetical text written <strong>in</strong> the Americas was that <strong>of</strong> Pané’s. As he<br />
expla<strong>in</strong>s, the Carib people <strong>and</strong> cacike Guarionex, who provided Pané<br />
with all <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>formation needed <strong>in</strong> this transliteration, turn out to<br />
be the true authors <strong>of</strong> the book. 60 Nevertheless, these types <strong>of</strong> sources<br />
are rout<strong>in</strong>ely dismissed by scholars as “revisionist,” <strong>and</strong> sometimes<br />
discredited as “illegitimate storytell<strong>in</strong>g” manufactured by “wannabe<br />
people,” as I have been told. But these are the same old excuses <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples have been deal<strong>in</strong>g with for a long time. In addition to<br />
attempt<strong>in</strong>g to debunk ma<strong>in</strong>stream theories, these sources have sometimes<br />
never been heard <strong>of</strong> before. When asked years after author<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Cannibal Recipes why much <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>formation he has revealed is<br />
largely unknown, Lamourt-Valentín simply replied, “Because nobody<br />
has bothered to ask the Jíbaro . . . Everybody says the Jíbaro is<br />
ext<strong>in</strong>ct.” 61 As to the accusation <strong>of</strong> “revisionism,” I would agree with<br />
the follow<strong>in</strong>g statement: “When the dom<strong>in</strong>ant society tells its side<br />
<strong>of</strong> the story, it is called history. When we Indians tell our side <strong>of</strong> the<br />
story, it is called REVISIONISM.” 62<br />
For myself, while I have completed nearly all <strong>of</strong> my ethnological<br />
research <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, I was fortunate to have done my earlier
18<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
committee work <strong>and</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>g from afar s<strong>in</strong>ce my study would never<br />
have been academically approved on the isl<strong>and</strong>. I would have had to<br />
take out “this,” “this,” “this,” <strong>and</strong> “this,” as I have learned about<br />
some who have experienced a type <strong>of</strong> unwarranted scrut<strong>in</strong>y <strong>in</strong> hav<strong>in</strong>g<br />
their studies approved. <strong>The</strong> controversial nature <strong>of</strong> my work has<br />
already evoked a bit <strong>of</strong> resentment among the dom<strong>in</strong>ant academy.<br />
I have found that no matter what I write will be vilified by some,<br />
<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g what I have to say <strong>in</strong> this book. This is would be no surprise.<br />
However, the general sentiment among most scholars <strong>and</strong> particularly<br />
the Jíbaro people I have shared my writ<strong>in</strong>gs with <strong>and</strong> given presentations<br />
to has been very positive. Mostly all have agreed with my<br />
historiography <strong>and</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> thesis dispell<strong>in</strong>g ext<strong>in</strong>ction, which is merely<br />
an affirmation <strong>of</strong> what many native descendants already know. Perhaps<br />
the highest compliment came from Lamourt-Valentín himself.<br />
He once told me that an ethnology <strong>of</strong> this k<strong>in</strong>d has never been written<br />
about <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>and</strong> encouraged me <strong>in</strong> his own unique way to keep<br />
mov<strong>in</strong>g forward. It has truly been a long process <strong>of</strong> contemplative<br />
study <strong>and</strong> revelation.<br />
What’s to Come<br />
This book explores deeper <strong>and</strong> hopes to make more sense <strong>of</strong> the previously<br />
mentioned themes <strong>and</strong> issues. In the next chapter, I will discuss<br />
the mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> mythmak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> how certa<strong>in</strong> European myth<br />
models provided precedence for the creation <strong>of</strong> tales <strong>and</strong> fictions projected<br />
onto <strong>in</strong>digenous populations, with an emphasis on the <strong>Caribbean</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> evidence support<strong>in</strong>g the foundational basis <strong>of</strong> these myths<br />
is essentially miss<strong>in</strong>g. Yet, through Western representations <strong>of</strong> power,<br />
these myths have been susta<strong>in</strong>ed as “truth” <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ue to marg<strong>in</strong>alize<br />
native peoples. In exam<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the early colonial era, Chapter 3<br />
takes a look at various forms <strong>of</strong> resistance to the Spanish encroachment<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. Resistance <strong>in</strong> the sixteenth century was both passive<br />
<strong>and</strong> active <strong>and</strong> helps us to better underst<strong>and</strong> the long-term process <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous survival. An analysis is given <strong>of</strong> how important laws <strong>and</strong><br />
doctr<strong>in</strong>es were manufactured to justify the violence <strong>and</strong> enslavement<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Carib. This is juxtaposed to the <strong>in</strong>tense resistance to Spanish<br />
colonization, which has been largely ignored as a factor contribut<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to changes <strong>in</strong> Spanish policy. Francisco Manuel de L<strong>and</strong>o’s 1530–<br />
1531 census is also analyzed as it became a tool to rationalize the<br />
Indian population out <strong>of</strong> history. However, most <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> were not a part <strong>of</strong> the census count to beg<strong>in</strong> with, s<strong>in</strong>ce
A New Version <strong>of</strong> History 19<br />
they were liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the many isolated areas <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> or had fled the<br />
encomienda system.<br />
Chapters 4 <strong>and</strong> 5 exam<strong>in</strong>e the Indian transformation from the seventeenth<br />
until well <strong>in</strong>to the twentieth century. <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro presence <strong>in</strong><br />
many regions <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> from the early 1700s to late 1800s could be<br />
described as a type <strong>of</strong> silence from the outside world. <strong>The</strong> African <strong>and</strong><br />
Spanish people they came <strong>in</strong>to contact with, who had themselves fled<br />
or relocated to the <strong>in</strong>terior <strong>and</strong> elsewhere, had been largely assimilated<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the process the Jíbaro were able to keep many <strong>of</strong> their cultural<br />
traditions alive. Spanish population censuses taken <strong>in</strong> the second<br />
half <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth century reveal that hundreds <strong>of</strong> Indian people<br />
rema<strong>in</strong>ed on the isl<strong>and</strong> at that time. This was a huge underestimation<br />
<strong>of</strong> the thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> people who were actually there. As<br />
Spanish censuses throughout the Americas typically underestimated<br />
or m<strong>in</strong>imized <strong>in</strong>digenous population numbers, the Jíbaro were present<br />
<strong>in</strong> much larger numbers than these censuses showed. <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
survival permeated throughout the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century as the Spanish<br />
did not fully colonize the isl<strong>and</strong>, particularly the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions,<br />
until after the 1868 revolution. It was the Jíbaro or Boricua who<br />
kept up the resistance <strong>in</strong> the 1800s <strong>and</strong> was the ma<strong>in</strong> impetus for the<br />
revolts, revolution, <strong>and</strong> for help<strong>in</strong>g to f<strong>in</strong>ally drive the Spaniards out<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> at the end <strong>of</strong> the century. While a pr<strong>in</strong>cipal contributor<br />
to a <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican nationality, they had ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed an <strong>in</strong>digenous consciousness<br />
because that’s who they were. <strong>The</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al chapter exam<strong>in</strong>es<br />
contemporary cultural survival <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity with<strong>in</strong> Jíbaro families,<br />
communities, or barrios. <strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous voice has a lot to say about<br />
customary, spiritual, <strong>and</strong> l<strong>in</strong>guistic practices that cont<strong>in</strong>ue today. <strong>The</strong><br />
dynamics <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous movement <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> is also looked at.<br />
Here we reveal the Jíbaro-Boricua mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the movement for<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>and</strong> its potential future.
This page <strong>in</strong>tentionally left blank
Chapter 2<br />
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
<strong>Myth</strong>ology has been traditionally concerned with accounts <strong>of</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>s,<br />
creation stories, the emergence <strong>of</strong> deities, the supernatural world,<br />
all <strong>of</strong> which provide mean<strong>in</strong>g to a people <strong>and</strong> can justify the bases <strong>of</strong><br />
societies. A myth is said to be “the sum <strong>of</strong> the development <strong>of</strong> historical<br />
tradition.” 1 For <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples, the world is viewed holistically,<br />
where everyth<strong>in</strong>g is connected: “We are <strong>in</strong>structed to deal with<br />
the plants, animals, m<strong>in</strong>erals, human be<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> all life as if they were a<br />
part <strong>of</strong> ourselves.” 2 <strong>Indigenous</strong> beliefs <strong>and</strong> myths <strong>of</strong>ten center around<br />
a connectedness, stewardship, <strong>and</strong> reverence for the earth, a responsibility<br />
to preserve for future generations. Male <strong>and</strong> female entities are<br />
also seen as dual, complement<strong>in</strong>g each other <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> balance. <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples believed <strong>in</strong> the Earth Mother–Sky Father<br />
duality between these energies. <strong>The</strong> Earth Mother, Atabei, Atabey,<br />
Atabex, or Attabeira, gave birth to Yúcahu Bagua Maórocoti, the Sky<br />
or Celestial Father. Yúcahu has no beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g, signify<strong>in</strong>g the belief <strong>in</strong><br />
a form <strong>of</strong> re<strong>in</strong>carnation <strong>and</strong> immorality. <strong>The</strong> male be<strong>in</strong>g is further not<br />
s<strong>in</strong>gular <strong>in</strong> Antillean tradition. This thought contradicts the European<br />
<strong>in</strong>terpretation <strong>of</strong> the early chroniclers, who believed that Yúcahu was<br />
equivalent to a monotheistic paternal god <strong>in</strong> the Christian tradition.<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> cultural society <strong>and</strong> spiritual belief were matriarchal <strong>and</strong><br />
polytheistic. Compared to Mesoamerican forces <strong>of</strong> nature, “the Antillean<br />
gods present resemblances which cannot be expla<strong>in</strong>ed as mere<br />
casual co<strong>in</strong>cidences . . . Such are the beliefs <strong>in</strong> the Fire-God, the gods<br />
<strong>of</strong> the w<strong>in</strong>d <strong>and</strong> the hurricane, the mother serpent, etc.” 3<br />
<strong>Myth</strong>s <strong>and</strong> their production can also be fictitious when they are<br />
out <strong>of</strong> touch with the facts or truth, such as the belief <strong>in</strong> the Orbis<br />
Terrarum (Isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Earth) or that the sun somehow revolved
22<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
around the earth. While thought to be fact, fiction was used here to<br />
expla<strong>in</strong> the unexpla<strong>in</strong>able <strong>of</strong> the time <strong>and</strong> has s<strong>in</strong>ce been disproved. In<br />
contrast to <strong>in</strong>digenous thought, Western society’s ways <strong>of</strong> view<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
earth have been divisive <strong>and</strong> dom<strong>in</strong>ant <strong>and</strong> have exploited her for its<br />
own use <strong>and</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>it. In the fifteenth <strong>and</strong> sixteenth-century European<br />
expansion <strong>in</strong>to the Americas, this meant us<strong>in</strong>g people as pawns <strong>in</strong> the<br />
colonial process <strong>and</strong> thus the need to <strong>in</strong>vent certa<strong>in</strong> myths <strong>in</strong> order to<br />
justify imperialism <strong>and</strong> one’s presence. Some <strong>of</strong> these myths are alive<br />
<strong>and</strong> well today. This chapter is primarily concerned with this str<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
myth, which I view <strong>in</strong> the fictitious sense <strong>of</strong> the word as <strong>in</strong> tales passed<br />
down about <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>and</strong> societies <strong>in</strong> Western tradition, or<br />
mythmak<strong>in</strong>g, with little or no historical basis <strong>of</strong> support. I’m talk<strong>in</strong>g<br />
about <strong>in</strong>digenous discourses produced from Western perspectives that<br />
came to count as “facts” <strong>and</strong> “truths.” As the first po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> contact<br />
<strong>in</strong> the “New World,” the <strong>Caribbean</strong> came to be a launch<strong>in</strong>g pad for<br />
many <strong>of</strong> the myths, tales, <strong>and</strong> stories told about <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
as perceived through the European consciousness <strong>and</strong> canon. For<br />
example, the Carib funerary custom <strong>of</strong> hang<strong>in</strong>g the bones <strong>of</strong> the dead<br />
from their houses was a sure <strong>in</strong>dicator <strong>of</strong> anthropophagy. Of course<br />
one who eats human flesh has always been seen to be on the occidental<br />
edge <strong>of</strong> humanity. This <strong>in</strong>itial moment <strong>in</strong> time came to symbolize<br />
an irreparable image <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous populations as reflected back to<br />
Europe <strong>and</strong> unfortunately still <strong>in</strong>forms our th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
I write aware <strong>of</strong> the game <strong>of</strong> debunk<strong>in</strong>g, or “the denunciation <strong>of</strong><br />
myth as falsehood from the vantage-po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> a rival myth.” 4 However,<br />
if we keep <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d that the criterion <strong>in</strong> determ<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a fiction is measured<br />
<strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> its deviation from or approximation to fact, 5 <strong>and</strong><br />
what might count for “fact” or “fiction” can be subjective or misperceived,<br />
we may very well beg<strong>in</strong> to resuscitate a “dead society.” In this<br />
case the core <strong>of</strong> the “rival myth” takes on a most personal nature.<br />
It begs the questions: Am I a myth? Are the Jíbaro <strong>and</strong> other <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples myths, too? And are all “mixed-blooded”<br />
native peoples mythical be<strong>in</strong>gs? This was the dom<strong>in</strong>ant belief as late<br />
as 1968 when the first United Nations Conference on Human Rights<br />
was held. <strong>Indigenous</strong> peoples were generally considered “a remnant<br />
<strong>of</strong> the past,” <strong>in</strong>evitably assimilated <strong>in</strong>to ma<strong>in</strong>stream societies. 6 <strong>The</strong>y<br />
were gone <strong>and</strong> nowhere to be found. This was a fallacy. <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
groups <strong>and</strong> peoples had simply gone “underground,” <strong>and</strong> s<strong>in</strong>ce then<br />
many have been reaffirmed <strong>and</strong> rout<strong>in</strong>ely recognized by governmental<br />
<strong>and</strong> nongovernmental bodies with a good number <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational<br />
rights documents written <strong>in</strong> their favor. Just as importantly, it is the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous voice that has attempted to lend perspective <strong>in</strong> speak<strong>in</strong>g
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 23<br />
truth to myth. “Start<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the 1960s <strong>and</strong> 1970s, with the powerful<br />
<strong>and</strong> heartfelt Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee <strong>and</strong> films such as Soldier<br />
Blue <strong>and</strong> Little Big Man, a whole generation <strong>of</strong> books, films <strong>and</strong><br />
TV series has tried, <strong>of</strong>ten very honourably, to set the record straight<br />
by giv<strong>in</strong>g a native perspective on the conquest <strong>of</strong> the West.” 7<br />
With a focus on the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, I will primarily explore how European<br />
mythmak<strong>in</strong>g has been crafted s<strong>in</strong>ce the late fifteenth-century clash<br />
<strong>of</strong> civilizations. <strong>The</strong>re is also an important l<strong>in</strong>k to be made between<br />
the mythmak<strong>in</strong>g process <strong>and</strong> notions <strong>of</strong> marg<strong>in</strong>alization, irrationality,<br />
heathenism, savagery, <strong>and</strong> the erasure <strong>and</strong> ultimate “ext<strong>in</strong>ction” <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous populations. When we look at the myths to be described,<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous peoples are almost always marg<strong>in</strong>alized <strong>and</strong> reduced to a<br />
subhuman level. Those who “dared” to resist the colonizer were <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
demonized, too. Yet, the bases or underly<strong>in</strong>g premises <strong>of</strong> these types <strong>of</strong><br />
myths have <strong>of</strong>ten been created through fantasy <strong>and</strong> scholarly assumptions.<br />
For example, as seen with the dom<strong>in</strong>ant Ber<strong>in</strong>g Strait theory <strong>of</strong><br />
American Indian orig<strong>in</strong>s, the renowned St<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g Rock Sioux scholar<br />
V<strong>in</strong>e Deloria, Jr., <strong>in</strong> Red Earth, White Lies, meticulously <strong>and</strong> conv<strong>in</strong>c<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
po<strong>in</strong>ts out how theory with no foundational basis <strong>of</strong> support<br />
can be unquestionably passed down for unend<strong>in</strong>g periods <strong>of</strong> time <strong>and</strong><br />
unwitt<strong>in</strong>gly accepted as scholarly fact. <strong>The</strong> basic assumption regard<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the Ber<strong>in</strong>g Strait theory is that s<strong>in</strong>ce Native Americans were thought<br />
to be <strong>in</strong>capable <strong>of</strong> travel<strong>in</strong>g by water, 8 they must have had to traverse<br />
the Ber<strong>in</strong>g Strait dur<strong>in</strong>g the last ice age to have arrived <strong>in</strong> North<br />
America. This notion orig<strong>in</strong>ally fulfilled the biblical belief <strong>of</strong> human<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong> then ma<strong>in</strong>stream scientific thought, but now falls flat on its<br />
face <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g amount <strong>of</strong> archeological data <strong>of</strong> a hemispheric<br />
human presence dat<strong>in</strong>g back much further than the 12,000<br />
or so years <strong>of</strong> the ice age period. 9 Moreover, North American Indian<br />
people, <strong>in</strong> general, strongly oppose the idea as <strong>in</strong>digenous traditions<br />
<strong>and</strong> memory passed down over many generations do not corroborate<br />
such a migration <strong>and</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>. 10 However, as native stories <strong>and</strong> traditions<br />
are rout<strong>in</strong>ely dismissed by Western science as “superstitious” <strong>and</strong><br />
“fictions” <strong>in</strong> themselves, the dom<strong>in</strong>ant theory is cont<strong>in</strong>ually recited<br />
<strong>and</strong> upheld as Deloria found out firsth<strong>and</strong>: “Arriv<strong>in</strong>g at the University<br />
<strong>of</strong> Colorado, I was stunned to hear from my students that some <strong>of</strong> my<br />
history colleagues were beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g their courses on American history<br />
with a m<strong>in</strong>dless recitation <strong>of</strong> the Ber<strong>in</strong>g Strait theory <strong>of</strong> the peopl<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Western Hemisphere. Basically, they were simply repeat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
scholarly folklore, s<strong>in</strong>ce there is, to my knowledge, no good source<br />
which articulates the theory <strong>in</strong> any reasonable format. Indeed, this
24<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
‘theory’ has been around so long that people no longer feel they have<br />
to expla<strong>in</strong> or defend it—they can merely refer to it.” 11<br />
As brought out <strong>in</strong> this chapter, this type <strong>of</strong> reference is also exemplified<br />
<strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>ventions <strong>of</strong> European apotheoses, the idea <strong>of</strong> discovery,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the practice <strong>of</strong> native cannibalism. <strong>The</strong>se myths, most importantly,<br />
add credibility to how the myth <strong>of</strong> the ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
peoples came to be manufactured <strong>and</strong> produced. <strong>The</strong>se types <strong>of</strong><br />
legends have always come at the expense <strong>of</strong> the self-created “Other.”<br />
It has been to the political advantage <strong>of</strong> Western societies <strong>and</strong> governments<br />
to keep these myths believable <strong>in</strong> order to shield their own<br />
vulnerability <strong>and</strong> brutal past.<br />
<strong>Myth</strong> Models <strong>and</strong> the Savage M<strong>in</strong>d<br />
Gananath Obeyesekere’s <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook provides<br />
some <strong>in</strong>sight <strong>in</strong>to the European mythmak<strong>in</strong>g process <strong>and</strong> underly<strong>in</strong>g<br />
ideas that have made its production possible. Obeyesekere, a Sri<br />
Lankan native, poses a question he had asked himself <strong>in</strong> 1983 upon<br />
learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Marshall Sahl<strong>in</strong>s’s thesis expound<strong>in</strong>g the Kanaka Maoli<br />
belief that the British Capta<strong>in</strong> James Cook was their god, Lono:<br />
“Could it be that the myth <strong>of</strong> Lono was a European construction,<br />
attribut<strong>in</strong>g to the native the belief that the European was a god?” 12 He<br />
was extremely curious because he could not th<strong>in</strong>k <strong>of</strong> any Sri Lankan or<br />
South Asian examples <strong>of</strong> when a European had been deified by their<br />
native hosts, <strong>and</strong> much less a premortem one. Obeyesekere attempts<br />
to disprove the long-held theory <strong>of</strong> Cook’s apotheosis by unravel<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the dom<strong>in</strong>ant scholarly evidence <strong>and</strong> po<strong>in</strong>ts out that European mythmak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
was prolific <strong>in</strong> European thought, particularly <strong>in</strong> regard to<br />
ancestral heroes <strong>of</strong> which Cook might easily fit. 13<br />
By “myth model,” he notes that an important myth could serve as<br />
a model for the construction <strong>of</strong> other myths. He <strong>in</strong>quires if the Cook<br />
case could have been <strong>in</strong>fluenced by prior European models, such<br />
as Hernán Cortés’s supposed apotheosis <strong>and</strong> possibly Columbus’s,<br />
which themselves may have been based on other myth models <strong>in</strong><br />
Europe’s past history. 14 He po<strong>in</strong>ts out how European explorers <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Pacific had a prior conception <strong>of</strong> the deification process before they<br />
even l<strong>and</strong>ed on shore. 15 This was apparently a preconceived notion <strong>of</strong><br />
Columbus, too, when he immediately assumed <strong>and</strong> later penned <strong>in</strong><br />
his famed letter <strong>of</strong> 1493 that the <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples he first contacted<br />
actually believed the newcomers were “div<strong>in</strong>e.” His belief was undisputed<br />
as they ran around announc<strong>in</strong>g his arrival wherever he went<br />
with loud cries <strong>of</strong> “Come! Come! See the people from the sky!” 16
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 25<br />
Interest<strong>in</strong>gly, it is recorded that Columbus had previously written <strong>in</strong><br />
his journal that he communicated by “signs” with the Indian people,<br />
“because I do not underst<strong>and</strong> them through speech.” 17 He would<br />
not have done even this upon his arrival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> as it is said he<br />
thought the isl<strong>and</strong> was un<strong>in</strong>habited, s<strong>in</strong>ce the <strong>in</strong>habitants had ignored<br />
him. 18 Furthermore, there is a well-documented native prophecy that<br />
“bearded men” who were “wholly clothed” would come to wreak<br />
havoc on the people <strong>of</strong> the region. 19 This would hardly be a cause for<br />
celebration, much less to see the Europeans as “gods.” Columbus<br />
apparently knew <strong>of</strong> this prophecy, yet his letter, which obviously “puts<br />
the best possible gloss” on the events <strong>of</strong> the first voyage, 20 has been<br />
seen as a means <strong>of</strong> secur<strong>in</strong>g funds from the Spanish Crown for future<br />
voyages, <strong>in</strong> part, by giv<strong>in</strong>g the impression that the “peaceable” <strong>in</strong>habitants<br />
were ripe for Christianity.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se ideas were not only shipboard tradition but also ran deep<br />
with<strong>in</strong> the European culture <strong>and</strong> psyche. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Obeyesekere,<br />
“the very beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> the voyages <strong>of</strong> discovery carried with them<br />
the tradition <strong>of</strong> the apotheosis <strong>of</strong> redoubtable European navigators<br />
who were also the harb<strong>in</strong>gers <strong>of</strong> civilization. This cultural structure<br />
occurs aga<strong>in</strong>st a larger background <strong>of</strong> ancient Indo-European values<br />
perta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g to euhemerism, to gods <strong>in</strong> human shape appear<strong>in</strong>g<br />
among mortals, to men becom<strong>in</strong>g gods <strong>and</strong> gods becom<strong>in</strong>g men <strong>and</strong><br />
so forth.” 21 In regard to the Hawaiian acceptance <strong>of</strong> the apotheosis<br />
<strong>of</strong> Cook, as noted <strong>in</strong> the follow<strong>in</strong>g passage, Obeyesekere is primarily<br />
referr<strong>in</strong>g to those who had thereafter converted to Christianity. <strong>The</strong><br />
contemporary Kanaka Maoli scholars <strong>and</strong> people I have discussed this<br />
topic with basically agree with Obeyesekere’s conclusion, <strong>and</strong> most<br />
view Cook’s legacy as one <strong>of</strong> death <strong>and</strong> destruction for their people.<br />
<strong>The</strong> author writes,<br />
I have suggested that the myth <strong>of</strong> Cook as the god Lono is fundamentally<br />
based on the Western idea <strong>of</strong> the redoubtable European who is<br />
a god to savage peoples. This was further transformed <strong>in</strong> European<br />
thought <strong>in</strong> the Evangelical idea <strong>of</strong> idolatry. <strong>The</strong> later Hawaiian acceptance<br />
<strong>of</strong> this idea is not pro<strong>of</strong> that it was the Hawaiians’ idea <strong>in</strong> the first<br />
place. To put it differently, the div<strong>in</strong>ization <strong>of</strong> Cook is a structure <strong>of</strong><br />
the long run <strong>in</strong> European thought, <strong>in</strong>asmuch as his chiefly deification<br />
is a Hawaiian example <strong>of</strong> the same phenomenon. I am now suggest<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that Sahl<strong>in</strong>s’s anthropological narrative <strong>of</strong> the life <strong>and</strong> death <strong>of</strong> Cook is<br />
not only a theoretical v<strong>in</strong>dication <strong>of</strong> structural cont<strong>in</strong>uity <strong>and</strong> conjuncture,<br />
as he claims, but it is also a cont<strong>in</strong>uation, albeit unwitt<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>of</strong> the<br />
European myth <strong>of</strong> the apotheosis <strong>of</strong> James Cook. <strong>The</strong>oretical thought<br />
is <strong>of</strong>ten enshr<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> nontheoretical traditions. 22
26<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
Obeyesekere remarks that myth models more importantly refer<br />
to an established set <strong>of</strong> ideas utilized <strong>in</strong> various narratives that “get<br />
attached to larger narrative forms such as fiction, history, or biography.”<br />
23 For example, the production <strong>of</strong> mythical apotheoses <strong>and</strong><br />
subsequent stories passed down can be seen to parallel European preconceptions<br />
<strong>and</strong> marg<strong>in</strong>alizations <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples as irrational,<br />
childlike, or savage be<strong>in</strong>gs. Obeyesekere uses the characters <strong>of</strong> Prospero<br />
<strong>and</strong> Kurtz to show how the “savage m<strong>in</strong>d” as drawn from these<br />
personalities <strong>and</strong> legends is implicitly assumed to be illogical <strong>and</strong> irrational<br />
compared to modern ways <strong>of</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g. If native peoples th<strong>in</strong>k<br />
“mystically,” “prelogically,” or like children, they must assumedly lack<br />
developed ratioc<strong>in</strong>ative abilities. 24 He critiques Tzvetan Todorov’s <strong>The</strong><br />
Conquest <strong>of</strong> America by show<strong>in</strong>g how prejudicial myth models cont<strong>in</strong>ue<br />
to be passed down today through the social scientists’ portrayal<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Other. In his work, Todorov proposes <strong>and</strong> then affirms that the<br />
Spaniards defeated the Aztec (Mexica) by “signs,” or “<strong>in</strong>terhuman<br />
communication” as he says, where “we cannot be surprised that the<br />
specialists <strong>in</strong> human communication should triumph <strong>in</strong> it.” 25 What he<br />
means, accord<strong>in</strong>g to Obeyesekere, is how Cortés skillfully manipulated<br />
signs “<strong>in</strong> a pragmatic, rational manner so as to overwhelm the<br />
traditional, cosmologically bound Aztecs.” 26 <strong>The</strong>y are constricted by<br />
“ritual” <strong>and</strong> “collectivity” <strong>and</strong> thus not <strong>in</strong>dividuals as such capable <strong>of</strong><br />
improvisation, 27 or <strong>in</strong> other words <strong>in</strong>capable <strong>of</strong> derationaliz<strong>in</strong>g their<br />
own demise.<br />
One event Todorov describes show<strong>in</strong>g Cortés’s ability to control<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation was his attempt to conv<strong>in</strong>ce the Mexica <strong>of</strong> their apparent<br />
<strong>in</strong>itial uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty that Spanish horses were immortal. He did<br />
this by bury<strong>in</strong>g their corpses the night after a battle, to make it seem<br />
like their disappearance was some sort <strong>of</strong> “magic art.” 28 This mode<br />
<strong>of</strong> improvisation was meant to demoralize <strong>and</strong> scare his adversaries,<br />
notes Obeyesekere, but he po<strong>in</strong>ts out it could easily be argued that<br />
Cortés mis<strong>in</strong>terprets <strong>in</strong>digenous thought based on European biases,<br />
<strong>and</strong> that his assumed mastery <strong>of</strong> signs led him to perform a foolish<br />
act. “But were the Indians naive enough to believe that Spanish<br />
horses did not belong to the broad mortal class <strong>of</strong> the quadrupeds<br />
<strong>in</strong> their own midst? And did not the Aztecs see Spanish horses<br />
wounded, bleed<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> fall<strong>in</strong>g down, if not dead? And how did<br />
the Spaniards manage to bury their dead horses <strong>and</strong> then cover up<br />
the evidence <strong>of</strong> burial without Indians detect<strong>in</strong>g them?” 29 Todorov’s<br />
account does provide <strong>in</strong>stances when the Mexica also appear to be<br />
masters <strong>of</strong> signs, but <strong>in</strong> their own cultural context. <strong>The</strong>ir very different<br />
style <strong>of</strong> improvisation <strong>and</strong> rationality could have easily eluded
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 27<br />
the early chroniclers. 30 Obeyesekere writes how anthropologists<br />
today generally affirm the rationality <strong>of</strong> “preliterate societies” from<br />
with<strong>in</strong> their own value systems. What he takes exception to, however,<br />
is the logic <strong>in</strong> the very attribution <strong>of</strong> rationality to beg<strong>in</strong> with,<br />
which <strong>in</strong> its rigidity is “not all that far removed from prior notions <strong>of</strong><br />
prelogicality.” 31 Todorov’s well-<strong>in</strong>tended “moralist’s” account 32 <strong>of</strong><br />
Spanish atrocities perpetuated aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>digenous populations does<br />
not exempt him from this representation <strong>in</strong> relation to the stereotypical<br />
Other. Obeyesekere expla<strong>in</strong>s how he is apparently unaware <strong>of</strong><br />
the b<strong>in</strong>d he is placed <strong>in</strong>:<br />
He quotes extensively from Spanish texts that describe the brutalization<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Indians, but these are the very texts that represent the Indians’<br />
stereotypic Otherness. <strong>The</strong> modern scholar accepts the accuracy <strong>of</strong><br />
these older accounts <strong>of</strong> the Indian because they fit his theory <strong>of</strong> signs<br />
which tells us that the Indians are bound by signs; consequently they<br />
can be easily subjugated by the Spanish who have mastery over signs.<br />
Todorov does not recognize that his representation <strong>of</strong> the Aztec is a byproduct<br />
<strong>of</strong> sixteenth-century Spanish representations, meditated, however,<br />
by his theory <strong>of</strong> signs. In effect, the difference between the two<br />
is one <strong>of</strong> ethical orientation <strong>and</strong> not one <strong>of</strong> divergent representation.<br />
Todorov’s vision <strong>of</strong> the Other is a cont<strong>in</strong>uation <strong>of</strong> a major Spanish (<strong>and</strong><br />
European) myth model deal<strong>in</strong>g with the savage m<strong>in</strong>d. 33<br />
Cortés’s “Apotheosis” <strong>and</strong> Sahagún<br />
Cortés’s apotheosis appears to have been passed down <strong>in</strong> a similar<br />
mythical fashion as Cook’s masquerad<strong>in</strong>g as Lono. Todorov notes how<br />
Cortés exploited the myth <strong>of</strong> the return <strong>of</strong> the historical <strong>and</strong> legendary<br />
figure, Quetzalcoatl. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to “Indian accounts” collected<br />
by Spanish chroniclers, Montezuma supposedly identified Cortés as<br />
Quetzalcoatl, which was a ma<strong>in</strong> reason for his <strong>in</strong>ability to resist the<br />
Spaniards. 34 But the orig<strong>in</strong>al version <strong>of</strong> the story does not emphasize<br />
Quetzalcoatl’s return, whose role is secondary <strong>and</strong> not <strong>of</strong> a dom<strong>in</strong>ant<br />
personage. Here is where Cortés <strong>in</strong>serts himself <strong>in</strong> transform<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
myth, which becomes codified by the chroniclers. Todorov remarks,<br />
“<strong>The</strong> accounts we f<strong>in</strong>d <strong>in</strong> Sahagún <strong>and</strong> Durán present the identification<br />
<strong>of</strong> Cortés with Quetzalcoatl as occurr<strong>in</strong>g to Montezuma himself.<br />
But this assertion merely proves that, for the Indians after the conquest,<br />
the th<strong>in</strong>g was likely; Cortés’s calculation must have been based<br />
on this possibility when he sought to produce an ‘authentic’ Indian<br />
myth.” 35 So while the Mexica did see Quetzalcoatl as one div<strong>in</strong>ity
28<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
among others before the Spanish arrival, he became more <strong>of</strong> a dom<strong>in</strong>ant<br />
“supreme be<strong>in</strong>g” as portrayed <strong>and</strong> used by Cortés.<br />
We need to be critical <strong>of</strong> these Spanish texts like the Franciscan Bernard<strong>in</strong>o<br />
de Sahagún’s Florent<strong>in</strong>e Codex, even if they are embellished<br />
by native accounts. Instead, Todorov makes this sweep<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> contradictory<br />
statement: “We cannot question the authenticity <strong>of</strong> accounts<br />
which report what the priests’ <strong>in</strong>formants believed.” 36 We should, yet<br />
it is actually not so much question<strong>in</strong>g what the <strong>in</strong>formants believed<br />
but how the <strong>in</strong>formation they gave was <strong>in</strong>terpreted, organized, <strong>and</strong><br />
used. As alphabetical writ<strong>in</strong>g was thought to be a superior genre <strong>of</strong><br />
organiz<strong>in</strong>g knowledge compared to Amer<strong>in</strong>dian forms, the effective<br />
spread <strong>of</strong> language became paramount <strong>in</strong> the Christian conversion <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous populations. Gordon Brotherston notes that <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
societies were, <strong>in</strong> fact, well aware <strong>of</strong> the potential impoverishment <strong>of</strong><br />
the phonetic alphabet on their script-saturated texts. 37 Thus the biblical<br />
version <strong>of</strong> history was philosophically challenged, which resulted<br />
<strong>in</strong> the burn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> “whole libraries” <strong>of</strong> Mesoamerican texts by the first<br />
missionaries. <strong>The</strong> systematic erasure <strong>of</strong> texts occurred throughout<br />
the hemisphere, such as the confiscation <strong>of</strong> “pagan libraries” <strong>of</strong> Mide<br />
scrolls <strong>in</strong> northern Turtle Isl<strong>and</strong>. 38 Ironically, European knowledge<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples’ languages <strong>and</strong> religions were <strong>in</strong>strumental <strong>in</strong><br />
reproduc<strong>in</strong>g “the word” <strong>of</strong> the Christian God. In the Philipp<strong>in</strong>es,<br />
Lat<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> Castilian were used to reconstruct Tagalog grammar <strong>in</strong>to<br />
an effective tool for translat<strong>in</strong>g scripture <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> turn convert<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
Tagalogs. 39 Calv<strong>in</strong>ist missionaries <strong>in</strong> Hawai‘i early on acquired <strong>and</strong><br />
transformed the Kanaka Maoli language <strong>in</strong>to an alphabetic script for<br />
the same purpose. <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> the alphabet was critical <strong>in</strong> México, too,<br />
as Sahagún’s sixteenth century work had begun as a project to convert<br />
Amer<strong>in</strong>dians under the Franciscans. 40 A po<strong>in</strong>t Todorov stresses about<br />
Sahagún’s research, motivation, <strong>and</strong> “desire to know <strong>and</strong> to preserve<br />
Nahuatl culture” preced<strong>in</strong>g his writ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> his history (<strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> conversion),<br />
41 is part <strong>and</strong> parcel <strong>of</strong> the writ<strong>in</strong>g process. <strong>The</strong>se time periods<br />
are not exclusive <strong>of</strong> each other, as Todorov would have us believe, <strong>in</strong><br />
regard to the ultimate goal. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Walter Mignolo, Sahagún<br />
was attempt<strong>in</strong>g to know native souls through the ancient Mexica religion<br />
“<strong>in</strong> order to be more successful <strong>in</strong> their conversion.” He writes,<br />
“Sahagún referred cont<strong>in</strong>ually to his writ<strong>in</strong>g as ‘this work’ (esta obra),<br />
imply<strong>in</strong>g ‘written work,’ <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the open<strong>in</strong>g paragraph <strong>of</strong> his prologue,<br />
he compared his own work with that <strong>of</strong> the medical doctor.<br />
In the same way that the doctor has to diagnose his or her patient<br />
<strong>in</strong> order to reestablish the order <strong>in</strong> the body, the missionaries had to<br />
diagnose theirs <strong>in</strong> order to restore order to their soul.” 42
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 29<br />
Sahagún gathered an abundant amount <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>formation <strong>in</strong> Nahuatl<br />
through oral contact with the Mexica. He began translat<strong>in</strong>g his work<br />
<strong>in</strong>to Spanish upon the request <strong>of</strong> the governor <strong>and</strong> president <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Council <strong>of</strong> the Indies, Fray Juan de Ov<strong>and</strong>o. His method <strong>of</strong> organiz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
knowledge was through an alphabetical encyclopedic genre based on a<br />
previous model accepted by medieval Christian scholars. 43 Mignolo<br />
notes the 12 books he wrote (Florent<strong>in</strong>e Codex) are assumed to be<br />
part history <strong>and</strong> encyclopedia, though this is not clear. What is clear<br />
is that Sahagún did not ask the Mexica how they organized their own<br />
knowledge <strong>and</strong> assumed it should be <strong>in</strong> “book form”: “What should<br />
hold our attention for the next few pages is the taken-for-granted<br />
belief that it was perfectly natural to organize all the <strong>in</strong>formation he<br />
gathered over the years <strong>in</strong>to twelve books, without ask<strong>in</strong>g how the<br />
Mexicas themselves organized <strong>and</strong> transmitted their knowledge.” 44<br />
While the Florent<strong>in</strong>e Codex helped to resuscitate the known <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
culture, Sahagún’s classification <strong>and</strong> reconfiguration <strong>of</strong> Mexica<br />
knowledge actually ended up repress<strong>in</strong>g their ways <strong>of</strong> know<strong>in</strong>g. 45<br />
Cultural preservation at that time was clearly for the benefit <strong>of</strong> the<br />
non-Mexica to the detriment <strong>of</strong> the native population. Just because<br />
we now have these texts to analyze, study, <strong>and</strong> amuse ourselves with<br />
does little good for those who were relatively well <strong>of</strong>f before the<br />
Europeans showed up. <strong>The</strong> complicity between alphabetic writ<strong>in</strong>g as<br />
believed to be a superior form <strong>of</strong> organiz<strong>in</strong>g knowledge <strong>and</strong> how it<br />
was then transmitted <strong>in</strong>to a tool <strong>of</strong> conversion worked out quite well<br />
for the Spaniards. Sahagún’s work ended <strong>in</strong> 1578 as an <strong>of</strong>ficial report<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Council <strong>of</strong> the Indies, at the same time the Council began to<br />
systematically collect <strong>and</strong> organize <strong>in</strong>formation <strong>in</strong> the “Indies.” 46<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, as related to our ma<strong>in</strong> thesis, the long parade <strong>of</strong> twentiethcentury<br />
scholars’ view <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> “ext<strong>in</strong>ction” is <strong>in</strong>deed<br />
a by-product <strong>of</strong> early Spanish representation. Todorov’s remark that<br />
“the sixteenth century perpetrated the greatest genocide <strong>in</strong> human<br />
history” 47 speaks to this po<strong>in</strong>t. This statement basically totalizes the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous population out <strong>of</strong> existence, preclud<strong>in</strong>g any possibility<br />
for native representation. <strong>The</strong> contemporary scholar’s cultural<br />
worldview <strong>and</strong> objectives <strong>of</strong>ten disallow for tangible representation<br />
<strong>and</strong> perspective, just like <strong>in</strong> the past, <strong>and</strong> thus the cont<strong>in</strong>uation <strong>of</strong><br />
a myth model. Deloria expla<strong>in</strong>s how secular science essentially came<br />
to view non-Western traditions as “folklore” <strong>and</strong> “myth.” He writes,<br />
“Many scholars will fudge this po<strong>in</strong>t, claim<strong>in</strong>g that their def<strong>in</strong>ition<br />
<strong>of</strong> myth gives it great respect as the carrier <strong>of</strong> some super-secret <strong>and</strong><br />
sacred truth, but <strong>in</strong> fact the popular mean<strong>in</strong>g is a superstition or fiction<br />
which we, as smart modern th<strong>in</strong>kers, would never <strong>in</strong> a million
30<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
years believe.” 48 <strong>The</strong> same th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g has been permeated on those who<br />
attempt to produce alternative narratives <strong>and</strong> expound on the <strong>in</strong>tense<br />
resistances carried out aga<strong>in</strong>st the Spanish colonizer counter<strong>in</strong>g this<br />
history <strong>of</strong> totalization. But this is a “revisionist” history, they say, that<br />
has no place with<strong>in</strong> deductive scientific thought.<br />
“Just War” <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> Discovery<br />
“He [Columbus] was to seize on the way anyth<strong>in</strong>g that might belong<br />
to the ‘heathen,’ as a prelim<strong>in</strong>ary to their conversion, simply because<br />
the heathen were assumed to have no rights <strong>of</strong> possession, <strong>and</strong> not<br />
because the previous existence <strong>of</strong> the property was unknown. <strong>The</strong> socalled<br />
‘right <strong>of</strong> discovery,’ as superior to the right <strong>of</strong> possession, was a<br />
peculiar conception <strong>of</strong> fifteenth-century Christianity. It was really the<br />
right to take by force whatever did not already belong to Christian<br />
nations.” 49<br />
Old habits are hard to break <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> how falsehoods have been<br />
susta<strong>in</strong>ed as truths through assertions <strong>of</strong> power. As the myth <strong>of</strong> European<br />
apotheoses was used as a tool <strong>of</strong> colonization, the concept <strong>of</strong><br />
discovery was promulgated to claim European “sovereignty” <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Americas. This fiction sums up the imperial enterprise <strong>of</strong> the early<br />
modern era <strong>in</strong>itiated by the Papacy <strong>and</strong> Spanish Crown <strong>and</strong> forms<br />
the foundation <strong>of</strong> just about every other myth to come <strong>in</strong> the Indo-<br />
European clash <strong>of</strong> cultures. As spelled out <strong>in</strong> the 1493 papal bull<br />
Inter Caetera, “discovery” authorized the overthrow <strong>of</strong> “barbarous<br />
nations” <strong>and</strong> the seizure <strong>of</strong> their l<strong>and</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> it set the basis for the purported<br />
establishment <strong>of</strong> Christian dom<strong>in</strong>ion over parts <strong>of</strong> the earth. 50<br />
<strong>The</strong> discovery pr<strong>in</strong>ciple essentially relegated non-Christian peoples to<br />
a savage <strong>and</strong> subhuman level <strong>in</strong> order to justify European expansionism<br />
<strong>and</strong> dom<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> the world.<br />
Christian European nations’ assumption that discovery conferred<br />
legal rights <strong>of</strong> title to l<strong>and</strong>s found together with the dim<strong>in</strong>ish<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
one’s humanity were the ideological keys to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g possession<br />
<strong>of</strong> those l<strong>and</strong>s. For example, Spanish jurists <strong>and</strong> theologians like Juan<br />
López de Palacios-Rubios <strong>and</strong> Fray Matías de Paz met <strong>in</strong> Burgos <strong>in</strong><br />
1512 to further justify the legality <strong>of</strong> Spanish dom<strong>in</strong>ion <strong>in</strong> the Americas<br />
<strong>and</strong> form <strong>of</strong> “servitude” to be imposed on Indian <strong>in</strong>habitants. 51<br />
Palacios-Rubios, who apparently authored the requerimiento <strong>of</strong> 1513<br />
that said it was just to wage war aga<strong>in</strong>st Indian people as a prelim<strong>in</strong>ary<br />
to their conversion, believed the grant <strong>of</strong> Pope Alex<strong>and</strong>er VI<br />
affirmed the Supreme Pontiff’s spiritual <strong>and</strong> temporal powers as
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 31<br />
“vicar <strong>of</strong> Christ,” <strong>and</strong> thus allowed the pope maximum authority <strong>and</strong><br />
jurisdiction over both the faithful <strong>and</strong> “<strong>in</strong>fidels.” 52 <strong>The</strong> requerimiento<br />
explicitly presented one <strong>of</strong> the first <strong>in</strong>stances <strong>of</strong> the “just war” theory<br />
as applied <strong>in</strong> the Americas. Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, <strong>in</strong> his famous debate with Las<br />
Casas at Valladolid from 1550 to 1551 concern<strong>in</strong>g the validity <strong>of</strong> the<br />
theory, Juan G<strong>in</strong>és de Sepúlveda’s approach to the matter relied on<br />
the Aristotelian “doctr<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> natural slavery.” While Las Casas’s central<br />
argument was to peacefully convert the native population as it had<br />
been for years, Lewis Hanke noted that for the first time <strong>in</strong> modern<br />
history Sepúlveda attempted to br<strong>and</strong> a whole race <strong>of</strong> people as “<strong>in</strong>ferior”<br />
<strong>in</strong> keep<strong>in</strong>g with Aristotle’s theory. 53 He expla<strong>in</strong>s, “Sepúlveda<br />
made pla<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> his treatise, despite its complex <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten confus<strong>in</strong>g<br />
argument, that he considered the Indians to be natural slaves accord<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to the Aristotelian concept <strong>and</strong> the Spaniards amply justified <strong>in</strong><br />
carry<strong>in</strong>g on war aga<strong>in</strong>st them as an <strong>in</strong>dispensable prelim<strong>in</strong>ary to Christianiz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
them.” 54 Here the notion <strong>of</strong> “natural slavery” relegated a<br />
people to a subhuman status as a means to convert them based on the<br />
“just war” theory. Sepúlveda declared that the Alex<strong>and</strong>rian “bulls <strong>of</strong><br />
donation” authorized this policy, 55 which were <strong>of</strong> course rooted <strong>in</strong> the<br />
concept <strong>of</strong> discovery.<br />
In contrast to these views, other figures <strong>and</strong> legal scholars <strong>in</strong>validated<br />
such an idea that popes could unequivocally assert their power<br />
with legal impunity. Paul Gottschalk po<strong>in</strong>ts out that Spanish theologian<br />
Francisco de Vitoria <strong>and</strong> Hugo Grotius, both considered founders<br />
<strong>of</strong> modern <strong>in</strong>ternational law, rejected the papal donation theory <strong>and</strong><br />
“partition” <strong>of</strong> the world express<strong>in</strong>g their sentiment that even if the<br />
pope meant it: “he could neither dispossess the Indians <strong>of</strong> their property<br />
nor donate property which he had never owned.” 56 While his<br />
Law <strong>of</strong> Nations ultimately justified “the extension <strong>of</strong> Western power<br />
over the American Indians as an imperative <strong>of</strong> the Europeans’ vision<br />
<strong>of</strong> truth,” 57 Vitoria, like Las Casas, rejected the basic tenet <strong>of</strong> the<br />
requerimiento <strong>in</strong> critiqu<strong>in</strong>g a policy he apparently saw as <strong>in</strong>humane.<br />
Hanke briefly summarizes his fundamental arguments:<br />
First, he appears to have been the first Spaniard to assert that the papal<br />
grant had no temporal value. Secondly, he emphasized the fact that<br />
certa<strong>in</strong> titles were illegitimate <strong>and</strong> these he specified <strong>in</strong> detail. <strong>The</strong><br />
emperor, he stated, was not the lord <strong>of</strong> the whole world <strong>and</strong> neither<br />
was the pope, who had no temporal power over the Indians or over<br />
other unbelievers. A refusal by the Indians to recognize any dom<strong>in</strong>ion<br />
<strong>of</strong> the pope is no reason for mak<strong>in</strong>g war on them or for seiz<strong>in</strong>g their<br />
goods, nor are they bound to hearken to the faith. Even if the emperor
32<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
were the lord <strong>of</strong> the whole world, that would not entitle him to seize<br />
the Indian prov<strong>in</strong>ces, erect new lords, or levy taxes. 58<br />
What did the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples have to say about this? <strong>The</strong>y most<br />
importantly rejected the grant<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the bull Inter Caetera. Accord<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to A. Garcia, the Indian statement from Cartagena was that, “<strong>The</strong><br />
Pope must have been mad when he did so, for he was giv<strong>in</strong>g what was<br />
not his.” 59 This repudiation <strong>of</strong> discovery meant that as far as the native<br />
peoples were concerned, the Papacy <strong>and</strong> Spanish Crown had no moral<br />
or legal right to take possession <strong>of</strong> their l<strong>and</strong>, or to wage war aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />
them for not convert<strong>in</strong>g to a foreign religion. Writ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 1519, Mart<strong>in</strong><br />
Fernández de Enciso expla<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> his Suma de geografía how the<br />
Indian people <strong>of</strong> “Cenú” reacted to his read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the requerimiento.<br />
This reveals the true sentiment <strong>of</strong> some <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples to its<br />
read<strong>in</strong>g, even if the account may have been exaggerated: 60<br />
<strong>The</strong>y answered me that regard<strong>in</strong>g what it said about there be<strong>in</strong>g only<br />
one God who governed heaven <strong>and</strong> earth <strong>and</strong> who was lord <strong>of</strong> all, that<br />
seemed f<strong>in</strong>e to them, but <strong>in</strong> so far as what it said about the pope be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
lord <strong>of</strong> the universe <strong>in</strong> God’s place, <strong>and</strong> that he donated the l<strong>and</strong> to the<br />
k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Castilla, they said the pope must have been drunk when he did<br />
that because he gave what was not his to give, <strong>and</strong> that the k<strong>in</strong>g who<br />
asked for <strong>and</strong> took the grant must have been crazy because he asked<br />
for what belonged to others, <strong>and</strong> that he should go there to take it so<br />
they could hang his head from a stick as they had hung other heads . . .<br />
belong<strong>in</strong>g to their enemies . . . <strong>and</strong> they said that they were lords <strong>of</strong><br />
their l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> did not need another lord. 61<br />
We can see now that the “legal rights” promulgated by Inter<br />
Caetera were highly controversial. European nations also rout<strong>in</strong>ely<br />
violated their own laws <strong>in</strong> the colonial process, such as natural law<br />
<strong>and</strong> the right to possess property. <strong>The</strong> grant<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> laws to “protect”<br />
the rights <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples didn’t really matter either as power<br />
politics usually prevailed. As Robert Williams, Jr. notes, “In the Europeans’<br />
conquest <strong>and</strong> colonization <strong>of</strong> the American Indian, law <strong>and</strong> legal<br />
discourse most <strong>of</strong>ten served to redeem the West’s genocidal imposition<br />
<strong>of</strong> its superior civilization <strong>in</strong> the New World.” 62 Furthermore,<br />
how could sovereignty have been legally established if its underly<strong>in</strong>g<br />
pr<strong>in</strong>ciple was an absurdity to beg<strong>in</strong> with? As well known among some<br />
scholars over time, the “European discovery” <strong>of</strong> unknown or “vacant”<br />
l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> peoples could not have happened for a couple <strong>of</strong> important<br />
reasons. First <strong>and</strong> foremost is the impossibility <strong>of</strong> discover<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>and</strong>s
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 33<br />
that had already been <strong>in</strong>habited for thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> years.<br />
<strong>The</strong> “historical success” <strong>of</strong> Amerigo Vespucci’s label called the “New<br />
World” does not make sense when consider<strong>in</strong>g that <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
had been present <strong>in</strong> the hemisphere up to forty thous<strong>and</strong> years<br />
ago or more. 63 To then co<strong>in</strong> the 1492 “discovery” as a time when the<br />
first European arrived <strong>and</strong> settled is ethnocentric <strong>and</strong> racist because<br />
it denies the prior American Indian presence <strong>and</strong> the people’s own<br />
rights <strong>and</strong> customs.<br />
<strong>The</strong> l<strong>and</strong>s that come to be called the “Americas” were actually well<br />
known “to the millions <strong>of</strong> people who <strong>in</strong>habited them <strong>and</strong> who had<br />
discovered them on behalf <strong>of</strong> the human species tens <strong>of</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s<br />
<strong>of</strong> years before.” 64 Historically, many <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples have outrightly<br />
rejected the legal claim <strong>of</strong> discovery on the very grounds <strong>of</strong> a<br />
previous ancestral presence that dates back s<strong>in</strong>ce time immemorial. A<br />
native elder from the coast <strong>of</strong> Quebradillas, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, simply said<br />
to me, “Christopher Columbus discovered America with lies.” 65 <strong>The</strong><br />
acknowledgement by numerous <strong>in</strong>dividuals, organizations, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational<br />
bodies <strong>of</strong> law that do recognize <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples as first<br />
peoples directly contradict the possibility <strong>of</strong> a European discovery. Luis<br />
Rivera exp<strong>and</strong>s on the myth <strong>of</strong> attribut<strong>in</strong>g the concept to l<strong>and</strong>s already<br />
<strong>in</strong>habited: “To speak <strong>of</strong> a discovery, <strong>in</strong> an absolute <strong>and</strong> transcendental<br />
sense, would imply the absence <strong>of</strong> a prior human <strong>and</strong> cultural history<br />
<strong>in</strong> the newfound l<strong>and</strong>s. This is absurd <strong>and</strong> reveals a deep-rooted<br />
<strong>and</strong> anachronistic ethnocentrism.” 66 To have traditionally believed or<br />
rationalized <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples as savage or subhuman does not make<br />
it so. This was a misperception. However, by the assertion <strong>of</strong> its power<br />
through the creation <strong>of</strong> such representations, the West has been able<br />
to susta<strong>in</strong> a falsehood depicted as “truth.” <strong>The</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> discovery<br />
is a myth <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> presence because it widely deviates from fact <strong>and</strong><br />
to cont<strong>in</strong>ue to uphold its pr<strong>in</strong>ciple reveals this anachronistic belief at<br />
a contemporary level.<br />
Discovery is further an impossibility as predicated on Edmundo<br />
O’Gorman’s theory that European explorers who had supposedly discovered<br />
a hemispheric l<strong>and</strong> base did not know <strong>of</strong> its prior existence. For<br />
O’Gorman, discovery requires the discoverer to be previously knowledgeable<br />
<strong>of</strong> the nature or existence <strong>of</strong> the be<strong>in</strong>g that is found. 67 In<br />
reference to the Americas, both Columbus <strong>and</strong> Vespucci believed they<br />
had reached Asia on their voyages, <strong>and</strong> Columbus <strong>in</strong>sisted on this<br />
view up until his death <strong>in</strong> 1506. O’Gorman writes the most important<br />
problem concern<strong>in</strong>g this history, or “the history <strong>of</strong> America,”<br />
is expla<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g how “America” appeared on the historical scene. <strong>The</strong><br />
dom<strong>in</strong>ant scholarly <strong>in</strong>terpretation <strong>of</strong> the past has been that it was
34<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
discovered one f<strong>in</strong>e day <strong>in</strong> October <strong>of</strong> 1492, on an isl<strong>and</strong> Columbus<br />
believed to be <strong>in</strong> the vic<strong>in</strong>ity <strong>of</strong> Japan. 68 However, <strong>in</strong>stead <strong>of</strong> concentrat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
on the history <strong>of</strong> the “discovery <strong>of</strong> America,” O’Gorman’s<br />
work focuses on the “idea that America had been discovered.” He<br />
found the logical conclusion <strong>of</strong> this idea “implies a reductio ad absurdum,<br />
<strong>and</strong> therefore, that it is an <strong>in</strong>adequate way to underst<strong>and</strong> the<br />
historical reality which it attempts to expla<strong>in</strong>.” 69<br />
<strong>The</strong> evidence <strong>of</strong> Columbus’s <strong>in</strong>tention to reach Asia <strong>and</strong> the belief<br />
he had done so is clear. Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli’s thesis <strong>of</strong> a western<br />
route to India (or the Indies) supported the Marco Polo story. 70<br />
Columbus received a copy <strong>of</strong> the Florent<strong>in</strong>e scholar’s letter <strong>and</strong> chart<br />
<strong>of</strong> a shorter route to the east rather than the West African route be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
pursued by the Portuguese. This conv<strong>in</strong>ced him he could sail westward<br />
<strong>and</strong> is referenced <strong>in</strong> his journals. 71 His Lettera Rarissima written<br />
to Ferd<strong>in</strong><strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Isabella on his fourth <strong>and</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al voyage <strong>in</strong>sisted that<br />
“Cuba was part <strong>of</strong> the Ch<strong>in</strong>ese prov<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>of</strong> Mangi.” 72 More conv<strong>in</strong>c<strong>in</strong>gly,<br />
Bartolomé Columbus’s composite map depicts the belief<br />
surround<strong>in</strong>g the fourth voyage with the South American cont<strong>in</strong>ent<br />
connected to southern Asia! 73 (see Figure 2.1). Nevertheless, despite<br />
the overwhelm<strong>in</strong>g evidence to the contrary, Ferd<strong>in</strong><strong>and</strong> Columbus<br />
thereafter misled the reader <strong>in</strong>to th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g his father really knew where<br />
he was. Know<strong>in</strong>g full well his <strong>in</strong>tentions, Ferd<strong>in</strong><strong>and</strong> deliberately stated<br />
that Columbus thought he had made it to an unknown cont<strong>in</strong>ent<br />
west <strong>of</strong> Europe. 74<br />
But it was not until Martín Fernández de Navarrete published his<br />
Collection (1825–1837) that the ambiguities <strong>of</strong> the early chroniclers<br />
<strong>and</strong> unequivocal <strong>in</strong>tentions <strong>of</strong> Columbus were once <strong>and</strong> for all settled.<br />
Figure 2.1 Composite <strong>of</strong> Bartolomé Columbus’s three sketch maps from c. 1503–1506.
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 35<br />
Navarrete’s work is based on the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal documents <strong>of</strong> Columbus’s<br />
voyages that prove he had “no other objective than to reach Asia.” 75<br />
Subsequently, Wash<strong>in</strong>gton Irv<strong>in</strong>g, Alex<strong>and</strong>er von Humboldt, <strong>and</strong><br />
Samuel Morison agreed that the admiral’s goal <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>tention were<br />
specifically to reach Asia, yet they all (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g Navarrete) managed<br />
<strong>in</strong> one way or another to rationalize Columbus as the “discoverer.”<br />
Morison’s rationale for the discovery <strong>of</strong> America was that it was<br />
purely by chance, an accident, s<strong>in</strong>ce Columbus had no purpose <strong>of</strong> gett<strong>in</strong>g<br />
there nor the “fa<strong>in</strong>test suspicion” <strong>of</strong> its existence. 76 O’Gorman<br />
expla<strong>in</strong>s that this is the way the chance 1492 “discovery <strong>of</strong> America”<br />
is taught today, as the “irrefutable truth.” 77 <strong>The</strong> extreme irony <strong>of</strong> the<br />
time is that neither Columbus nor anyone else, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the scholars,<br />
knew what had happened. Encourag<strong>in</strong>gly, despite the fact that years<br />
later O’Gorman himself came to believe that the <strong>in</strong>vention was “the<br />
decisive <strong>and</strong> irreversible step toward the fulfillment <strong>of</strong> the ecumenical<br />
program <strong>of</strong> Western culture,” 78 an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number <strong>of</strong> writers<br />
today openly acknowledge the impossibility <strong>of</strong> a European discovery.<br />
As Kirkpatrick Sale says, “Whatever may have been <strong>in</strong> the Admiral’s<br />
m<strong>in</strong>d . . . we can say with assurance that no such event as ‘discovery’<br />
took place.” 79<br />
To conclude, there is an important observation needed to be made<br />
about the Spanish presence <strong>in</strong> the Americas. Throughout all <strong>of</strong> the<br />
debates <strong>of</strong> the sixteenth century, no theologians, scholars, government<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficials, or movements appear to have come forward to support<br />
the right <strong>of</strong> the Indian people to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> their own philosophical or<br />
religious belief, or their right <strong>of</strong> self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation. 80 <strong>The</strong> only solution<br />
to the “pagan problem” was either through “peaceful conversion”<br />
or “by force.” Sepúlveda was certa<strong>in</strong> that “the great mass <strong>of</strong> Indians<br />
would never voluntarily give up their own religion.” 81 He was absolutely<br />
correct. Why would the Carib, Maya, or Inca surrender their<br />
belief systems <strong>and</strong> laws when they had already been liv<strong>in</strong>g quite well<br />
for thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> years? For the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, it must<br />
have been difficult “to throw their traditional beliefs out the w<strong>in</strong>dow<br />
<strong>and</strong> embrace an unknown religion—especially s<strong>in</strong>ce its preachers had<br />
the <strong>in</strong>tention <strong>of</strong> overthrow<strong>in</strong>g the sovereignty <strong>of</strong> the country <strong>of</strong> the<br />
future converts.” 82 Whether through peace or by force, the Christian<br />
conversion project based on the discovery pr<strong>in</strong>ciple was without<br />
a doubt legally <strong>and</strong> morally unjust to the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples concerned,<br />
<strong>and</strong> a few scholars <strong>of</strong> the time. <strong>Indigenous</strong> descendants today<br />
overwhelm<strong>in</strong>gly attest to this po<strong>in</strong>t, for example, through the support<br />
garnered by the movement to revoke the bull Inter Caetera. <strong>The</strong><br />
Spaniards were merely occupiers <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>s they seized. <strong>The</strong> very
36<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
basis for the “legality” <strong>of</strong> Spanish sovereignty <strong>in</strong> the Americas was<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ually re<strong>in</strong>forced through the rationale that posited the belief<br />
<strong>in</strong> the “moral superiority” <strong>of</strong> the Christian faith over “idolatrous”<br />
native belief systems. This thought was used to dehumanize <strong>and</strong> subjugate<br />
the people <strong>and</strong>, ultimately, take possession <strong>of</strong> their property.<br />
As Rivera notes, the natural right <strong>of</strong> Indian self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation was<br />
grossly violated <strong>in</strong> the process: “From this perspective, the act <strong>of</strong> tak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
possession <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples, <strong>of</strong> expropriat<strong>in</strong>g their l<strong>and</strong>s,<br />
goods, <strong>and</strong> persons, violat<strong>in</strong>g their autonomy <strong>and</strong> self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation,<br />
goes aga<strong>in</strong>st all law <strong>and</strong> justice.” 83<br />
<strong>The</strong> “Cannibal” <strong>and</strong> Resistance<br />
<strong>The</strong> myth <strong>of</strong> discovery weaves <strong>in</strong>to the creation <strong>of</strong> other European fictions<br />
void <strong>of</strong> fundamental support<strong>in</strong>g evidence <strong>in</strong> relation to peoples<br />
<strong>and</strong> places encountered along the way. In the Antilles, the early images<br />
described <strong>and</strong> projected back to Europe by explorers <strong>and</strong> chroniclers<br />
would come to set the bases for deeply <strong>in</strong>gra<strong>in</strong>ed stereotypes <strong>and</strong><br />
subsequent depictions <strong>of</strong> other <strong>in</strong>digenous groups. <strong>The</strong> image <strong>of</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
belief <strong>in</strong> the practice <strong>of</strong> native “cannibalism” was among the most<br />
prom<strong>in</strong>ent. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Sale, reports <strong>of</strong> cannibalism for Columbus<br />
“provided the means <strong>of</strong> justify<strong>in</strong>g the enslavement <strong>and</strong> deportation<br />
<strong>of</strong> those creatures so clearly beyond the pale <strong>of</strong> God’s favor that they<br />
could rightfully be regarded as beasts.” 84 Aga<strong>in</strong>, by dehumaniz<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
people, this time as “man-eaters” <strong>in</strong> break<strong>in</strong>g European projections <strong>of</strong><br />
natural law, legal fictions were used to dispossess native nations <strong>and</strong>,<br />
<strong>in</strong> turn, exp<strong>and</strong> empire. 85 <strong>The</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ual grant<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> papal edicts epitomized<br />
how a juridical need was repeated to ga<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> control<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Antillean region <strong>and</strong> beyond.<br />
Columbus’s division <strong>of</strong> the people <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> as “peaceable”<br />
<strong>and</strong> “ferocious” is also symmetrical <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> degrees <strong>of</strong> resistance<br />
to <strong>in</strong>vaders <strong>and</strong> consistent with preconceived ideas based on other<br />
Western models. Regard<strong>in</strong>g the latter po<strong>in</strong>t, Peter Hulme expla<strong>in</strong>s,<br />
“Indeed the radical dualism <strong>of</strong> the European response to the native<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong>—fierce cannibal <strong>and</strong> noble savage—has such obvious cont<strong>in</strong>uities<br />
with the classical Mediterranean paradigm that it is tempt<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to see the whole <strong>in</strong>tricate web <strong>of</strong> colonial discourse as weav<strong>in</strong>g itself<br />
<strong>in</strong> its own separate space entirely unaffected by any observation <strong>of</strong> or<br />
<strong>in</strong>terchange with native <strong>Caribbean</strong> cultures.” 86 His <strong>in</strong>-depth exam<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
<strong>of</strong> Columbus’s journal <strong>of</strong> his first voyage p<strong>in</strong>po<strong>in</strong>ts two compet<strong>in</strong>g<br />
outside discourses: the “Oriental” discourse <strong>of</strong> Marco Polo <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Gr<strong>and</strong> Khan <strong>and</strong> the “discourse <strong>of</strong> savagery” <strong>in</strong> the Herodotian
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 37<br />
tradition. Both are compet<strong>in</strong>g for a s<strong>in</strong>gle signifier, the word “canibales,”<br />
which Columbus orig<strong>in</strong>ally believed referred to “the people <strong>of</strong><br />
the Gr<strong>and</strong> Khan” (“la gente del Gran Can”). 87 <strong>The</strong> crucial moment<br />
signal<strong>in</strong>g the defeat <strong>of</strong> the Oriental discourse takes place <strong>in</strong> Cuba,<br />
which Columbus thought was the prov<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>of</strong> “Cathay” because it<br />
was so extensive. However, his sudden shift from sail<strong>in</strong>g northwest<br />
along Cuba’s northern coast <strong>in</strong> order to meet with the emperor, <strong>and</strong><br />
an abortive “embassy” <strong>in</strong>l<strong>and</strong> only to be met with deference by the<br />
Indian people there, were signs that his Oriental expectations were<br />
“becom<strong>in</strong>g embarrass<strong>in</strong>gly evident.” 88<br />
As the Marco Polo scenario fades away, the quest for gold took<br />
on a paramount importance. From this moment forward l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />
peoples southeast simultaneously took on “savage” proportions: “. . .<br />
Columbus chose south-east because he was more likely to f<strong>in</strong>d gold <strong>in</strong><br />
that direction: not <strong>of</strong> course the gold <strong>of</strong> Cathay, but exploitable m<strong>in</strong>es<br />
<strong>of</strong> ‘savage gold.’” 89 It is thereafter that the “canibales,” or the Carib<br />
“Other,” became equated to a consumer <strong>of</strong> human flesh. <strong>The</strong> maneuver<br />
obviously had an economic motive to assure the admiral’s future<br />
status <strong>and</strong> booster the c<strong>of</strong>fers <strong>of</strong> the Crown. It is further <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g<br />
how so-called Arawak <strong>in</strong>habited isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly came to be peopled<br />
by “hostile cannibals” as slavery <strong>and</strong> the quest for pr<strong>of</strong>it grew. 90<br />
This was a ma<strong>in</strong> reason why slavery was legalized, but it also had to do<br />
with native resistance to outsiders where it was not supposed to come<br />
from, that is, from the “peaceable Arawaks” <strong>of</strong> the northern Antilles<br />
as we shortly see.<br />
While on Cuba, Columbus records that his Indian <strong>in</strong>terpreters told<br />
him there were people on the nearby isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Bohío (“Espaniola”)<br />
who had “one eye <strong>in</strong> their foreheads” <strong>and</strong> others who “eat them”<br />
<strong>and</strong> to whom “they showed great fear.” 91 José Barreiro alludes to this<br />
scene <strong>in</strong> his book, <strong>The</strong> Indian Chronicles, when a cacike <strong>of</strong> Cuba, Bayamo,<br />
jokes to Columbus about the “bad men” from the south. <strong>The</strong><br />
old people had said to him, “Watch out when you see those uglies<br />
com<strong>in</strong>g!” 92 <strong>The</strong>se were “a bunch <strong>of</strong> jokes” be<strong>in</strong>g played on the Spaniards<br />
<strong>in</strong> order “to get rid <strong>of</strong> them,” said Lamourt-Valentín, 93 a form<br />
<strong>of</strong> passive resistance. It is important to stress here how two <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
Indian scholars draw analogies about “jokes” or games be<strong>in</strong>g played<br />
on the Spaniards with obvious implications that the practice <strong>of</strong> cannibalism<br />
was far-fetched, <strong>and</strong> that the people really just wanted to be<br />
left alone. This scenario is not unlike other fanciful narratives such<br />
as Bernal Diaz’s characterization <strong>of</strong> the Mexica diet <strong>of</strong> arms <strong>and</strong> legs<br />
mixed <strong>in</strong> with “a sauce <strong>of</strong> peppers <strong>and</strong> tomatoes.” 94 Remarkably, a<br />
common thread <strong>of</strong> the cannibal myth relates to recurr<strong>in</strong>g themes <strong>of</strong>
38<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>still<strong>in</strong>g fear <strong>in</strong> Europeans, along with satisfy<strong>in</strong>g their<br />
expectations. Regard<strong>in</strong>g the charge <strong>of</strong> Mexica “cannibalism,” Obeyesekere<br />
notes how the Mexica really used it as a political tool aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />
the colonizer:<br />
I do not th<strong>in</strong>k that this statement <strong>of</strong> Bernal Diaz can be taken as pro<strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> Aztec “cannibalism,” i.e., <strong>in</strong>discrim<strong>in</strong>ate anthropophagy. <strong>The</strong> Spaniards,<br />
like some modern scholars, thought that the Aztecs ate human<br />
flesh as a food substitute. <strong>The</strong> Spaniards constantly expressed their<br />
fear <strong>and</strong> revulsion for human sacrifice <strong>and</strong> cannibalism, <strong>and</strong> the Aztecs<br />
exploited this by taunt<strong>in</strong>g them <strong>and</strong> say<strong>in</strong>g that if they were captured<br />
they would be sacrificed <strong>and</strong> eaten. In the scenario quoted by Todorov,<br />
they ate the Spaniards with tomatoes <strong>and</strong> pepper or put them <strong>in</strong> their<br />
wild beast houses (or pretended to perform these actions by mim<strong>in</strong>g<br />
them) as a technique <strong>of</strong> humiliat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> frighten<strong>in</strong>g the Spaniards. One<br />
cannot <strong>in</strong>fer from this scenario that the Aztecs were “cannibals”; rather,<br />
they put their ritual cannibalism to new uses <strong>in</strong> the context <strong>of</strong> their<br />
conflict with Cortés <strong>and</strong> his men. 95<br />
Divide <strong>and</strong> conquer tactics deflected the consistently <strong>in</strong>tense resistance<br />
to European colonialism <strong>in</strong> the Antilles mak<strong>in</strong>g the violence<br />
look one sided. Degrees <strong>of</strong> resistance are how l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> peoples<br />
<strong>in</strong>variably came to be labeled as “cannibal.” Some who resisted were<br />
demonized, like the prom<strong>in</strong>ent Carib cacike Caonabó, similar to how<br />
Saddam Husse<strong>in</strong> was portrayed as a beast after his capture. While<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples were a people <strong>of</strong> peace, they rightfully<br />
defended themselves at all costs. <strong>The</strong>re were two important events<br />
that occurred early on <strong>in</strong> Kiskeya or Quisqueya (today Haití <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Dom<strong>in</strong>ican Republic) that exemplifies this. When Columbus returned<br />
on his second voyage <strong>in</strong> 1493, he found the 39 men left beh<strong>in</strong>d at<br />
“La Navidad” on his first voyage had all been killed. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
Las Casas, the men began to quarrel <strong>and</strong> fight among themselves.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y “took women from their husb<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> daughters from their<br />
parents, <strong>and</strong> they <strong>in</strong>dividually bartered for gold among themselves.”<br />
Caonabó was jo<strong>in</strong>ed by others aga<strong>in</strong>st the Christians who were then<br />
“separated <strong>in</strong> the country where they were killed for their <strong>of</strong>fenses<br />
<strong>and</strong> evil do<strong>in</strong>g.” 96 When Columbus returned, the Indian people began<br />
referr<strong>in</strong>g to the names <strong>of</strong> the dead Spaniards. His surprise was “very<br />
great” when he realized that the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples were referr<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to themselves by the names <strong>of</strong> the dead, mimick<strong>in</strong>g them <strong>and</strong> speak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Spanish. 97 Lamourt-Valentín po<strong>in</strong>ts out that the Carib use <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Spanish names meant the two groups had gone through the native
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 39<br />
ceremony called guatiao (the exchang<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> names). He said, “We’re<br />
still do<strong>in</strong>g that . . . everybody here [<strong>in</strong> Lares <strong>and</strong> other regions] has<br />
foreign names, the names <strong>of</strong> dead foreigners. In our own communities<br />
we have our own names . . . ‘Lamourt,’ for example, is the name <strong>of</strong> a<br />
dead foreigner.” 98<br />
<strong>The</strong> other event that took place concerned the cacike Guarocuya’s<br />
(Enriquillo) 14-year war aga<strong>in</strong>st the Spanish Crown. After the rape<br />
<strong>of</strong> his wife by his encomendero <strong>and</strong> futile attempts at seek<strong>in</strong>g justice<br />
<strong>in</strong> Spanish courts for other crimes committed, Enriquillo took to<br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong> “nearly paralyzed” the isl<strong>and</strong> because he <strong>and</strong> his<br />
many warriors could not be defeated. 99 Commerce, too, was heavily<br />
affected. Enriquillo <strong>and</strong> his people won that war, negotiat<strong>in</strong>g directly<br />
with a representative <strong>of</strong> K<strong>in</strong>g Charles V, which “resulted <strong>in</strong> capitulations<br />
that constitute the first treaty between a European power<br />
<strong>and</strong> an American <strong>in</strong>digenous people,” 100 signed <strong>in</strong> 1533. Thus, it<br />
should be emphasized that at least one segment <strong>of</strong> the population<br />
<strong>of</strong> Kiskeya was alive <strong>and</strong> well at this date. <strong>The</strong>re were, <strong>in</strong> fact, other<br />
treaties made before this time <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, such as the peace treaty<br />
entered <strong>in</strong>to by the cacike Agüeybana <strong>and</strong> Juan Ponce de Leon <strong>in</strong><br />
1508. However, as Nogueras-Vidal stresses, Spa<strong>in</strong> consistently violated<br />
these agreements <strong>and</strong> has masked this history: “<strong>The</strong>y do not<br />
speak <strong>of</strong> the times when our people met <strong>in</strong> peace because our people<br />
were people <strong>of</strong> peace, <strong>and</strong> how many treaties were broken. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
do not speak about the treaties that were written just like with the<br />
North American Indians. We had treaties with these people. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
broke our treaties! <strong>The</strong>re is documentation that verifies this. We had<br />
treaties written <strong>in</strong> Spanish language. Our cacikes, our leaders, signed.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y [the Spaniards] broke all the treaties just like the North American<br />
government.” 101<br />
It was actually on Columbus’s second voyage when the belief<br />
<strong>in</strong> native cannibalism became solidified as highlighted <strong>in</strong> the 1494<br />
report by the physician Diego Álvarez-Chanca. What he wrote for<br />
the municipality <strong>of</strong> Seville has been considered the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal account<br />
<strong>of</strong> the events that took place on the second voyage. 102 Cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g<br />
where Columbus left <strong>of</strong>f, Chanca proceeds to sketch a familiar story<br />
<strong>of</strong> the peaceful Indians he meets with the “ferocious man-eaters” he<br />
has heard about. <strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous funerary custom <strong>of</strong> suspend<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
bones <strong>of</strong> the dead <strong>in</strong> houses or from trees was a sure sign <strong>of</strong> anthropophagy.<br />
When some Spaniards got lost on Guadeloupe, he surmised<br />
they had surely been “eaten” <strong>and</strong> was surprised <strong>and</strong> “rejoiced” when<br />
they returned. 103 <strong>The</strong> slaughterhouse engrav<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> a book (1621)<br />
by Austrian Benedict<strong>in</strong>e monk Caspar Plautius, Insulae canibalium
40<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
(<strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Cannibals) <strong>and</strong> “A cannibal feast” (similar to the<br />
engrav<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Figure 2.2), strongly re<strong>in</strong>forced the imagery <strong>of</strong> cannibalism<br />
juxtaposed to the mission <strong>of</strong> Christian evangelization as described<br />
<strong>in</strong> his text. 104 This was another way such ideas <strong>and</strong> perceptions were<br />
projected <strong>and</strong> came to be unquestionably assumed as truth.<br />
Figure 2.2 Seventeenth century image <strong>of</strong> “cannibalism” on the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Kiskeya<br />
(Española).
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 41<br />
With all the rich varieties <strong>of</strong> fruit, vegetables, <strong>and</strong> fish then available<br />
<strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, it is really a wonder how cannibalism as<br />
a “food substitute” or “staple” could have been exalted on such<br />
a gr<strong>and</strong> scale. Former Carib cacike Irv<strong>in</strong>ce Auguiste <strong>of</strong> Dom<strong>in</strong>ica<br />
elaborates on the myth. He expla<strong>in</strong>s how <strong>in</strong> war, a piece <strong>of</strong> the<br />
enemy’s flesh might symbolically be eaten, but <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> human<br />
meat consumed as a staple food, the charge <strong>of</strong> cannibalism aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />
his people is “a very wicked lie. . . . It goes back to the Spaniards,<br />
to the English. Columbus came to the new world look<strong>in</strong>g<br />
for gold . . . he met the people <strong>in</strong>habit<strong>in</strong>g these isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> tried to<br />
enslave them. And the Carib people had enjoyed centuries <strong>of</strong> freedom,<br />
mak<strong>in</strong>g their cassava bread <strong>and</strong> catch<strong>in</strong>g fish. Naturally they<br />
would retaliate aga<strong>in</strong>st anyone try<strong>in</strong>g to enslave them.” 105 In <strong>The</strong><br />
Man-Eat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Myth</strong>, W. Arens concluded his analysis <strong>of</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
anthropophagy by writ<strong>in</strong>g, “there is little reason to assume that the<br />
very aborig<strong>in</strong>es whose name now means man-eaters actually were<br />
so.” 106 Consequently, the many dictionaries <strong>and</strong> encyclopedias that<br />
still refer to the “Carib” <strong>and</strong> “cannibal” <strong>in</strong>terchangeably do a great<br />
disservice <strong>in</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g to mock a people still present <strong>in</strong> much <strong>of</strong><br />
the region today.<br />
Lastly, the renowned Cuban scholar Roberto Fernández-Retamar’s<br />
analysis <strong>of</strong> the mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the cannibal corresponds to the right w<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> the bourgeoisie <strong>of</strong> the time <strong>and</strong> solidifies our po<strong>in</strong>t as to “the<br />
typically degraded vision <strong>of</strong>fered by the colonizer <strong>of</strong> the man he is<br />
coloniz<strong>in</strong>g.” 107 Though two sides <strong>of</strong> the same political co<strong>in</strong>, this<br />
view contrasted with the left w<strong>in</strong>g bourgeois vision <strong>of</strong> the Americas<br />
as depicted <strong>in</strong> Thomas More’s Utopia. <strong>The</strong>se compet<strong>in</strong>g ideologies<br />
<strong>in</strong>formed Columbus’s thought: the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples were at first<br />
seen as no less than angels but soon after came to be despised. For<br />
Fernández-Retamar, the European <strong>in</strong>vention <strong>of</strong> cannibalism <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Antilles was essentially political: “That the Caribs were as Columbus<br />
(<strong>and</strong>, after him, an unend<strong>in</strong>g throng <strong>of</strong> followers) depicted them is<br />
about as probabl[e] as the existence <strong>of</strong> one-eyed men, men with dog<br />
muzzles or tails, or even the Amazons mentioned by the explorer <strong>in</strong><br />
pages where Greco-Roman mythology, the medieval bestiary, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
novel <strong>of</strong> chivalry all play their part.” 108 As it turns out, the ideological<br />
creation <strong>of</strong> the cannibal was largely a reflection <strong>of</strong> the European<br />
self, the flipside <strong>of</strong> the “Enlightenment” <strong>in</strong> the Herodotian tradition.<br />
<strong>Indigenous</strong> resistance was a byproduct <strong>of</strong> this illusionary <strong>and</strong> preconceived<br />
thought. Most importantly, though, its dehumaniz<strong>in</strong>g motive<br />
would allow for unspeakable crimes committed aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples worldwide.
42<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
While some will undoubtedly cont<strong>in</strong>ue to believe <strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> uphold the<br />
myths touched upon previously, to others they may seem to quite obviously<br />
be <strong>in</strong>ventions. If this is the case, then the myth <strong>of</strong> the ext<strong>in</strong>ction<br />
<strong>of</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous populations would be an <strong>in</strong>vention too. <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> near ext<strong>in</strong>ction myths neatly overlap <strong>in</strong>to the body <strong>of</strong> European<br />
ideas <strong>and</strong> stories meant to marg<strong>in</strong>alize <strong>and</strong> dismiss <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples <strong>of</strong> any mean<strong>in</strong>gful relevance or as no longer a liv<strong>in</strong>g reality.<br />
Marg<strong>in</strong>alization, as through low population counts, <strong>and</strong> erasure could<br />
also correspond to the presumed <strong>in</strong>ability <strong>of</strong> native populations to<br />
improvise or rationalize techniques for survival. Likewise, <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples were <strong>and</strong> are <strong>of</strong>ten made to feel <strong>in</strong>visible with<strong>in</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>stream<br />
society <strong>and</strong> have pretty much been romanticized as a th<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the past.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se beliefs are deeply <strong>in</strong>stilled <strong>in</strong> the subconscious <strong>and</strong> difficult to<br />
dispel. James Wilson sums up the Amer<strong>in</strong>dian experience:<br />
Why have these ideas about Native Americans—positive <strong>and</strong> negative—<br />
proved so difficult to dislodge? Partly, it is that they have very deep<br />
roots, reach<strong>in</strong>g back to the first European attempts to make sense <strong>of</strong> the<br />
“New World” <strong>and</strong> its <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>in</strong> the period immediately follow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
“discovery.” What unites them is the central belief that “the Indian”<br />
belongs essentially to the past rather than to the present. He (or she) is<br />
an exotic relic <strong>of</strong> some earlier stage that we have already passed through:<br />
either—depend<strong>in</strong>g on your po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> view—a k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> primitive anarchy<br />
that we have overcome (<strong>in</strong> nature, <strong>in</strong> ourselves) or an <strong>in</strong>nocent Golden<br />
Age that we have forfeited through greed <strong>and</strong> destructiveness. 109<br />
While the current plight <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous populations is a relatively<br />
dismal one from a ma<strong>in</strong>stream societal view, there has been a considerable<br />
<strong>and</strong> vibrant <strong>in</strong>digenous resurgence <strong>in</strong> recent decades, <strong>and</strong> many<br />
native groups have lived on, reaffirmed themselves, <strong>and</strong> have been<br />
acknowledged as a people. However, one group that has been for all<br />
posterity relegated to the annals <strong>of</strong> the long distant past is the very<br />
people who greeted the Europeans on that memorable first voyage.<br />
<strong>The</strong> basic assumption is that s<strong>in</strong>ce so many <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples<br />
were killed <strong>of</strong>f, then they “must have” <strong>in</strong>evitably become ext<strong>in</strong>ct,<br />
or nearly so. <strong>The</strong> key question to ask now is, were these <strong>in</strong>habitants<br />
<strong>in</strong> fact ext<strong>in</strong>guished, or did they actually survive? And if they did survive,<br />
how? It might seem surreal to some to th<strong>in</strong>k that they could<br />
have possibly survived the encounter. It’s as if this acknowledgment<br />
might put an uneasy damper on one <strong>of</strong> the said greatest feats <strong>of</strong> Western<br />
civilization, possibly add<strong>in</strong>g unnecessary complications. It might
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 43<br />
even throw <strong>in</strong>to question the whole moral <strong>and</strong> legal framework <strong>of</strong> the<br />
imperial project to beg<strong>in</strong> with. Imag<strong>in</strong>e those who just about every<br />
historian has pitifully deemed as “ext<strong>in</strong>ct” com<strong>in</strong>g back to speak about<br />
the experience <strong>and</strong> giv<strong>in</strong>g their take on the matter. This is phenomenal<br />
<strong>and</strong> those who might dare to make the attempt to lend clarity to<br />
this historicity are usually trivialized <strong>in</strong> the process. However, s<strong>in</strong>ce<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples have cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>and</strong> reaffirmed their<br />
presence as a people, too, this issue is <strong>of</strong> great importance to them,<br />
<strong>and</strong> others, <strong>and</strong> requires some elaboration.<br />
It would first be pert<strong>in</strong>ent to mention what “ext<strong>in</strong>ction” <strong>and</strong> its<br />
correlation to “survival” can mean. In his extensive study on the<br />
effects <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>tercultural contact, Bernard Hörmann po<strong>in</strong>ted out that<br />
numerical growth <strong>and</strong> decay <strong>of</strong> native populations due to European<br />
cultural contact is “essentially a study <strong>of</strong> the ext<strong>in</strong>ction or survival<br />
<strong>of</strong> native peoples <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> the Europeanization <strong>of</strong> the world.” 110<br />
Writ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the mid-twentieth century, he noted the conflict between<br />
compet<strong>in</strong>g theories back then when some writers viewed ext<strong>in</strong>ction as<br />
“the fundamental process,” <strong>and</strong> others saw it <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> the overall<br />
<strong>in</strong>crease <strong>of</strong> non-European populations dur<strong>in</strong>g the modern era. Hörmann<br />
attempts to resolve the theoretical problem aris<strong>in</strong>g out <strong>of</strong> these<br />
contradictions “with a unify<strong>in</strong>g hypothesis <strong>in</strong> the light <strong>of</strong> which the<br />
diversities can be expla<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>and</strong> the conflicts resolved.” 111 He poses<br />
some important questions that are relevant to this study: “What are<br />
the chances for survival, the Lebenschancen as the Germans would<br />
say, <strong>of</strong> native populations as they confront European <strong>in</strong>vaders? Under<br />
what conditions does ext<strong>in</strong>ction take place, <strong>and</strong> under what conditions<br />
does the native population survive, either as a pure or a mixed<br />
group?” 112 He utilizes a comb<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> two rather dist<strong>in</strong>ct academic<br />
discipl<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> the time, the then well-established demography or population<br />
studies <strong>and</strong> the newer field <strong>of</strong> race <strong>and</strong> “culture contacts.” 113<br />
His evaluation <strong>of</strong> the data <strong>and</strong> what is generally agreed upon by late<br />
twentieth-century scholars is that early estimates <strong>of</strong> non-European<br />
populations were <strong>in</strong>accurate <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten highly flawed. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
Hörmann, “We have seen that these data are <strong>in</strong> general very unreliable,<br />
more so for large than for specific small areas <strong>and</strong> for early<br />
dates than for recent dates; that they are <strong>of</strong>ten based, even today, on<br />
<strong>in</strong>valid or at least questionable assumptions which necessarily lead to<br />
<strong>in</strong>valid conclusions; that they seldom are adequate <strong>in</strong> detail, length<br />
<strong>of</strong> the series, amount <strong>of</strong> supplementary statistical <strong>in</strong>formation available,<br />
<strong>and</strong> amount <strong>of</strong> supplementary descriptive <strong>in</strong>formation available<br />
about environment, pre-contact culture, <strong>and</strong> the history <strong>of</strong> culture<br />
contact.” 114
44<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
In <strong>Borikén</strong>, as <strong>in</strong> the rest <strong>of</strong> the northern Antilles, it is widely<br />
believed that the <strong>in</strong>digenous population was wiped out by the midsixteenth<br />
century. Our pr<strong>in</strong>cipal authority for this determ<strong>in</strong>ation is<br />
Bartolomé de Las Casas, who Carl Sauer says “felt an obligation to<br />
keep the record straight for posterity,” <strong>and</strong> there was no one more<br />
<strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> the Indian people or “knew their ways so well.” 115 Las<br />
Casas was def<strong>in</strong>itely <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> the general population <strong>and</strong> a tireless<br />
rights defender, but, <strong>in</strong> his classic text <strong>The</strong> Devastation <strong>of</strong> the Indies,<br />
he declared for all <strong>in</strong>tents <strong>and</strong> purposes the native population to be<br />
essentially no more. Of the isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> “San Juan” (<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>) <strong>and</strong><br />
Jamaica he wrote, “Before the arrival <strong>of</strong> the Spaniards there had lived<br />
on these isl<strong>and</strong>s more than six hundred thous<strong>and</strong> souls, it has been<br />
stated. I believe there were more than one million <strong>in</strong>habitants, <strong>and</strong><br />
now, <strong>in</strong> each <strong>of</strong> the two isl<strong>and</strong>s, there are no more than two hundred<br />
persons, all the others hav<strong>in</strong>g perished without the Faith <strong>and</strong> without<br />
the holy sacraments.” 116<br />
In exam<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g this two-hundred-person figure for <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, Hörmann’s<br />
assessment <strong>of</strong> questionable assumptions <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>valid conclusions<br />
come to be def<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g moments <strong>in</strong> historiography. Las Casas’s blanket<br />
estimate <strong>of</strong> the destruction <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> population was likely <strong>in</strong>ferred<br />
from the abuses that had taken place <strong>in</strong> Kiskeya. He surmised <strong>in</strong> the<br />
early 1550s that the population there, which he orig<strong>in</strong>ally estimated to<br />
be over three million, had dropped to “barely two hundred persons.” 117<br />
This is an astound<strong>in</strong>g population drop for a relatively large isl<strong>and</strong>. For<br />
<strong>Borikén</strong>, Las Casas certa<strong>in</strong>ly did not conduct a viable study based on<br />
the available data as he presented no evidence to validate his claim. He<br />
further did not evaluate the environmental <strong>and</strong> cultural conditions <strong>of</strong><br />
the isl<strong>and</strong>, nor consult with the “rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g” <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples, this<br />
latter po<strong>in</strong>t be<strong>in</strong>g rather mute as the native was rarely if ever consulted<br />
with anyway. This goes to show how this voice or aspect <strong>of</strong> the colonial<br />
process was effectively silenced from the periphery, the assumption<br />
that the European was the authority when it came to such matters. We<br />
can gradually see how broad generalizations from respected figures like<br />
Las Casas came to be unquestionably passed down over the centuries a<br />
priori. Thus, by the twentieth century, Sven Lovén confidently stated<br />
that the people <strong>of</strong> the region “long ago became ext<strong>in</strong>ct.” 118 <strong>The</strong> well<br />
regarded <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican scholar Manuel Maldonado-Denis wrote this<br />
about <strong>Borikén</strong>: “<strong>The</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> the natives around the middle <strong>of</strong> the<br />
sixteenth century made the <strong>in</strong>troduction <strong>of</strong> a new type <strong>of</strong> labor—that <strong>of</strong><br />
black slaves—<strong>in</strong>dispensable.” 119 Federico Ribes-Tovar noted the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
population there had “practically vanished” by the end <strong>of</strong> the<br />
sixteenth century. 120 Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse has remarked that <strong>in</strong> the absence <strong>of</strong>
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 45<br />
native survivors, “archeologists have had to assume sole responsibility<br />
for <strong>in</strong>vestigat<strong>in</strong>g the cultural ancestry” <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> the<br />
northern Antilles. 121<br />
<strong>The</strong> supposed ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>of</strong> Kiskeya is a myth<br />
<strong>in</strong> itself as there are still people on the isl<strong>and</strong> today (specifically <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Dom<strong>in</strong>ican Republic) who strongly identify with their <strong>in</strong>digenous heritage.<br />
On a trip I made there <strong>in</strong> 1999, I met a fairly large Indian extended<br />
family liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the far eastern prov<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>of</strong> Higüey. In my conversations<br />
with them, the people seemed to be quite aware <strong>of</strong> the colonial history<br />
to the po<strong>in</strong>t where one village elder was still curs<strong>in</strong>g the Spaniards!<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> narratives be<strong>in</strong>g told<br />
contemporarily are not unlike the follow<strong>in</strong>g passage by Jorge Estevez, a<br />
native person from the Dom<strong>in</strong>ican Republic:<br />
Many <strong>of</strong> us who, today, identify with the <strong>in</strong>digenous part <strong>of</strong> our multiethnic<br />
heritage, heard stories about a gr<strong>and</strong>mother or other family<br />
member who was “a real Indian.” Some <strong>of</strong> us—like me—were told<br />
outright that we descend from <strong>in</strong>dios. I became curious <strong>and</strong> began to<br />
look deeper <strong>in</strong>to my history. Much to my dismay, I found notable contradictions<br />
between my family’s oral histories <strong>and</strong> the “<strong>of</strong>ficial” history<br />
taught <strong>in</strong> schools <strong>and</strong> national museums. Most scholars claim that<br />
<strong>in</strong>dios <strong>in</strong> the Spanish Antilles have long been ext<strong>in</strong>ct. I <strong>and</strong> the others<br />
with whom I began to compare notes discovered, however, that there<br />
were crucial <strong>in</strong>consistencies <strong>in</strong> the ext<strong>in</strong>ction stories, so we began to<br />
<strong>in</strong>vestigate them. Among the <strong>in</strong>consistencies we found <strong>in</strong> a multitude<br />
<strong>of</strong> books were the claims that the Ta<strong>in</strong>o burned their crops <strong>and</strong> ran <strong>of</strong>f<br />
<strong>in</strong>to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> their desperate effort to escape Spanish dom<strong>in</strong>ation.<br />
Supposedly the ploy backfired on them, because they were said<br />
to have starved to death <strong>in</strong> those mounta<strong>in</strong>s they had called home for<br />
thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> years. Yet the African slaves who escaped <strong>in</strong>to those very<br />
same mounta<strong>in</strong>s, terra<strong>in</strong> that was totally unfamiliar to them, survived<br />
<strong>in</strong> the thous<strong>and</strong>s.<br />
<strong>The</strong> above is just one example <strong>of</strong> the senseless contradictions we<br />
have found. <strong>The</strong> more we research our history <strong>and</strong> the more we question<br />
our elders, the more perceptive we become. We know that the<br />
true story <strong>of</strong> our ancestors has not yet been told, but some scholars<br />
are f<strong>in</strong>ally beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g to ask the same questions that we have been<br />
ask<strong>in</strong>g, have f<strong>in</strong>ally begun to revise the <strong>in</strong>consistencies <strong>and</strong> errors <strong>of</strong><br />
the past. 122<br />
Historically, Enriquillo acquired a considerable amount <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong> the treaty he signed with the Spaniards. Writ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 1907, Fewkes<br />
referred to this when not<strong>in</strong>g that he was “never subdued” <strong>and</strong>
46<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
“the descendants <strong>of</strong> the early natives still live” there. 123 Early on, the<br />
Europeans were a clear m<strong>in</strong>ority <strong>in</strong> the rural regions <strong>of</strong> “Hispaniola”<br />
(Kiskeya). 124 Referr<strong>in</strong>g to this, Lynne Guitar demonstrates that<br />
it was “throughout the first half <strong>of</strong> the sixteenth century—a period<br />
<strong>of</strong> relative stability compared to the conquest, which was cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g<br />
elsewhere—that important patterns for daily liv<strong>in</strong>g among Indians,<br />
Africans, Spaniards <strong>and</strong> mixed blood peoples were forged.” 125 <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
survival took place with<strong>in</strong> a synthesized cultural context. <strong>The</strong><br />
census category “mestizos” was first recorded <strong>in</strong> the 1580s, 126 prov<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that the <strong>in</strong>digenous element <strong>of</strong> society was present beyond midcentury.<br />
Indeed, writ<strong>in</strong>g about the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1586, Fray Juan González de<br />
Mendoza remarked that “most [residents] are mestizos, sons <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dias<br />
<strong>and</strong> Spaniards, or negroes.” 127 So regardless <strong>of</strong> “blood quantum,”<br />
the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> Kiskeya survived well beyond the period <strong>of</strong><br />
their supposed demise.<br />
In addition, there has been a considerable <strong>in</strong>digenous survival <strong>in</strong><br />
Cuba. Cuban Indian or guajiro resistance to the Spanish has been<br />
epitomized <strong>in</strong> the well-known story <strong>of</strong> the cacike Hatuey, a national<br />
hero. After be<strong>in</strong>g captured <strong>and</strong> sentenced to be burnt at the stake,<br />
he refused the <strong>of</strong>fer <strong>of</strong> a Catholic priest to be baptized <strong>and</strong> become a<br />
Christian. This was after he was told that baptized Spaniards went to<br />
“heaven.” Hatuey therefore replied that he preferred to go to “hell!”<br />
rather than to go where Spaniards went. Numerous families on the<br />
eastern side <strong>of</strong> Cuba still practice their native culture. In the mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
village <strong>of</strong> Caridad de los Indios overlook<strong>in</strong>g Guantánamo approximately<br />
350 Indian descendants rema<strong>in</strong>. Describ<strong>in</strong>g the survival <strong>of</strong><br />
his people, cacike Panchito Ramirez po<strong>in</strong>ts out, “[Our] survival is<br />
evidence <strong>of</strong> persistent <strong>in</strong>digenous resistance to <strong>in</strong>vasion, conquest, colonization,<br />
<strong>and</strong> assimilation. It is evidence that assimilation cuts both<br />
ways—that our colonizers also learned much from us.” 128 Accord<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to Barreiro, whose own <strong>in</strong>digenous roots are from a neighbor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
prov<strong>in</strong>ce called Camagüey, there are hundreds or “perhaps a thous<strong>and</strong><br />
or more” native descendants <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> areas <strong>of</strong> Guantánamo-<br />
Baracoa. 129 <strong>The</strong>y survived, <strong>in</strong> good part, due to the remoteness <strong>of</strong><br />
the region <strong>and</strong> isolation from outside <strong>in</strong>fluences. Through academic<br />
research, both past <strong>and</strong> present, <strong>and</strong> the oral tradition passed down <strong>in</strong><br />
native families, Barreiro has documented this part <strong>of</strong> Cuban guajiro<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>uity. In want<strong>in</strong>g to reveal his people’s survival <strong>and</strong> to reta<strong>in</strong><br />
their identity for future generations, elder Ramirez states,<br />
I want my folks to recognize who they are, some more <strong>and</strong> some<br />
less but all native people from here. It’s true we have marriages with
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 47<br />
different people, but the root rema<strong>in</strong>s here, so they can keep on lov<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong>, lov<strong>in</strong>g the forest, lov<strong>in</strong>g that wonderful nature we<br />
have, because the mounta<strong>in</strong> is the real th<strong>in</strong>g, everyth<strong>in</strong>g comes from<br />
here. And we, the mounta<strong>in</strong> guajiro, have our value. I have my community.<br />
It is not a developed one, but humble, yet we live as the f<strong>in</strong>gers<br />
<strong>in</strong> a h<strong>and</strong>, together. We are not all the same, but we are all equal<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the blood that runs with<strong>in</strong> us. 130<br />
Las Casas was, <strong>of</strong> course, not the first to write the <strong>in</strong>digenous population<br />
out <strong>of</strong> the history books. <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong> had been determ<strong>in</strong>ed by<br />
some a generation before. This may have <strong>in</strong>fluenced Las Casas’s work.<br />
Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Sauer, both the Licenciado Zuazo <strong>and</strong> Gil González-<br />
Dávila calculated <strong>in</strong> separate evaluations that the Indian population <strong>in</strong><br />
Hispaniola had essentially disappeared by the 1520s. 131 <strong>The</strong> dilemma,<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>, is how this assessment is applied to other l<strong>and</strong>s, but this time<br />
<strong>in</strong> a more contemporary light. Sauer utilizes these surveys <strong>in</strong> not<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that “the end <strong>of</strong> the natives” was “apparently true also for Jamaica <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, <strong>and</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>ly as well for Cuba.” 132 <strong>The</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> word here is<br />
“apparently” because, despite mention<strong>in</strong>g an “occasional remnant”<br />
<strong>of</strong> survival <strong>in</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong> refuges, he does not provide a bit <strong>of</strong> evidence<br />
for ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>in</strong> these isl<strong>and</strong>s but merely assumes it to have happened<br />
based on accounts from another isl<strong>and</strong>. Thus he undoubtedly concludes,<br />
“In less than twenty years from the found<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Isabela the<br />
impend<strong>in</strong>g ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> the natives was apparent <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> another ten<br />
it had occurred.” 133 Well there we have it, a def<strong>in</strong>itive narrative to<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence students, the general public, <strong>and</strong> for scholars to cont<strong>in</strong>ue<br />
to quote on <strong>and</strong> on. Sauer seems so sure <strong>of</strong> his assessment that there<br />
is almost noth<strong>in</strong>g left to say. Las Casas has been further criticized by<br />
some for presumably exaggerat<strong>in</strong>g his pre-contact population figures<br />
to make the destruction look as brutal as possible. He may have done<br />
this to booster his case for benevolently spread<strong>in</strong>g the word <strong>of</strong> Christ.<br />
Regardless <strong>of</strong> the numbers, he does appear to have unwitt<strong>in</strong>gly erased<br />
from history those he was attempt<strong>in</strong>g to “save.”<br />
It is now important to po<strong>in</strong>t out that most scholars who have historically<br />
proclaimed <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> “ext<strong>in</strong>ction,” or near ext<strong>in</strong>ction,<br />
have not expla<strong>in</strong>ed what they mean by the term. As touched upon earlier,<br />
it does appear to be largely a biological swipe as <strong>in</strong> the survival <strong>of</strong><br />
only those <strong>of</strong> primarily “pure descent.” How many times have <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples enterta<strong>in</strong>ed such comments like, “But you don’t look<br />
‘full blooded,’” or “You’re not the Indian I had <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d,” 134 m<strong>in</strong>imiz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
them based on the idea <strong>of</strong> “blood quantum” or their physical look.<br />
This type <strong>of</strong> thought has been historically articulated <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluential
48<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
both academically <strong>and</strong> on ma<strong>in</strong>stream society. In Darw<strong>in</strong>ian terms <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>tercultural contact, species ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> native peoples is attributed<br />
to the biologically dom<strong>in</strong>ant race, or “modern civilised nations,” with<br />
virtually no room for “mixed blooded” <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural adaptation<br />
<strong>and</strong> survival. 135 George Pitt-Rivers cites Franz Boas’s calculations<br />
<strong>of</strong> the lessen<strong>in</strong>g degrees <strong>of</strong> “pure descent” from <strong>in</strong>terracial mix<strong>in</strong>g<br />
over a number <strong>of</strong> generations. This factor is one <strong>of</strong> the ways “one race<br />
may ext<strong>in</strong>guish another.” 136 Likewise, Ángel Rosenblat’s <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
population decl<strong>in</strong>e for the “West Indies” has also been attributed to<br />
“racial mixture” <strong>and</strong> assimilation. 137 Rouse too <strong>in</strong>fers this same type <strong>of</strong><br />
ext<strong>in</strong>ction for the present-day northern Antilles when he writes that<br />
although persons claim<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>digenous ancestry “have survived” <strong>in</strong><br />
these isl<strong>and</strong>s, the Indian people “themselves” are ext<strong>in</strong>ct. 138 This statement<br />
is a contradiction because if the people <strong>of</strong> the past are “ext<strong>in</strong>ct,”<br />
how could their descendants have possibly survived as he adheres to?<br />
While “some traces” may have been left beh<strong>in</strong>d, for Rouse the “real”<br />
people no longer exist. He severs both the physical <strong>and</strong> cultural l<strong>in</strong>ks<br />
by freez<strong>in</strong>g or romanticiz<strong>in</strong>g the image <strong>of</strong> the orig<strong>in</strong>al people <strong>in</strong>to the<br />
distant past simultaneously discard<strong>in</strong>g a viable contemporary presence.<br />
If we therefore use the aforementioned formula <strong>of</strong> biological ext<strong>in</strong>ction<br />
<strong>in</strong> def<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a people, then the large number <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
assert<strong>in</strong>g a l<strong>in</strong>eal ancestry worldwide today would <strong>in</strong>evitably be considered<br />
ext<strong>in</strong>ct, s<strong>in</strong>ce most are multiethnic. Many simply cannot accept<br />
one’s right to self-identification <strong>and</strong> desire to rema<strong>in</strong> connected to their<br />
native cultural heritage regardless <strong>of</strong> blood quantum.<br />
On the other h<strong>and</strong>, Hörmann def<strong>in</strong>ed ext<strong>in</strong>ction by allow<strong>in</strong>g for<br />
“mixed blood” survival as a result <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>tercultural colonial contact <strong>and</strong><br />
exam<strong>in</strong>ed the process <strong>of</strong> how a people adapt <strong>and</strong> change over time. He<br />
asked the question, “Can a race, when threatened with ext<strong>in</strong>ction by<br />
contact, be saved only through the growth <strong>of</strong> a mixed-blood population?”<br />
139 He specifically provided evidence <strong>of</strong> this type <strong>of</strong> survival<br />
for Native Hawaiian, Maori, <strong>and</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> American Indian groups,<br />
although “full blooded” people were still present with<strong>in</strong> these societies.<br />
Likewise, Amer<strong>in</strong>dian population estimates <strong>in</strong> H. J. Sp<strong>in</strong>den’s<br />
1928 study always made allowance for “mixed bloods at proportionate<br />
value.” He calculated at that time a “conservative m<strong>in</strong>imum” <strong>of</strong><br />
26 million Indian <strong>in</strong>habitants throughout the hemisphere, <strong>and</strong> two<br />
hundred thous<strong>and</strong> for the West Indies. 140 While Hörmann does document<br />
degrees <strong>of</strong> assimilation <strong>in</strong>to the dom<strong>in</strong>ant Euroamerican culture<br />
up until the time <strong>of</strong> his writ<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>in</strong>digenous groups <strong>and</strong> peoples were<br />
forced <strong>in</strong> some important ways to therefore go “underground” (e.g.,<br />
<strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> speak<strong>in</strong>g their own languages that had <strong>of</strong>ten been banned
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> 49<br />
or by practic<strong>in</strong>g forms <strong>of</strong> spiritual heal<strong>in</strong>g or medic<strong>in</strong>al use seen as<br />
“taboo”). Subsequently, as highlighted by the large number <strong>of</strong> ethnic<br />
claims <strong>and</strong> conflicts, the assimilationist model <strong>of</strong> the first half<br />
<strong>of</strong> the twentieth century collapsed, both <strong>in</strong>ternationally <strong>and</strong> with<strong>in</strong><br />
the United States, from the post–World War II decolonization <strong>and</strong><br />
civil rights era <strong>in</strong>to the 1990s. 141 Many “mixed blooded” <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples clearly survived the colonial process <strong>and</strong> still ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> an<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous identity, while many <strong>of</strong> their cultural traditions had either<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued to be practiced, have been recovered, or are <strong>in</strong> the process<br />
<strong>of</strong> recovery. Here is where culture has been shown to be mutable,<br />
opposed to biology that has come to be seen as largely static. 142 It<br />
changes <strong>and</strong> adapts over time <strong>and</strong> is fundamental <strong>in</strong> relation to human<br />
survival. This po<strong>in</strong>t is crucial <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> Jíbaro survival <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> as brought out <strong>in</strong> the com<strong>in</strong>g chapters.<br />
We can see clearer now how the <strong>Caribbean</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction myth parallels<br />
Deloria’s comment about the acceptance <strong>of</strong> the mythical Ber<strong>in</strong>g Strait<br />
theory by merely referr<strong>in</strong>g to it. Most scholars have simply re<strong>in</strong>forced<br />
what they have previously learned. Like Estevez, I have ironically found<br />
<strong>in</strong> my research on <strong>Borikén</strong> many contradictions to ext<strong>in</strong>ction all along<br />
the way. For <strong>in</strong>stance, the governor reported that by 1582 “not one<br />
Boriqueño rema<strong>in</strong>ed on the Isl<strong>and</strong>.” 143 But four years later, the bishop<br />
declared the Indian people to be “ill-concealed heathens” fall<strong>in</strong>g back<br />
<strong>in</strong>to idolatry. 144 <strong>The</strong>re was, <strong>in</strong> fact, a tremendous amount <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
survival on the isl<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> throughout the rural <strong>and</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
regions. This is not surpris<strong>in</strong>g when consider<strong>in</strong>g that the Cordillera <strong>and</strong><br />
Luquillo regions are extensive territories <strong>of</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong>s, caves, hills, <strong>and</strong><br />
valleys. Indeed, 40 percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> is covered by mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />
35 percent by hills. 145 A Spanish census <strong>in</strong> 1778 revealed 2,302 “pure<br />
blooded” (“de raza pura”) “Indians,” <strong>and</strong> 34,867 “Free Colored”<br />
people, or “pardos libres.” 146 As I elaborate on later, “pardos libres” were<br />
primarily mestizo Indian people. This was actually a considerable underestimation<br />
<strong>of</strong> the total number <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s<br />
because the figure for “full bloods” was taken from but one region, <strong>and</strong><br />
the category “Free Colored” perta<strong>in</strong>ed to only those areas that had<br />
established towns at the time. And when 61 percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueños<br />
are test<strong>in</strong>g positive for Amer<strong>in</strong>dian DNA today (taken from the<br />
female l<strong>in</strong>e only), someth<strong>in</strong>g strange appears to have happened that just<br />
doesn’t quite equate with the <strong>of</strong>ficial version <strong>of</strong> history.
50<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
Conclusion<br />
<strong>The</strong> myths exam<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> this chapter fall right <strong>in</strong> l<strong>in</strong>e with the contradictions<br />
to the ext<strong>in</strong>ction theory. Though not immune to contradiction<br />
myself, the myths, beliefs, rationalizations, <strong>and</strong> portrayals <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>in</strong>digenous “Other” were really falsehoods susta<strong>in</strong>ed as “truths”<br />
through Western representations <strong>of</strong> power. Power politics <strong>and</strong> brute<br />
force, grounded <strong>in</strong> largely baseless laws <strong>and</strong> doctr<strong>in</strong>es, were the ultimate<br />
tools used to susta<strong>in</strong> these representations <strong>and</strong> a Eurocentric<br />
ideology. As Williams noted, “In Western coloniz<strong>in</strong>g discourse, the<br />
th<strong>in</strong> veneer <strong>of</strong> law <strong>and</strong> legal argumentation does not obscure so much<br />
as add value to what otherwise might be regarded as an underly<strong>in</strong>g<br />
baseless substance.” 147 <strong>The</strong>re was a clear pattern <strong>of</strong> mythmak<strong>in</strong>g created<br />
<strong>and</strong> relied upon by early colonists <strong>and</strong> scholars. <strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>ventions <strong>of</strong><br />
European apotheoses, discovery, <strong>and</strong> native cannibalism are examples<br />
to show that the thought <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction is also<br />
far-fetched. Nonetheless, these myths are still viably projected with<strong>in</strong><br />
the academy <strong>and</strong> onto the contemporary public eye. But as all peoples<br />
<strong>and</strong> cultures adapt <strong>and</strong> change over time, this was no exception for<br />
the Carib. Despite fictions that widely deviate from fact, the people<br />
are still there <strong>and</strong> many do know who they are. Let’s now see how the<br />
Jíbaro resisted <strong>and</strong> survived the Spanish <strong>in</strong>cursion early on.
Chapter 3<br />
Early Resistance <strong>and</strong><br />
Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong><br />
A man may not know that he is Indian. A man may know <strong>and</strong> may<br />
not admit he is Indian. “But it does not matter. <strong>The</strong> ignorance <strong>of</strong><br />
your father <strong>and</strong> mother does not change who you are,” he said. “No<br />
matter what a <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueño decided he is, it already has been<br />
decided for him.” 1<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spanish chroniclers who orig<strong>in</strong>ally erased the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>of</strong>f the map had forgotten to do one important<br />
th<strong>in</strong>g along the way. <strong>The</strong>y forgot to ask the people concerned what<br />
they thought about “their ext<strong>in</strong>ction.” If they had asked, they would<br />
have likely been ridiculed <strong>in</strong> the process. This is the way it would have<br />
been on the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, s<strong>in</strong>ce everyone had agreed with this history<br />
except the Indian people themselves. <strong>Borikén</strong> was an <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
stronghold <strong>of</strong> the Antillean cha<strong>in</strong> long before the European arrival.<br />
<strong>The</strong> southwestern coast, known as Baneke, or the “territory <strong>of</strong> the<br />
sea iguana,” was the nucleus <strong>of</strong> the Carib hegemony led by the cacike<br />
Agüeybana. 2 “This was the nucleus <strong>of</strong> the empire,” said Lamourt-<br />
Valentín. “We were a great empire.” Loida Figueroa-Mercado writes<br />
that the <strong>in</strong>digenous culture “reached its zenith <strong>in</strong> Boriquén.” 3 <strong>The</strong><br />
isl<strong>and</strong> further comprised the northwestern territory called Caniba,<br />
or the “lizard,” 4 from where the creation <strong>of</strong> the “canibal” came to<br />
be derived for the Carib or Jíbaro people liv<strong>in</strong>g there. <strong>The</strong>y fiercely<br />
resisted the Spanish encroachment so that cultural <strong>and</strong> oral traditions<br />
survived, have been passed down for generations, <strong>and</strong> are still preserved<br />
today. Cognizant <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>and</strong> legacy <strong>in</strong><br />
the 1970s, Ste<strong>in</strong>er wrote, “Of all the isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> the
52<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>of</strong> the Indians has been the strongest <strong>and</strong> most last<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
Bor<strong>in</strong>quén. In the traditional words <strong>and</strong> music, dishes, <strong>and</strong> dances.<br />
And some say the ways <strong>of</strong> the Indians are visible <strong>in</strong> the easygo<strong>in</strong>g way<br />
people look at the earth, the life <strong>of</strong> the family, <strong>and</strong> the life <strong>of</strong> the spirits<br />
<strong>of</strong> the dead.” 5<br />
This chapter takes a look at the sixteenth-century <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
resistance to Spanish colonialism <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. By exam<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g some <strong>of</strong><br />
the oral <strong>and</strong> written history <strong>and</strong> traditions passed down, we can better<br />
underst<strong>and</strong> the long-term process <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous survival. As the<br />
dom<strong>in</strong>ant scholarly view had effectively suppressed the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
voice <strong>and</strong> presence over the centuries, the words <strong>and</strong> works <strong>of</strong> late<br />
twentieth-century writers like Ste<strong>in</strong>er, Lamourt-Valentín, <strong>and</strong> Arroyo<br />
present a refresh<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> very different perspective <strong>of</strong> the sociocultural<br />
development on the isl<strong>and</strong>. Ste<strong>in</strong>er actually goes to the mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
regions to record the legends <strong>and</strong> stories <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro, <strong>and</strong> Lamourt-<br />
Valentín does not tell the story as an outsider, but as one who lived<br />
the culture <strong>and</strong> language <strong>of</strong> a region where the Indian words are still<br />
used. Ste<strong>in</strong>er records the words <strong>of</strong> an old man born on a mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
from one <strong>of</strong> the oldest <strong>and</strong> most respected families <strong>in</strong> his village: “‘In<br />
the Institutes they do not know this history <strong>of</strong> the Indians,’ the storyteller<br />
said. ‘Who knows the history <strong>of</strong> the Indians? No one knows but<br />
the Indians.’ As long as the Indians lived, history was a liv<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
He did not need books to know these th<strong>in</strong>gs.” 6 And Arroyo po<strong>in</strong>ted<br />
out that for hundreds <strong>of</strong> years “it was thought that the Boricua Indians<br />
were ext<strong>in</strong>ct. But it was not so. <strong>The</strong>[y] believed <strong>in</strong> their own way<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>and</strong> paid little attention to the outside world. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
were content to live poorly but free. However, each time their freedom<br />
was threatened, they would resist.” 7<br />
What we f<strong>in</strong>d is that the sixteenth-century Indian population was<br />
not at all ext<strong>in</strong>guished. Despite the changes <strong>and</strong> hardship, the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples persisted <strong>in</strong> reta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a sense <strong>of</strong> pride <strong>and</strong> dignity <strong>in</strong><br />
their lives. Although the colonization <strong>and</strong> slavery process developed<br />
uniquely on each <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> isl<strong>and</strong>s, there are important parallels<br />
regard<strong>in</strong>g resistance <strong>and</strong> cultural survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> that can<br />
be drawn from particularly the neighbor<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>digenous stronghold <strong>of</strong><br />
Kiskeya. Guitar’s work on the cultural genesis among Indians, Africans,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Spaniards <strong>in</strong> rural Hispaniola is helpful to us <strong>in</strong> this regard.<br />
Contrary to common thought, th<strong>in</strong>gs there did not happen overnight<br />
<strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous population did not become ext<strong>in</strong>ct. Although<br />
Sherburne Cook <strong>and</strong> Woodrow Borah have written that “all scholars”<br />
agree the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> became “ext<strong>in</strong>ct” shortly<br />
after contact, 8 some scholars, at least <strong>in</strong> more recent times, do not
Early Resistance <strong>and</strong> Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> 53<br />
agree with this assertion. “<strong>The</strong> isl<strong>and</strong> did lose much <strong>of</strong> its <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
population—but not all <strong>of</strong> it,” writes Guitar, “as well as much <strong>of</strong> its<br />
Spanish population—but not all <strong>of</strong> it.” 9 While <strong>in</strong>troduced diseases did<br />
devastate the population, she po<strong>in</strong>ts out that the effects <strong>of</strong> epidemics<br />
were <strong>of</strong>ten exaggerated by the colonizers <strong>in</strong> order to secure positions,<br />
favors, <strong>and</strong> grants from the Crown: “It would not have been beneficial<br />
for the <strong>of</strong>ficials <strong>and</strong> encomenderos on Hispaniola to give an accurate<br />
count <strong>of</strong> the Indian workers who rema<strong>in</strong>ed under their control or to<br />
admit how many had fled to regions outside their control; therefore,<br />
the documents exaggerate the effects <strong>of</strong> the epidemics <strong>and</strong> report that<br />
‘less than one-third’ <strong>of</strong> the Indians survived, or ‘less than one-fourth,’<br />
or ‘few,’ ‘an <strong>in</strong>sufficient number,’ or even, <strong>in</strong> several cases, ‘none.’” 10<br />
Here, the Indian numbers are deflated or m<strong>in</strong>imized <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> status<br />
<strong>and</strong> primarily <strong>in</strong> an economic context.<br />
War <strong>and</strong> Resistance<br />
Ever s<strong>in</strong>ce the time Europeans first set foot onto <strong>in</strong>digenous soil <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Americas, degrees <strong>of</strong> animosity <strong>and</strong> conflict took shape <strong>in</strong> one form or<br />
another <strong>and</strong> on both sides <strong>of</strong> the spectrum. In such a clash <strong>of</strong> cultures,<br />
there would <strong>in</strong>evitably be for those whose l<strong>and</strong>s were encroached<br />
upon an equal reaction or degree <strong>of</strong> resistance set <strong>in</strong>to place. Resistance<br />
can manifest itself <strong>in</strong> many ways <strong>and</strong> is usually political. Political<br />
resistance can be either passive or active. Selwyn Cudjoe writes that<br />
active resistance <strong>in</strong>volves “open revolts <strong>and</strong> rebellions,” while passive<br />
resistance can <strong>in</strong>clude “suicide, voluntary abortion, poison<strong>in</strong>g masters<br />
<strong>and</strong> sabotag<strong>in</strong>g crops.” 11 In his <strong>in</strong>-depth study <strong>of</strong> Indian <strong>and</strong> African<br />
forms <strong>of</strong> resistance <strong>in</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> literature, Cudjoe def<strong>in</strong>es resistance<br />
as “any act or complex <strong>of</strong> acts designed to rid a people <strong>of</strong> its oppressors,<br />
be they slave masters or mult<strong>in</strong>ational corporations.” 12 Resistance<br />
to European imperialism <strong>in</strong> the Antilles was essentially about<br />
human <strong>and</strong> cultural survival, but further concerned the ma<strong>in</strong>tenance<br />
<strong>of</strong> one’s dignity, spirit, <strong>and</strong> sense <strong>of</strong> equilibrium: “<strong>The</strong> correspond<strong>in</strong>g<br />
resistance on the part <strong>of</strong> the Indians <strong>and</strong> the Africans <strong>in</strong> the New<br />
World was the necessary corrective to that expansion <strong>and</strong> dehumanization,<br />
one action br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g an equal <strong>and</strong> opposite reaction <strong>in</strong> order<br />
to reta<strong>in</strong> equilibrium. Resistance, then, was the reaction needed to<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> the equilibrium, to preserve human dignity, <strong>and</strong> to ennoble<br />
the human spirit.” 13<br />
Resistance <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> took on both active <strong>and</strong> passive forms. <strong>The</strong><br />
early war <strong>and</strong> rebellions were more formal organized campaigns to<br />
oust or <strong>in</strong>jure the Spaniards, actions that ga<strong>in</strong>ed attention all the way
54<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
up to <strong>in</strong>fluenc<strong>in</strong>g the policies <strong>of</strong> the Crown. <strong>The</strong> passive or everyday<br />
forms <strong>of</strong> resistance that occurred <strong>in</strong> the 1500s, such as establish<strong>in</strong>g<br />
k<strong>in</strong>ship relations, flee<strong>in</strong>g, hid<strong>in</strong>g, suicide, <strong>and</strong> avoid<strong>in</strong>g census takers,<br />
overlapped with the active forms. While these types <strong>of</strong> less organized<br />
forms <strong>of</strong> resistance “make no headl<strong>in</strong>es,” they can be powerful <strong>and</strong><br />
effective <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the end may “make an utter shambles <strong>of</strong> the policies<br />
dreamed up by their would-be superiors <strong>in</strong> the capital.” 14 Passive resistance<br />
was also primarily practiced <strong>in</strong> rural <strong>and</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong> regions <strong>of</strong><br />
the isl<strong>and</strong> from the seventeenth to late eighteenth centuries, a period<br />
essentially void <strong>of</strong> an Indian presence <strong>in</strong> the literature <strong>of</strong> the time,<br />
when an ethnical transformation takes place <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural<br />
context. This period is explored <strong>in</strong> the next chapter. It was the tremendous<br />
amount <strong>of</strong> resistance <strong>in</strong> the sixteenth century that paved the<br />
way for this cont<strong>in</strong>uum.<br />
Columbus first l<strong>and</strong>ed along the western coast <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> on his<br />
second voyage <strong>in</strong> November 1493 <strong>and</strong> christened the isl<strong>and</strong> “San Juan<br />
Bautista,” supposedly tak<strong>in</strong>g possession <strong>of</strong> it. Although he may not<br />
have actually stepped ashore, it is said the <strong>in</strong>habitants had so ignored<br />
him as mentioned earlier. This rebuff could be seen as one <strong>of</strong> the first<br />
acts <strong>of</strong> resistance to the Spanish arrival, a rejection <strong>of</strong> the idea that the<br />
admiral had somehow “discovered” the isl<strong>and</strong>, s<strong>in</strong>ce the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
presence had been well established. When Ponce de Leon arrived <strong>in</strong><br />
1508 to beg<strong>in</strong> the formal colonization <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal cacike,<br />
Agüeybana (the Elder), who was well aware <strong>of</strong> Columbus’s arms <strong>and</strong><br />
exploits <strong>in</strong> Kiskeya, prepared to accommodate him on his arrival. In<br />
the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g, the two leaders entered <strong>in</strong>to a “treaty <strong>of</strong> friendship<br />
<strong>and</strong> alliance.” 15 This treaty was accomplished through the traditional<br />
Indian areito called guatiao, or the exchang<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> names or mix<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> blood <strong>in</strong> order to establish k<strong>in</strong>ship relations, peace, <strong>and</strong> friendship.<br />
In order to make peace, Agüeybana opted to transform the Spaniards<br />
symbolically <strong>and</strong> physically <strong>in</strong>to k<strong>in</strong>speople, just like the Iroquois<br />
had done s<strong>in</strong>ce ancient times <strong>and</strong> attempted to do with the Dutch<br />
<strong>and</strong> French settlers <strong>in</strong> Iroquoia. 16 <strong>The</strong> Spaniards did not assimilate the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y did not <strong>and</strong> could not. While<br />
many never came <strong>in</strong>to contact with the colonizer until much later,<br />
it was actually the opposite transformational process where Indian<br />
women <strong>of</strong>ten bore the brunt <strong>of</strong> Spanish impetuosity so that the children<br />
would survive <strong>and</strong> live on. Our gr<strong>and</strong>mothers <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>fathers<br />
“blessed the alignment <strong>of</strong> the Spanish blood with the Indian blood<br />
<strong>in</strong> order for the children to survive . . . <strong>in</strong> order [that] the seed that<br />
the woman carried would not be elim<strong>in</strong>ated,” expla<strong>in</strong>s Nogueras-<br />
Vidal. 17 This form <strong>of</strong> passive resistance was also the st<strong>and</strong>ard response
Early Resistance <strong>and</strong> Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> 55<br />
<strong>in</strong> Kiskeya: “Instead <strong>of</strong> fight<strong>in</strong>g, the st<strong>and</strong>ard reaction <strong>of</strong> the Taínos<br />
to their early encounters with Spaniards <strong>in</strong>cluded attempts to adopt<br />
Spaniards <strong>in</strong>to their cacicazgos [territory <strong>of</strong> a cacike or chiefdom] <strong>and</strong><br />
to recognize their leaders as caciques <strong>in</strong> their own right. <strong>The</strong> Taínos’<br />
aim appears to have been to jo<strong>in</strong> with the Spaniards <strong>in</strong> reciprocal k<strong>in</strong>ship<br />
<strong>and</strong> trade relations, as they would have done with a powerful<br />
Indian group.” 18 This was the aim <strong>of</strong> Agüeybana: “Agueybana, the<br />
great chief <strong>of</strong> Guaynia, had news <strong>of</strong> the devastation <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>os <strong>of</strong><br />
Hispaniola. <strong>The</strong> historian Fern<strong>and</strong>ez de Oviedo affirmed that <strong>in</strong> order<br />
to avoid such a fate <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, Agueybana opted to be a guatiao<br />
or bloodbrother, with Ponce de León. He agreed to make conucos to<br />
provide cassava bread to the Spaniards <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>structed his subchiefs to<br />
assist the colonizers.” 19<br />
Agüeybana agreed to allow Ponce de Leon to set up a settlement<br />
<strong>of</strong> his choice on the isl<strong>and</strong>. This resulted <strong>in</strong> the found<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Caparra<br />
on the northern coast next to the bay that came to be known as<br />
“<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” or “Rich Port.” As designated by the name, Ponce<br />
de Leon chose the area because it was found to be abundant <strong>in</strong><br />
gold. <strong>The</strong> Indian cacikes had provided naborías (a class <strong>of</strong> workers)<br />
to assist <strong>in</strong> its search <strong>in</strong> the northern rivers <strong>of</strong> Bayamón, Cebuco,<br />
Cayniabón, <strong>and</strong> Manatoabón. 20 However the naborías kept flee<strong>in</strong>g<br />
from the m<strong>in</strong>es, which soon after resulted <strong>in</strong> the implementation <strong>of</strong><br />
the encomienda system to attempt to force them to work. 21 Paradoxically,<br />
even though the Indian leaders were contribut<strong>in</strong>g to their own<br />
colonization, “these concessions do not signify that he [Agüeybana]<br />
was ced<strong>in</strong>g any sovereign rights to the Spaniards.” 22 <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> the<br />
guatiao meant the cacical system became secularized by the cacikes,<br />
<strong>and</strong> thus was not destroyed as it had been <strong>in</strong> Santo Dom<strong>in</strong>go. 23 “<strong>The</strong><br />
cacical system persisted here. It was changed. It was secularized.<br />
Instead <strong>of</strong> cacikes, you had a lot <strong>of</strong> economic arbitrators. You had<br />
large l<strong>and</strong>owners, large properties produc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> export<strong>in</strong>g. This<br />
was always an exportation economy,” po<strong>in</strong>ts out Lamourt-Valentín. 24<br />
Agüeybana knew <strong>of</strong> Spanish <strong>in</strong>tentions so he attempted to mitigate<br />
or “buy time” <strong>in</strong> order to lessen the impact <strong>of</strong> the colonial process.<br />
Thus, it makes more sense to view these <strong>in</strong>itial events <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> as<br />
tactical long-term survival strategies.<br />
At the same time, an active rebellion was brew<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong> exploitation<br />
<strong>of</strong> labor <strong>and</strong> gold for pr<strong>of</strong>it was completely <strong>in</strong>comprehensible to the<br />
Jíbaro, who had only utilized the m<strong>in</strong>eral for ornamental purposes. 25<br />
<strong>The</strong>y resented their own labor be<strong>in</strong>g used to enrich the Spaniards <strong>and</strong><br />
deprive themselves <strong>of</strong> their cultural ways <strong>and</strong> customs:
56<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
What they would not tolerate was that their own labor had to put the<br />
gold <strong>in</strong> the h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>vaders. <strong>The</strong>se realities <strong>and</strong> the belief <strong>of</strong> the<br />
natives that they could not have <strong>in</strong>tercourse with their wives while work<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the m<strong>in</strong>es, prolonged by many days when carried out by the Spaniards,<br />
began to create <strong>in</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>owners a grow<strong>in</strong>g resistance to the<br />
dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>vaders, <strong>in</strong> spite <strong>of</strong> the agreement with the Caciques,<br />
who were becom<strong>in</strong>g more <strong>and</strong> more reluctant to lend laborers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> mean<strong>in</strong>gless work <strong>in</strong> the m<strong>in</strong>es; the <strong>in</strong>sist[e]nce on the ab<strong>and</strong>onment<br />
<strong>of</strong> their customs, such as the bath<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> nudity; the chang<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> their diet <strong>of</strong> yuca derivatives for others requir<strong>in</strong>g less time <strong>in</strong><br />
preparation; the imped<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the celebration <strong>of</strong> the areytos <strong>and</strong> the<br />
missionary spirit <strong>of</strong> those who arrived as guests <strong>and</strong> now were converted<br />
<strong>in</strong>to lords, began the slow <strong>in</strong>cubation <strong>of</strong> the desire <strong>and</strong> the duty<br />
to throw <strong>of</strong>f the yoke. 26<br />
<strong>The</strong> implementation <strong>of</strong> the encomienda led directly to the Indian<br />
war <strong>of</strong> 1511. After the death <strong>of</strong> Agüeybana, his nephew, Agüeybana<br />
(the Brave), led an upris<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> destroyed the Spanish settlement at<br />
Guánica. This led to more battles. Of the <strong>in</strong>itial rebellion, Francisco<br />
Moscoso writes, “More than 350 Spanish settlers were reported to<br />
have been killed <strong>in</strong> the towns or scattered <strong>in</strong> the haciendas <strong>in</strong> the<br />
countryside.” <strong>The</strong> war was meant to free the l<strong>and</strong> from “foreign dom<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
<strong>and</strong> exploitation.” 27 Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Juan Angel Silén, “When<br />
the Indians began to protest, it was aga<strong>in</strong>st a violence imposed by<br />
forced labor, aga<strong>in</strong>st a religion which threatened their whole world,<br />
<strong>and</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st a European morality which threatened their legitimate<br />
customs.” 28 Ste<strong>in</strong>er also commented on the action: “<strong>The</strong> revolt <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Indians failed. Yet it was not a failure. With<strong>in</strong> a few days the Indians<br />
had killed ‘more than half <strong>of</strong> the Spaniards’ on the isl<strong>and</strong>. Led by the<br />
caciques Guarionex, Urayoan, <strong>and</strong> Agueybana the Brave, they burned<br />
not only the town <strong>of</strong> Sotomayor, but other settlements. <strong>The</strong> m<strong>in</strong>es<br />
were halted. <strong>The</strong> battle reports <strong>of</strong> the Conquistadors boasted <strong>of</strong> no<br />
more than a few hundred dead Indians. Most had safely escaped.” 29<br />
Many fled to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s to survive the hard labor <strong>of</strong> the encomienda<br />
<strong>and</strong> the spread <strong>of</strong> diseases. 30 S<strong>in</strong>ce very few Jíbaro had been<br />
killed <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>itial upris<strong>in</strong>g, the battle reports referred to by Ste<strong>in</strong>er<br />
would have been <strong>in</strong> all likelihood the recorded deaths from the subsequent<br />
battles at Yauco, Culebr<strong>in</strong>as Valley, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the Yagüeça prov<strong>in</strong>ce.<br />
Ponce de Leon went on the <strong>of</strong>fensive <strong>and</strong> had supposedly pacified the<br />
isl<strong>and</strong> after the battle at Yagüeça. In <strong>in</strong>itially writ<strong>in</strong>g that the revolt had<br />
failed, perhaps Ste<strong>in</strong>er was referr<strong>in</strong>g to the fact that the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples were unable to expel the Spaniards from the isl<strong>and</strong>. But the<br />
revolt was not a failure because they had formidably challenged the
Early Resistance <strong>and</strong> Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> 57<br />
colonizer <strong>and</strong> dealt them a severe blow. While a number <strong>of</strong> prom<strong>in</strong>ent<br />
cacikes were killed, <strong>in</strong>jured, or surrendered, the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions,<br />
<strong>and</strong> other isolated regions <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>, were def<strong>in</strong>itely not “pacified”<br />
because the colonial Spanish did not settle there, except for hav<strong>in</strong>g<br />
established a royal plantation <strong>in</strong> Utuado. In any event, the war <strong>of</strong> liberation<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued until 1516. 31 Thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Indian people attacked<br />
<strong>and</strong> destroyed Caparra. 32 When Diego Colón established a Christian<br />
settlement near the “rebel center” on the eastern side <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
1514, it was reduced to ashes <strong>in</strong> a brutal attack before the settlement<br />
could be relocated. 33 <strong>The</strong>re were apparently many <strong>in</strong>digenous casualties<br />
<strong>in</strong> coastal areas. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Moscoso, a thous<strong>and</strong> natives were<br />
reportedly killed <strong>in</strong> battle <strong>and</strong> hundreds <strong>of</strong> others made captives <strong>in</strong> the<br />
northern region <strong>of</strong> Amanio (Loiza). 34 Indian losses were also severe<br />
<strong>in</strong> the eastern yucayeke (village or prov<strong>in</strong>ce) <strong>of</strong> Bieke (Vieques). Moscoso<br />
notes that dur<strong>in</strong>g the war there, over five hundred warriors were<br />
captured <strong>and</strong> “hundreds <strong>of</strong> others killed.” Because <strong>of</strong> their supposed<br />
“negative” <strong>in</strong>fluence on the youth, many elders were also executed<br />
<strong>and</strong> “their bodies cut to pieces <strong>and</strong> scattered along the shore” as a<br />
form <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>timidation. 35<br />
Resistance to Spanish Foreign Policy<br />
Unbeknownst to most, the war <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> had a very significant<br />
impact on the theological <strong>and</strong> juridical debates tak<strong>in</strong>g place <strong>in</strong> Spa<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
1512 <strong>and</strong> 1513. This <strong>in</strong>fluenced Spanish foreign policy. <strong>The</strong> first protests<br />
by the Spanish clergy <strong>of</strong> abuses aga<strong>in</strong>st the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
<strong>in</strong> Española <strong>and</strong> some dangerous upris<strong>in</strong>gs tak<strong>in</strong>g place, specifically<br />
<strong>in</strong> “San Juan Bautista,” resulted <strong>in</strong> the issu<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the requerimiento<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1513. 36 This document, as previously discussed, was “an attempt<br />
to give theological legitimation to the papal grant <strong>of</strong> the New World<br />
to the Castilian sovereigns for the purpose <strong>of</strong> evangeliz<strong>in</strong>g it.” 37 It<br />
had become necessary to Spanish jurists <strong>and</strong> theologians to somehow<br />
require native peoples to consent to convert to Christianity. To this<br />
effect, Queen Isabella had issued an earlier royal decree <strong>in</strong> 1503 justify<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the subjugation <strong>and</strong> enslavement <strong>of</strong> the Carib by authoriz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
war on them if they refused to convert. 38 Not surpris<strong>in</strong>gly, the decree<br />
was usually read <strong>in</strong> Spanish <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten from a distance. This version is<br />
quoted from Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés:<br />
I beg <strong>and</strong> require <strong>of</strong> you . . . to recognize the church as lady <strong>and</strong> superior<br />
<strong>of</strong> the universe <strong>and</strong> to acknowledge the Supreme Pontiff, called pope, <strong>in</strong><br />
her name, <strong>and</strong> the k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> queen . . . as lords <strong>and</strong> superiors . . . by virtue
58<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> said donation; <strong>and</strong> consent to have these religious fathers declare <strong>and</strong><br />
preach these th<strong>in</strong>gs to you. If you do so, you will be act<strong>in</strong>g well, <strong>and</strong><br />
those who are over you <strong>and</strong> to whom you owe obedience, <strong>and</strong> <strong>The</strong>ir<br />
Highnesses <strong>and</strong> I [whosoever leads the Spanish expedition <strong>in</strong> question]<br />
<strong>in</strong> their name would welcome you with love <strong>and</strong> charity.<br />
If you do not do it . . . then with the help <strong>of</strong> God I will undertake<br />
powerful action aga<strong>in</strong>st you. I will make war on you everywhere <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong> every way that I can. I will subject you to the yoke <strong>and</strong> obedience<br />
<strong>of</strong> the church <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>The</strong>ir Highnesses. I will take you personally <strong>and</strong><br />
your wives <strong>and</strong> children, <strong>and</strong> make slaves <strong>of</strong> you, <strong>and</strong> as such sell you<br />
<strong>of</strong>f . . . <strong>and</strong> I will take away your property <strong>and</strong> cause you all the evil <strong>and</strong><br />
harm I can. 39<br />
As a result, the Indian people naturally resisted a law they believed<br />
to be <strong>in</strong>humane, unjust, <strong>and</strong> a violation <strong>of</strong> their own laws <strong>and</strong> customs.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y did not will<strong>in</strong>gly consent to such a proposition where Christian<br />
conversion amounted to cultural genocide, or the stripp<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> a people’s<br />
will <strong>and</strong> desire to live. As <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples have asserted for<br />
decades with<strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>ternational community, <strong>and</strong> Canadian researchers<br />
Mark Davis <strong>and</strong> Robert Zannis sum up succ<strong>in</strong>ctly, “One should<br />
not speak lightly <strong>of</strong> ‘cultural genocide’ as if it were a fanciful <strong>in</strong>vention<br />
. . . <strong>The</strong> cultural mode <strong>of</strong> group exterm<strong>in</strong>ation is genocide, a<br />
crime. Nor should ‘cultural genocide’ be used <strong>in</strong> the game: ‘Which is<br />
more horrible, to kill <strong>and</strong> torture; or remove [the prime cultural symbol<br />
that is] the will <strong>and</strong> reason to live?’ Both are horrible.” 40 Indeed,<br />
the option presented to many <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples was<br />
either to be stripped <strong>of</strong> their cultural soul, or die. Many preferred the<br />
latter <strong>in</strong> hopelessness or as an act <strong>of</strong> defiance, which helps to expla<strong>in</strong><br />
the high rate <strong>of</strong> suicide among our ancestors. <strong>The</strong>y obviously did not<br />
want to live under an abusive system like the encomienda, which was<br />
so antithetical to the good life they were used to.<br />
Moreover, while the forced conversion method <strong>of</strong> the requerimiento<br />
was detrimental to the population, <strong>in</strong>digenous resistance to Spanish<br />
colonialism has been largely ignored as a factor contribut<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
changes <strong>in</strong> Spanish policy. It is the clergy’s stance aga<strong>in</strong>st abuses that<br />
has been acknowledged for policy change rather than the lead<strong>in</strong>g figures<br />
<strong>of</strong> the struggle—that is, the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>and</strong> their wars<br />
<strong>and</strong> resistance versus the colonizer. Rivera expla<strong>in</strong>s that “Spanish<br />
scholars generally stress the first factor, neglect<strong>in</strong>g the importance <strong>of</strong><br />
native rebelliousness, especially <strong>in</strong> Boriquén. This is <strong>in</strong> l<strong>in</strong>e with the<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ual omission <strong>of</strong> the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal protagonist <strong>of</strong> the conquest—the<br />
subjugated native.” 41 It was actually the shedd<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Indian blood that
Early Resistance <strong>and</strong> Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> 59<br />
was the bottom l<strong>in</strong>e motivation for changes <strong>in</strong> policy, which set the<br />
stage for the Spanish chroniclers to assume their “immortal” roles.<br />
Ironically, as the <strong>in</strong>digenous voice was squashed throughout the process,<br />
these changes <strong>of</strong>ten turned out to be just as crim<strong>in</strong>al as to what<br />
they were “well <strong>in</strong>tentioned” to repair.<br />
<strong>The</strong> history <strong>of</strong> resistance to Spanish policy also effectively debunks<br />
the idea <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican “docility.” Silén exam<strong>in</strong>ed where this concept<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>ated <strong>and</strong> how it was used as a scapegoat for colonialism<br />
<strong>and</strong> the native “acceptance” <strong>of</strong> the colonial regime. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
<strong>in</strong>tellectual elite came to use the <strong>in</strong>digenous word tara “to describe<br />
an <strong>in</strong>herited sickness or weakness.” 42 Somehow <strong>in</strong>terracial mix<strong>in</strong>g<br />
produced “taras,” which “deprived us <strong>of</strong> control over our dest<strong>in</strong>y,”<br />
<strong>and</strong> so “we became ‘passive’ <strong>and</strong> submissive,” he wrote. Native rebelliousness<br />
has thus been m<strong>in</strong>imized <strong>in</strong> the process, while the bourgeois<br />
leader’s laud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> docility turned out to be “no more than a wish that<br />
the worker <strong>and</strong> peasant be docile to them.” 43 This history has been<br />
reproduced <strong>in</strong> the st<strong>and</strong>ard literature <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> parallels how<br />
myths come <strong>in</strong>to be<strong>in</strong>g. Respond<strong>in</strong>g to the charge, nationalist <strong>in</strong>dependence<br />
leader Pedro Albizu Campos once said, “This is a legend<br />
that frightened men have used to traffic with the life <strong>of</strong> the nation.<br />
Our people is an heroic people. Our people is courageous.” 44<br />
Silén essentially concludes that it was really the colonization <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> exploitation by foreigners that fueled the anger <strong>and</strong> lament <strong>of</strong><br />
the people, rather than an exaggerated weakness not to fight back. He<br />
takes on Antonio Pedreira, René Marqués, <strong>and</strong> others for their failure<br />
to underst<strong>and</strong> the concept <strong>and</strong> colonial process <strong>in</strong> general: “Some <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican historians, writers, <strong>and</strong> essayists who believe this<br />
have been rely<strong>in</strong>g on a determ<strong>in</strong>ism produced by theories which modern<br />
man, through science <strong>and</strong> technology, has discredited. Others<br />
have failed to explore the past for evidence <strong>of</strong> the people’s victimization<br />
by a leadership which, because <strong>of</strong> its class orig<strong>in</strong>s, allied itself<br />
with foreigners to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> its privileged ‘junior partner’ position.” 45<br />
This latter po<strong>in</strong>t is looked at more later <strong>and</strong> speaks to how the criollo<br />
elite today cont<strong>in</strong>ues to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> their privileged status <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>terests<br />
under the protection <strong>of</strong> the United States. <strong>The</strong>y are more than happy<br />
to uphold the political status quo at the h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the discarded native.<br />
Orig<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong> Mounta<strong>in</strong> Survival<br />
In Antillean tradition, <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples believe they<br />
came from the earth or from caves <strong>and</strong> have always been present. This<br />
belief does not necessarily run counter to the theory surround<strong>in</strong>g the
60<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
lost cont<strong>in</strong>ent <strong>of</strong> Atzantiha (or Atlantis). In <strong>Borikén</strong>, the “Caverns<br />
<strong>of</strong> Creation” <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> region <strong>of</strong> Lares are where all humans<br />
emerged from. 46 When the people were asked why they venerate the<br />
cavern, “they answered seriously <strong>and</strong> sensibly because from there<br />
emerged the sun <strong>and</strong> the moon that were to give light to the world.” 47<br />
Anthropologically speak<strong>in</strong>g, the evidence to date <strong>in</strong>dicates that the<br />
first peoples arrived <strong>in</strong> the Antilles about six thous<strong>and</strong> years ago. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
are believed by many to have come from the Yucatán pen<strong>in</strong>sula or<br />
from other parts <strong>of</strong> Central America. 48 In my research, I have been<br />
able to f<strong>in</strong>d a cont<strong>in</strong>uous native presence show<strong>in</strong>g that the orig<strong>in</strong>al<br />
peoples to populate the region (the so-called “Archaics”) survived<br />
well <strong>in</strong>to the post-European contact era, thus reject<strong>in</strong>g Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse’s<br />
first “repeoply<strong>in</strong>g” theory. 49 Along the same l<strong>in</strong>es as Alegría’s “conquest<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Archaics” theory, 50 Rouse’s theory contends <strong>in</strong> large part<br />
that the orig<strong>in</strong>al “Casimiroids” <strong>of</strong> Central America were “replaced,”<br />
or virtually elim<strong>in</strong>ated, by a later South American group 51 that had<br />
supposedly emigrated <strong>in</strong>to the region. Needless to say, Rouse’s work<br />
has been controversial <strong>and</strong> as one scholar has noted, his “mechanical<br />
reductionism,” or near exclusive use <strong>of</strong> pottery typologies <strong>in</strong> provid<strong>in</strong>g<br />
a history <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples, “prevents communication among<br />
most social scientists <strong>and</strong> runs counter to contemporary movements<br />
<strong>in</strong> both history <strong>and</strong> anthropology toward an <strong>in</strong>tegral underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> the past.” 52<br />
<strong>The</strong> implications <strong>of</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity would mean that the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples present <strong>in</strong> the fifteenth-century northern Antilles were likely<br />
<strong>of</strong> Mesoamerican orig<strong>in</strong>, rather than the dom<strong>in</strong>ant scholarly view that<br />
has promoted South American orig<strong>in</strong>s. Among other scholars, Betty<br />
Meggers <strong>and</strong> Clifford Evans dispute the South American orig<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> the<br />
“Saladoid,” who are thought to be the ancestors <strong>of</strong> the “Taíno.” <strong>The</strong>y<br />
favor an expansion from the west “because white-on-red decoration<br />
[ceramic type] is widespread <strong>in</strong> Mesoamerica <strong>and</strong> the Andean area,<br />
but has not been reported from central Amazonia.” 53 <strong>The</strong>re is much<br />
data to suggest a very strong Mesoamerican <strong>and</strong> Mayan cultural,<br />
philosophical, <strong>and</strong> anthropological connection to the <strong>Caribbean</strong>. 54<br />
L<strong>in</strong>guistic evidence <strong>of</strong> a Mesoamerican orig<strong>in</strong> has also countered the<br />
dom<strong>in</strong>ant “Arawakan” basis <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous language. 55 Eugenio<br />
Fernández-Méndez’s <strong>in</strong>-depth <strong>and</strong> important work on Antillean art<br />
<strong>and</strong> mythology seems to have been pushed aside as it articulated theories<br />
<strong>of</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> contrast to the ma<strong>in</strong>stream academy. His f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
reveal that “certa<strong>in</strong> ancient mythological concepts <strong>of</strong> the Antilles are<br />
def<strong>in</strong>itely <strong>of</strong> Mesoamerican orig<strong>in</strong>,” <strong>and</strong> “we may po<strong>in</strong>t out that the<br />
Antillean art forms <strong>and</strong> mythology <strong>of</strong> very remote times present many
Early Resistance <strong>and</strong> Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> 61<br />
similarities to the art forms <strong>and</strong> mythology <strong>of</strong> Mesoamerica, Mexico,<br />
Yucatán <strong>and</strong> Central America, but most specially to those <strong>of</strong> Yucatán,<br />
Costa Rica <strong>and</strong> Panamá, <strong>and</strong> seem to have been derived from these<br />
areas.” 56 Regard<strong>in</strong>g the ethnological data I have collected <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>,<br />
a significant portion <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>formation regard<strong>in</strong>g the Maya has been<br />
passed down from generation to generation. Aside from the philosophical<br />
<strong>and</strong> archeological records, I have <strong>of</strong>ten been rem<strong>in</strong>ded orally<br />
about “our Mayan past” <strong>and</strong> “our Maya ancestors” <strong>in</strong> my work <strong>and</strong><br />
travels there. Elder Doña Herm<strong>in</strong>ia (Monsita) Vargas would say, “<strong>The</strong><br />
clue is hidden <strong>in</strong> the Maya, but the key is <strong>in</strong> the Cemí.” 57 <strong>The</strong> clue<br />
hidden <strong>in</strong> the Maya “refers to the experiences that have been occurr<strong>in</strong>g<br />
with<strong>in</strong> Creation, the planet Earth, the Universe, <strong>and</strong> Humans up<br />
until the year 2012. <strong>The</strong> wisdom <strong>of</strong> the Mayan Culture presents these<br />
teach<strong>in</strong>gs as the culm<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>and</strong> beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> a new life process.” 58<br />
Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, some <strong>of</strong> the most reveal<strong>in</strong>g archeological data<br />
concern<strong>in</strong>g the earliest <strong>in</strong>digenous presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> are the radiocarbon<br />
dat<strong>in</strong>gs made at Ponce <strong>in</strong> the mid-1990s at the south coast<br />
site <strong>of</strong> Maruca. <strong>The</strong>se show “Archaic” habitation dat<strong>in</strong>g back about<br />
five thous<strong>and</strong> years. 59 Roberto Martínez-Torres, who is an expert on<br />
“Archaic sites” hav<strong>in</strong>g completed his Master’s thesis on the La Tembladera<br />
site <strong>in</strong> Morovis, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 60 told me <strong>in</strong> 1999 that there had<br />
been about ten sites studied, <strong>and</strong> many more found on the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the<br />
past decade, conclud<strong>in</strong>g, “<strong>The</strong>re were a lot <strong>of</strong> Archaic people around<br />
the isl<strong>and</strong> liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> a lot <strong>of</strong> places.” 61 This evidence <strong>and</strong> other f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
<strong>in</strong> the 1990s demonstrate that there was a very early <strong>in</strong>digenous presence<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. More significantly, Martínez-Torres believes that the<br />
first peoples to populate <strong>Borikén</strong> controlled the whole isl<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> certa<strong>in</strong>ly<br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions, as they would have been well-established<br />
by the time <strong>of</strong> the arrival <strong>of</strong> other groups. Rouse also depicts the relative<br />
strength <strong>and</strong> conditions for survival <strong>of</strong> the orig<strong>in</strong>al “Casimiroid”<br />
people <strong>of</strong> Kiskeya when he writes, “<strong>The</strong>y could retreat <strong>in</strong>to the <strong>in</strong>terior<br />
<strong>of</strong> Hispaniola <strong>and</strong> use it as a base from which to defend their<br />
territory. <strong>The</strong>ir larger population <strong>and</strong> more advanced culture must<br />
have enhanced their chances <strong>of</strong> success.” 62 Ironically, he then goes on<br />
to provide a paucity <strong>of</strong> evidence for their virtual ext<strong>in</strong>ction.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> had been liv<strong>in</strong>g for hundreds<br />
if not thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> years <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> yucayekes <strong>of</strong>, for example,<br />
Guama, Otoao (Utuado), Coabey (Jayuya), Jatibonico, Guaynabo,<br />
Turabo, <strong>and</strong> Cayeco. This is a very important po<strong>in</strong>t because it shows<br />
that the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions, that bear Indian names, were already populated<br />
prior to European contact. Most scholars have typically failed<br />
to mention this, or that people had fled there after the war, leav<strong>in</strong>g the
62<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
reader with the unwitt<strong>in</strong>g impression that the mounta<strong>in</strong>s were essentially<br />
“barren” <strong>of</strong> a human presence. Fern<strong>and</strong>o Picó most recently<br />
writes that after the suppression <strong>of</strong> the Indian rebellion, many people<br />
either fled to the isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the east or perished under the brutal system<br />
<strong>of</strong> servitude. Noth<strong>in</strong>g is said about the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions before<br />
or after the Spanish arrival so that by the 1520s, “it was evident that<br />
the population the Spaniards had tried to conquer had disappeared.” 63<br />
This emblematically ends the section as so many do. When I was <strong>in</strong><br />
San Juan <strong>in</strong> 2006, the word go<strong>in</strong>g around was that Picó was a popular<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essor deliver<strong>in</strong>g a “nuanced” history. On the contrary, Fewkes had<br />
po<strong>in</strong>ted out long before that the early repartimientos (distribution <strong>of</strong><br />
native people) took “no account <strong>of</strong> those <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s who had<br />
not been conquered.” 64 María Teresa Babín added, “<strong>The</strong> isolation <strong>of</strong><br />
certa<strong>in</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong>ous zones <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> resulted <strong>in</strong> nuclei <strong>of</strong> Indian<br />
families that ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed consciousness <strong>of</strong> their orig<strong>in</strong> till the end <strong>of</strong><br />
the eighteenth century.” 65 While Fewkes too somehow surmised an<br />
early native “ext<strong>in</strong>ction,” it appears to have been passed down a priori<br />
that the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions were really not populated at all.<br />
In solidify<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>digenous mounta<strong>in</strong> presence, there were always<br />
Indian bateys (ceremonial grounds or ball courts) near yucayekes.<br />
Oviedo noted that there was a batey near each village. 66 Fewkes<br />
wrote <strong>of</strong> the many bateys <strong>and</strong> remnants there<strong>of</strong> that he learned about<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> at the turn <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century. Most were evidently<br />
located along the coastal pla<strong>in</strong>s, but the best preserved sites were<br />
those “<strong>in</strong> the high mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> the middle <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>” near<br />
Utuado <strong>and</strong> Ajuntas. 67 Other mounta<strong>in</strong> areas where ball courts <strong>and</strong><br />
vestiges had been located <strong>in</strong>clude Jayuya, Corozal, on the border <strong>of</strong><br />
Aguas Buenas <strong>and</strong> Bayamon, <strong>and</strong> between Comerio <strong>and</strong> Barranquitas.<br />
68 In addition, the size <strong>of</strong> the batey apparently correlated with the<br />
size <strong>of</strong> villages. “That is why the fields are here,” said the storyteller,<br />
<strong>in</strong> reference to the Caguana ceremonial grounds <strong>in</strong> Utuado. “That<br />
is why they built the batey so big. That is why there are so many<br />
Ceremonial Grounds here. How do I know this? I have been told<br />
this. This is why I know. Wherever there was a big batey, there was<br />
a big village.” 69 Fewkes located “several large villages” <strong>in</strong> Utuado<br />
alone, with bateys nearby. 70 Another po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> significance concerns<br />
the burial mounds found near these sacred sites. “<strong>The</strong> discovery that<br />
these mounds are Indian cemeteries sheds light on the nature <strong>and</strong><br />
use <strong>of</strong> the neighbor<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>closures. <strong>The</strong> conclusions drawn from my<br />
excavations <strong>of</strong> the Utuado mounds are that large numbers <strong>of</strong> the<br />
dead were buried just outside the dance courts <strong>and</strong> that the elaborate<br />
areitos, or mortuary dances, were held <strong>in</strong> the latter,” exclaimed
Early Resistance <strong>and</strong> Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> 63<br />
Fewkes. He remarked that the majority <strong>of</strong> the “prehistoric” dead <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> were “undoubtedly buried <strong>in</strong> the cemeteries” <strong>in</strong> this<br />
manner, while <strong>in</strong>ternments <strong>in</strong> caves were another plausible method<br />
<strong>of</strong> burial. 71 We can therefore reasonably conclude this section by<br />
say<strong>in</strong>g that there was probably a fairly large <strong>in</strong>digenous population<br />
resid<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> prior to Spanish contact.<br />
L<strong>and</strong>o’s Census <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Flight <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro<br />
<strong>Indigenous</strong> resistance to the Spaniards cont<strong>in</strong>ued throughout the<br />
sixteenth century. Tak<strong>in</strong>g flight to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s, avoid<strong>in</strong>g census<br />
takers, hid<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> more physical rebellions were among the most<br />
prom<strong>in</strong>ent forms. Active resistance was recorded <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong><br />
1517 <strong>and</strong> dur<strong>in</strong>g the 1520s 72 <strong>and</strong> was stepped up <strong>in</strong> the 1530s aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />
coastal settlements. 73 Delgado mentions that with the assistance <strong>of</strong><br />
African runaway slaves <strong>and</strong> the Santa Cruz Indians, “guerrilla” warfare<br />
organized <strong>in</strong> the Sierra de Luquillo lasted until the mid-sixteenth<br />
century. 74 S<strong>in</strong>ce the encomienda system was never well established <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong>, the Carib cont<strong>in</strong>ued to freely revolt. Ste<strong>in</strong>er noted the system<br />
was “doomed” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>and</strong> exported to México. 75 This was<br />
likely a partial result <strong>of</strong> the k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Spa<strong>in</strong>’s free<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Indian encomendados<br />
(those held under the encomienda said to be “free persons”) <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1520, 76 although some scholars <strong>and</strong> many colonists<br />
strongly resisted <strong>and</strong> prevented actions to this effect.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>stability <strong>of</strong> the encomienda helps to expla<strong>in</strong> the extremely<br />
low <strong>in</strong>digenous population figure recorded for the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the<br />
1530–1531 census conducted by the governor, Francisco Manuel de<br />
L<strong>and</strong>o. By order <strong>of</strong> the Spanish Crown, the census measured two<br />
population centers, the then city <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (San Juan) <strong>and</strong> the<br />
southwestern settlement <strong>of</strong> San Germán. 77 Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Moscoso,<br />
L<strong>and</strong>o reported that “there were less than 2,000 natives (many <strong>of</strong><br />
whom had been brought from other parts <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>) registered<br />
<strong>in</strong> the last encomiendas <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.” 78 Salvador Brau noted<br />
that L<strong>and</strong>o’s census calculated 1,148 total <strong>in</strong>dios, both slaves (“Indios<br />
esclavos”) <strong>and</strong> “free people” (“Indios libres encomendados”) subject to<br />
the encomienda. 79 Adolfo Pérez-Comas’s recent study measured 970<br />
“Yndio” <strong>and</strong> “Yndia” slaves, with free people not counted. 80 Regardless<br />
<strong>of</strong> the total, the dilemma with these census figures is that they<br />
have been <strong>in</strong>terpreted by scholars over the generations to be an <strong>in</strong>evitable<br />
sign that the native population throughout the isl<strong>and</strong> had been<br />
wiped out. <strong>The</strong> idea that has endured “from generation to generation
64<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
is that the Spaniards exterm<strong>in</strong>ated the Indians <strong>in</strong> thirty-six years,”<br />
writes Figueroa-Mercado. 81<br />
This was an “idea” Spanish colonists sought to perpetuate <strong>in</strong> numerous<br />
places to rid themselves <strong>of</strong> the “Indian problem” by <strong>in</strong>tentionally<br />
reduc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>digenous population numbers. Regard<strong>in</strong>g Kiskeya, Guitar<br />
po<strong>in</strong>ts out that it was not <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficials <strong>and</strong> encomenderos<br />
to give accurate counts <strong>of</strong> native laborers. In order to secure positions,<br />
grants, <strong>and</strong> favors from the Crown, documentation downplayed those<br />
who rema<strong>in</strong>ed under their control <strong>and</strong> exaggerated the effects <strong>of</strong> epidemics.<br />
82 While the measles <strong>and</strong> small pox epidemics <strong>of</strong> 1518 <strong>and</strong><br />
1529 as reported by encomenderos <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> would have apparently<br />
reduced the <strong>in</strong>digenous encomienda population enormously, as Moscoso<br />
notes, 83 the encomenderos there probably exaggerated their losses<br />
for other reasons. “It might also have been true that the colonists who<br />
held natives under the encomienda exaggerated the disappearance <strong>of</strong><br />
the native element to force the limitless <strong>in</strong>troduction <strong>of</strong> Negro slaves,<br />
which were not subject to the ord<strong>in</strong>ances or scruples that impeded the<br />
exploitation <strong>of</strong> native labourers,” stated Figueroa-Mercado. 84 Indeed,<br />
six years after L<strong>and</strong>o’s census Governor Vallejo found “a great number”<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dios up for sale on rural farms together with African slaves.<br />
Some owners had been hid<strong>in</strong>g them. 85 L<strong>and</strong>o’s census figure would<br />
have also concerned a smaller number <strong>of</strong> the total encomienda population<br />
as niños (children) were not accounted for. 86<br />
More importantly, the census did not count the “number <strong>of</strong> natives<br />
not under encomienda.” 87 As the encomiendas measured by the census<br />
were only set up near the gold m<strong>in</strong>es on the northern coast <strong>in</strong><br />
the vic<strong>in</strong>ity <strong>of</strong> San Juan <strong>and</strong> near San Germán, the census did not<br />
take <strong>in</strong>to account the large number <strong>of</strong> Indian people <strong>in</strong> villages, valleys,<br />
caves, <strong>and</strong> other places <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>ous <strong>in</strong>terior, nor those <strong>in</strong><br />
other parts <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. Delgado writes that the census <strong>of</strong> 1531 did<br />
not count the “hundreds or thous<strong>and</strong>s” hidden <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s. 88<br />
This what Fewkes alluded to previously. Pérez-Comas confirms that<br />
<strong>in</strong> all probability those located <strong>in</strong> isolated areas <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> were not<br />
considered. 89 Furthermore, it was not <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro or<br />
Boricua to be counted by the Spaniards <strong>in</strong> their surveys anyway: “A<br />
man hid<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the hills from the swords <strong>of</strong> the Conquistadors was<br />
not likely to report his wife <strong>and</strong> his children to the census taker. <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong>ficial censuses <strong>of</strong> the Indians grew smaller <strong>and</strong> smaller. Any count<br />
<strong>of</strong> the conquered by the conquerors was always about as mean<strong>in</strong>gful<br />
as a census <strong>of</strong> rabbits made by wolves.” 90 Writ<strong>in</strong>g about Kiskeya,<br />
Jerónimo de Aguero likewise noted, “Indians want very much never
Early Resistance <strong>and</strong> Survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> 65<br />
to see Spaniards . . . so they frequently go to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s.” 91 This<br />
pattern was duplicated <strong>in</strong> other Spanish colonial territories. 92<br />
Still, the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples would cont<strong>in</strong>ue to pop up <strong>in</strong> the<br />
sixteenth-century history. <strong>The</strong> bishop determ<strong>in</strong>ed that l<strong>and</strong>owners<br />
had lied about the quantity <strong>of</strong> natives under their control when they<br />
learned about K<strong>in</strong>g Carlos’s total abolition <strong>of</strong> the encomienda system<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1544. 93 When General Don Francisco Coloma retook the city <strong>of</strong><br />
San Juan <strong>in</strong> 1599, which had been captured by the English Earl <strong>of</strong><br />
Cumberl<strong>and</strong>, he was amazed to f<strong>in</strong>d the city “<strong>in</strong>habited almost entirely<br />
by Indians. He reported that the settlers had fled to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s,<br />
from the city, <strong>and</strong> the Indians had fled to the city, from the mounta<strong>in</strong>s.”<br />
94 <strong>The</strong> Indian people came down from the mounta<strong>in</strong>s where<br />
they had been liv<strong>in</strong>g s<strong>in</strong>ce ancient times. Even more jo<strong>in</strong>ed them after<br />
the Spanish com<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong> post-war exodus <strong>of</strong> the Indian head<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
high places is remembered as “<strong>The</strong> Flight <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro”: “On the<br />
mounta<strong>in</strong>ous isl<strong>and</strong> there were hundreds <strong>of</strong> deep caves <strong>and</strong> hidden<br />
valleys. In these the Bor<strong>in</strong>queños hid <strong>and</strong> lived for generations. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
became even then, as they were to become aga<strong>in</strong>, exiles <strong>in</strong> their own<br />
l<strong>and</strong>. A writer <strong>of</strong> contemporary <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican history, Marianna Morris,<br />
has said: ‘<strong>The</strong>y escaped by the hundreds, mak<strong>in</strong>g their way <strong>in</strong>to the<br />
hills at night.’ It was the flee<strong>in</strong>g Indians who were the ancestors <strong>of</strong> the<br />
jíbaros, the men from the mounta<strong>in</strong>s, she has written.” 95<br />
Conclusion<br />
This chapter has presented part <strong>of</strong> the evidence <strong>in</strong>dicat<strong>in</strong>g that the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> had survived throughout the sixteenth<br />
century. I outl<strong>in</strong>e some <strong>of</strong> the active <strong>and</strong> passive forms <strong>of</strong><br />
resistance that took place dur<strong>in</strong>g this early period. <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro had<br />
fled the colonial Spanish <strong>in</strong> large numbers dur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> after the war,<br />
<strong>and</strong> many had not been a part <strong>of</strong> the encomienda system to beg<strong>in</strong> with<br />
as exemplified by the regional mounta<strong>in</strong> presence prior to European<br />
contact. <strong>The</strong>refore, L<strong>and</strong>o’s survey most importantly dealt with a<br />
very small percentage <strong>of</strong> the total Indian population on the isl<strong>and</strong><br />
from 1530 to 1531. Looked at closely, his census does not reflect<br />
that the <strong>in</strong>digenous population was on the verge <strong>of</strong> “ext<strong>in</strong>ction.”<br />
This becomes strik<strong>in</strong>gly clear when we look at two late eighteenthcentury<br />
censuses. L<strong>and</strong>o’s underestimation is typical <strong>of</strong> Spanish census<br />
mis<strong>in</strong>terpretations <strong>of</strong> lower than actual native population counts<br />
throughout the Americas.<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, it is necessary to shed light on the po<strong>in</strong>t Moscoso makes<br />
about the Indian people brought to <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> from other parts <strong>of</strong>
66<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
the <strong>Caribbean</strong> dur<strong>in</strong>g the early slavery era. Many scholars have acknowledged<br />
this history <strong>and</strong> that native slaves were brought <strong>in</strong> from other<br />
places, too. Of the early repartimientos, Fewkes writes, “<strong>The</strong> figures<br />
given <strong>in</strong> the enumeration <strong>of</strong> slaves sometimes <strong>in</strong>clude those <strong>in</strong>troduced<br />
from other isl<strong>and</strong>s.” 96 This po<strong>in</strong>t is undisputed. Yet, with the recent<br />
DNA evidence reveal<strong>in</strong>g a strong contemporary Amer<strong>in</strong>dian presence,<br />
some have cont<strong>in</strong>ued to uphold the ext<strong>in</strong>ction myth by now say<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
among other spurious th<strong>in</strong>gs, that because <strong>of</strong> the importation <strong>of</strong> Indian<br />
labor to the isl<strong>and</strong> a “dist<strong>in</strong>ct” <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Indian presence cannot be<br />
determ<strong>in</strong>ed. 97 This is not surpris<strong>in</strong>g as the dom<strong>in</strong>ant establishment can<br />
<strong>in</strong> one way or another cont<strong>in</strong>ue to susta<strong>in</strong> antiquated beliefs when seriously<br />
challenged. Those who were brought <strong>in</strong> as slaves were obviously<br />
subject to the limited areas <strong>and</strong> population sizes <strong>of</strong> the encomiendas.<br />
While some would have <strong>in</strong>evitably escaped, those imported would have<br />
made up a small number <strong>of</strong> the overall <strong>in</strong>digenous population as demonstrated<br />
from the gather<strong>in</strong>g data.<br />
While I th<strong>in</strong>k it is a sad commentary that DNA test<strong>in</strong>g has had to be<br />
resorted to <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> to “prove” that a people still exist, to quell<br />
the skeptics who have feverishly ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed that the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
are long gone, the f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs by Juan Martínez-Cruzado <strong>and</strong> colleagues<br />
<strong>of</strong> the University <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> at Mayagüez that 61 percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Ricans today possess Amer<strong>in</strong>dian mitochondrial DNA are quite reveal<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
98 Mitochondrial DNA is <strong>in</strong>herited from the female l<strong>in</strong>e only. Thus,<br />
how many female Indian slaves were brought to the isl<strong>and</strong> dur<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
post-European contact era? Indian slaves imported were <strong>in</strong> all likelihood<br />
male laborers, as <strong>in</strong>ferred by Martínez-Cruzado, who also po<strong>in</strong>ts<br />
out that slaves were brought <strong>in</strong> from the Circum-<strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>and</strong> South<br />
America. He found that the diversity <strong>of</strong> Amer<strong>in</strong>dian mitochondrial<br />
DNA taken from his samples was “not high, as may have been expected<br />
if the Amer<strong>in</strong>dian predom<strong>in</strong>ance <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> was the consequence <strong>of</strong><br />
post-Columbian migrations.” 99 As a strong matriarchal society to beg<strong>in</strong><br />
with, this would mean that Amer<strong>in</strong>dian women from <strong>Borikén</strong> survived<br />
the early colonial era <strong>in</strong> large numbers. As a result, the women absorbed<br />
the men to a high degree <strong>in</strong> order for our people to survive <strong>in</strong> the long<br />
run. Further, the traditions <strong>and</strong> stories that have been passed down<br />
for generations corroborate a dist<strong>in</strong>ctly Jíbaro (<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican) Indian<br />
culture <strong>and</strong> metaphysics. Like other <strong>in</strong>digenous societies, the traditions<br />
related come from the l<strong>and</strong> where the people orig<strong>in</strong>ated <strong>and</strong> have been<br />
culturally established.
Chapter 4<br />
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong><br />
Both active <strong>and</strong> passive resistance to Spanish colonialism def<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
the sixteenth-century <strong>in</strong>digenous struggle <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. <strong>The</strong> next two<br />
hundred years <strong>of</strong> history would see a form <strong>of</strong> passive resistance that<br />
could be described as a type <strong>of</strong> silence from the outside world. Aside<br />
from some census figures <strong>and</strong> their own <strong>in</strong>ner selves, the Jíbaro Indian<br />
as a liv<strong>in</strong>g reality is virtually nowhere to be found dur<strong>in</strong>g this period.<br />
But this is precisely the way they would have wanted it, by not draw<strong>in</strong>g<br />
attention to themselves. <strong>The</strong>ir safety <strong>and</strong> survival would depend<br />
on their anonymity. As James Scott writes about resistance <strong>in</strong> peasantry<br />
struggles, “the self-<strong>in</strong>terested muteness <strong>of</strong> the antagonists thus<br />
conspire to create a k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> complicitous silence that all but expunges<br />
everyday forms <strong>of</strong> resistance from the historical record.” 1 <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued along their stubborn way not car<strong>in</strong>g what anyone else<br />
would th<strong>in</strong>k as long as they rema<strong>in</strong>ed free.<br />
<strong>Indigenous</strong> resistance <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity from the seventeenth to late<br />
eighteenth century are exam<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> this chapter. <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro was actually<br />
“neither a peasant <strong>in</strong> the feudal sense nor l<strong>and</strong>less <strong>in</strong> the modern<br />
sense.” 2 Most were <strong>in</strong>dependent farmers, or campes<strong>in</strong>os. By the seventeenth<br />
century they had solidified their presence <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s,<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> many rural <strong>and</strong> coastal areas too. Many had been <strong>in</strong>termarry<strong>in</strong>g<br />
with runaway African slaves <strong>and</strong> Spaniards. This “blood mix<strong>in</strong>g”<br />
was basically a cont<strong>in</strong>uation <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous tradition <strong>of</strong> guatiao,<br />
utilized as a survival tactic like Agüeybana had done when meet<strong>in</strong>g<br />
up with Ponce de Leon. In a sense, the Indian was <strong>in</strong> the process <strong>of</strong><br />
be<strong>in</strong>g physically transformed. But they were still <strong>in</strong>dios, just as brave<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependent as their ancestors. Arroyo noted, “<strong>The</strong> mix<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
these races may have changed the outward features <strong>of</strong> the Boricuas,
68<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
but only strengthened the <strong>in</strong>ner spiritual need for freedom.” 3 <strong>The</strong>y<br />
went “underground” <strong>in</strong> order to protect their cultural ways <strong>and</strong> customs.<br />
Thus, the mestizo Indian survived <strong>in</strong> large numbers <strong>and</strong>, more<br />
importantly, ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed a cultural consciousness. As Spanish population<br />
censuses imply <strong>and</strong> the dialectic would expla<strong>in</strong>, they <strong>and</strong> many<br />
<strong>of</strong> their “full blooded” k<strong>in</strong> were present throughout the mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
regions <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> many other places <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> at the end <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth<br />
century. <strong>The</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al section <strong>of</strong> the chapter discusses how both<br />
pre <strong>and</strong> post-European contact <strong>in</strong>digenous population figures were<br />
m<strong>in</strong>imized for ulterior reasons. Recent studies show how factors such<br />
as altitude <strong>and</strong> climate conditions have helped to expla<strong>in</strong> long-term<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terior regions <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>and</strong> may neatly<br />
apply to our f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs about <strong>Borikén</strong>.<br />
Spaniards, African Slavery, <strong>and</strong> the Jíbaro<br />
It is somewhat ironic how the Indian population has been cont<strong>in</strong>ually<br />
m<strong>in</strong>imized when the populations <strong>of</strong> other major groups that went to<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> were actually quite small. While <strong>in</strong>digenous population<br />
figures have been underestimated, the Spanish <strong>and</strong> African populations<br />
were never very large. Moscoso writes that by the 1530s, “<strong>The</strong><br />
Spanish population was small <strong>and</strong> most <strong>of</strong> the settlers were heavily<br />
<strong>in</strong>debted.” 4 Many <strong>of</strong> the orig<strong>in</strong>al settlers had died, returned home, or,<br />
as m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g decl<strong>in</strong>ed, moved on to more pr<strong>of</strong>itable pursuits <strong>in</strong> México<br />
<strong>and</strong> Perú. Figueroa-Mercado says it is very obvious from L<strong>and</strong>o’s census<br />
that whites made up a “dangerous m<strong>in</strong>ority.” 5 Census data <strong>in</strong>dicates<br />
that there were 369 married <strong>and</strong> unmarried Spanish colonists<br />
on the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1530, not <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g wives <strong>and</strong> children. 6 Others have<br />
noted there were only 327 whites at the time. 7 <strong>The</strong> Spanish exodus<br />
became so severe, accord<strong>in</strong>g to Adalberto López, that the governor<br />
thought “unless it was checked all the Spaniards would eventually<br />
leave <strong>and</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> would be lost to Spa<strong>in</strong>. He issued an order that<br />
no one was to leave the isl<strong>and</strong> without written permission from him<br />
<strong>and</strong> he brought his po<strong>in</strong>t home by publicly cutt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong>f the legs <strong>of</strong> two<br />
Spaniards who tried to disobey him.” 8<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce gold m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g was no longer economically viable, the Spaniards<br />
who rema<strong>in</strong>ed took to agriculture <strong>and</strong> cattle rais<strong>in</strong>g. Sugar became<br />
a pr<strong>in</strong>cipal export product by the mid-sixteenth century as several<br />
sugar mills had been established <strong>in</strong> the 1520s, <strong>and</strong> cacao <strong>and</strong> g<strong>in</strong>ger<br />
assumed an export importance <strong>in</strong> the early seventeenth century. 9 <strong>The</strong><br />
sugar farms were mostly small family-run bus<strong>in</strong>esses located along the<br />
northern coast. As Indian labor was fleet<strong>in</strong>g due to factors previously
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 69<br />
discussed, the planters turned to the importation <strong>of</strong> African slaves to<br />
fulfill their labor dem<strong>and</strong>s:<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce Indian labor was rapidly disappear<strong>in</strong>g by the 1530s <strong>and</strong> s<strong>in</strong>ce<br />
there were too few Spaniards available <strong>and</strong> will<strong>in</strong>g to supply the necessary<br />
labor <strong>in</strong> the sugar farms <strong>and</strong> cattle ranches, Spanish l<strong>and</strong>owners<br />
on the isl<strong>and</strong> turned to the importation <strong>of</strong> black slaves to meet their<br />
labor needs. Permission to import black slaves <strong>in</strong>to its American possessions<br />
had been granted by the Spanish Crown <strong>in</strong> 1503, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the years<br />
immediately follow<strong>in</strong>g the Spanish occupation <strong>of</strong> Boriquén some slaves<br />
were brought to the isl<strong>and</strong>. However, it was not till the late 1520s <strong>and</strong><br />
the 1530s, as a critical shortage <strong>of</strong> Indian labor developed, that black<br />
slaves assumed an economic importance on the isl<strong>and</strong>. 10<br />
<strong>The</strong> African presence <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> has been significant<br />
ever s<strong>in</strong>ce. In not m<strong>in</strong>imiz<strong>in</strong>g the horrific effects <strong>of</strong> slavery, it is<br />
important to po<strong>in</strong>t out that <strong>in</strong> comparison to other <strong>Caribbean</strong> isl<strong>and</strong>s,<br />
African <strong>and</strong> Indian slavery were limited. Through <strong>in</strong>formation atta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
from Alegría, Ste<strong>in</strong>er wrote, “Slavery <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> had always been<br />
limited by the isl<strong>and</strong>’s geography. On the coastal pla<strong>in</strong>s there was little<br />
more than fifteen miles <strong>of</strong> flat, arable l<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong>re was simply not the<br />
l<strong>and</strong> for the vast slave plantations that were cultivated <strong>in</strong> the rest <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the Southern United States.” 11 This curbed the<br />
number <strong>of</strong> African people brought <strong>in</strong>. Michael Conniff <strong>and</strong> Thomas<br />
Davis note that by 1530 there were 2,292 slaves on the isl<strong>and</strong>. 12<br />
Indian <strong>and</strong> African slaves were apparently <strong>in</strong>cluded together <strong>in</strong> this<br />
figure as L<strong>and</strong>o’s census revealed a total <strong>of</strong> 1,523 African slaves at<br />
the time. 13 However <strong>in</strong> Hispaniola, up to thirty thous<strong>and</strong> slaves were<br />
possibly brought <strong>in</strong> by 1565. 14 Cudjoe says that by 1787, the French<br />
were import<strong>in</strong>g over forty thous<strong>and</strong> slaves per year to Haití, <strong>and</strong> there<br />
were more than eleven thous<strong>and</strong> annual deaths. 15 And Jamaica (Xaymaca)<br />
<strong>in</strong>troduced more than sixty-three thous<strong>and</strong> slaves between<br />
1801 <strong>and</strong> 1807. 16 In sharp contrast, Alej<strong>and</strong>ro O’Reilly’s 1765 census<br />
estimated a little more than five thous<strong>and</strong> total slaves <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. 17<br />
A 1778 census showed 6,603 “negro slaves.” 18 While African slavery<br />
did <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century, Figueroa-Mercado confirms<br />
that after a slave upris<strong>in</strong>g was brutally crushed by whites <strong>in</strong> 1532,<br />
“the numerical superiority <strong>of</strong> the Africans dim<strong>in</strong>ished, <strong>and</strong>, apart from<br />
that early epoch, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> differed to the other Antilles <strong>in</strong> that she<br />
never had great numbers <strong>of</strong> slaves.” 19<br />
As the Carib had rebelled aga<strong>in</strong>st the encomienda, African slaves,<br />
too, resisted an <strong>in</strong>humane system they were put under. <strong>The</strong>y <strong>of</strong>ten
70<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
jo<strong>in</strong>ed up with the Indian people along the coasts <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s<br />
to battle the Spaniards. <strong>The</strong> political relationship was one emboldened<br />
by a love <strong>of</strong> freedom <strong>and</strong> fierce resistance to colonialism, like that <strong>of</strong><br />
the Garifuna (Black Caribs) <strong>of</strong> St. V<strong>in</strong>cent who were ultimately exiled<br />
by the British to Central America at the end <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth century.<br />
In terms <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>termarriage, Africans tended to <strong>in</strong>termix <strong>and</strong> marry<br />
with Indian <strong>and</strong> Spanish people along the coasts where most <strong>of</strong> the<br />
plantations were located. 20 Many poor Spaniards who did not receive<br />
“the gifts,” or l<strong>and</strong>s, went to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s to become subsistence<br />
farmers. <strong>The</strong>y tended to <strong>in</strong>termix <strong>and</strong> marry with the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
there. 21 Rape <strong>and</strong> forced marriages by Spanish men with Indian<br />
women were also prevalent. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Naniki, this is an important<br />
factor <strong>in</strong> the mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the mestizo as it reveals the abuse <strong>and</strong> hardship<br />
that women had to endure at the h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the colonizer. 22<br />
It should be noted here that DNA evidence now show<strong>in</strong>g proportionate<br />
Amer<strong>in</strong>dian frequencies <strong>in</strong> coastal areas to mounta<strong>in</strong> regions<br />
could be expla<strong>in</strong>ed by more recent emigration patterns from the<br />
mounta<strong>in</strong>s to coastal centers. 23 For example, the larger robust areas <strong>of</strong><br />
Ponce, Arecibo, Aguadilla, <strong>and</strong> Mayagüez all had high DNA counts. 24<br />
However, the data also shows high frequencies <strong>in</strong> more isolated coastal<br />
regions suggest<strong>in</strong>g high degrees <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous survival historically<br />
as these more secluded areas were less prone to European contact.<br />
Juan Antonio, the elder I met from the coast <strong>of</strong> Quebradillas, told<br />
me his family had been liv<strong>in</strong>g there for as long as he could remember.<br />
When he was grow<strong>in</strong>g up, the surround<strong>in</strong>g area consisted <strong>of</strong> all Indian<br />
families, <strong>and</strong> many are still there today. <strong>The</strong>y cont<strong>in</strong>ue some <strong>of</strong> their<br />
traditional ways <strong>and</strong> practices such as the use <strong>of</strong> medic<strong>in</strong>al plants for<br />
heal<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>struments to make music. In the 1950s, almost everyone<br />
<strong>in</strong> Quebradillas was liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> bohíos (traditional Indian houses)<br />
made <strong>of</strong> yagua (the “boards” or tabla de palma from the native yagua<br />
palm tree), <strong>and</strong> the floors were made <strong>of</strong> bare earth. He said all <strong>of</strong> his<br />
family was <strong>in</strong>dio, on both his mother <strong>and</strong> father’s side. Juan Antonio<br />
was addressed as “el <strong>in</strong>dio” at times <strong>in</strong> the past <strong>and</strong> even today. “<strong>The</strong>re<br />
are many <strong>in</strong>dios because you hear many people call<strong>in</strong>g others ‘el <strong>in</strong>dio’<br />
<strong>in</strong> many places if they look like me.” 25<br />
African slaves also <strong>of</strong>ten fled, alone or <strong>in</strong> groups, <strong>in</strong>to the forests<br />
<strong>and</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong>ous <strong>in</strong>terior. 26 <strong>The</strong> Indian people <strong>in</strong> these areas would<br />
have been their best potential allies, like they had been <strong>in</strong> Brazil<br />
<strong>and</strong> Kiskeya, although they were effective opponents <strong>in</strong> these places<br />
too. 27 Guitar writes that the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> Kiskeya “knew<br />
the isl<strong>and</strong>—the escape routes, the isolated regions, what grew where<br />
<strong>and</strong> how to f<strong>in</strong>d it or grow it, <strong>and</strong> how to best utilize the region’s
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 71<br />
resources.” 28 This knowledge would not be different for any people<br />
resid<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> a particular place for hundreds <strong>of</strong> years. Thus, the African<br />
<strong>and</strong> Spanish people who fled to isolated areas <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> were<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten embraced by the Indian people <strong>and</strong> culture <strong>and</strong> assimilated<br />
through <strong>in</strong>termarriage as their numbers would have been small compared<br />
to the native population. <strong>The</strong>y <strong>in</strong>evitably became a part <strong>of</strong><br />
the root <strong>in</strong>digenous culture, similar to the transformation process<br />
as described earlier by cacike Ramirez <strong>in</strong> Cuba. While foreigners <strong>in</strong><br />
coastal centers tended to assimilate the Indian people there, it was<br />
the opposite transformational process when it came to the Jíbaro<br />
<strong>in</strong> many other places. Don Pedro Matos-Matos <strong>of</strong> Utuado said the<br />
Jíbaro has always resisted assimilation: “And that is why the jíbaros<br />
are so stubborn, so silent, so humble, <strong>and</strong> so <strong>in</strong>dependent. Because<br />
we are so Indian. That is why we resist assimilation.” 29 He described<br />
the assimilation process <strong>and</strong> the heart <strong>and</strong> soul <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro, a<br />
fiercely <strong>in</strong>dependent people whose cultural <strong>and</strong> spiritual roots <strong>and</strong><br />
love <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong> extend back s<strong>in</strong>ce time immemorial:<br />
“If it were not for us, the jíbaros, there would be no <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. <strong>The</strong><br />
heart <strong>and</strong> soul <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> is <strong>in</strong> the heart <strong>and</strong> soul <strong>of</strong> the jíbaros.<br />
“For hundreds <strong>of</strong> years we have resisted all the foreigners—the<br />
Spaniards <strong>and</strong> the Americans. You know how? It is no mystery. On the<br />
coasts, <strong>in</strong> the cities <strong>of</strong> San Juan, Ponce, Mayagüez, when the foreigners<br />
came, they assimilated the <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans. Not here! In Utuado, <strong>in</strong><br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong>s, the foreigners were assimilated by us. ¡Sí ! <strong>The</strong>y marry<br />
our women. And our women they make <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueños out <strong>of</strong> them.<br />
<strong>The</strong> jíbaros are very stubborn. Especially if they are women. I th<strong>in</strong>k our<br />
women may be a little more Indian than our men.<br />
“Anyone who wishes to know the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican must know the<br />
jíbaros,” said Don Pedro. “Or he knows noth<strong>in</strong>g. We are <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.” 30<br />
<strong>The</strong> social <strong>in</strong>terrelationship that formed resulted <strong>in</strong> the cont<strong>in</strong>ued<br />
political, social, <strong>and</strong> cultural development <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro. <strong>The</strong> development<br />
<strong>of</strong> Jíbaro music, art, dance, poetry, <strong>and</strong> food crops, for example,<br />
provides important clues about the adaptation <strong>and</strong> growth <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Indian culture. Regard<strong>in</strong>g the music, there were orig<strong>in</strong>ally 18 <strong>in</strong>struments<br />
such as the drum, trunk, tortoise shell <strong>and</strong> str<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>strument. 31<br />
<strong>The</strong> gourds used for percussion <strong>in</strong>struments like the güiro, maracas,<br />
<strong>and</strong> early drum were <strong>of</strong> Indian orig<strong>in</strong>. <strong>The</strong> African people <strong>in</strong>troduced<br />
a certa<strong>in</strong> drum <strong>and</strong> a one-str<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>strument like a harp, while the<br />
Spaniards brought over the six-str<strong>in</strong>g guitar. 32 This synthesis forms
72<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
the basis <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro music that lives on today. It is still popularly<br />
played <strong>in</strong> places as far away as Hawai‘i.<br />
Subsistence farm<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> particularly diversified agriculture <strong>in</strong> rural<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>terior areas are also uniquely Jíbaro. <strong>The</strong> people were expert<br />
agriculturalists carry<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>in</strong> the tradition <strong>of</strong> their ancestors. A subsistence<br />
economy cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong> the seventeenth century, 33 <strong>and</strong> later. “In<br />
the seventeenth <strong>and</strong> eighteenth centuries <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>’s chief characteristic<br />
was abundance, built on a diversified agriculture <strong>and</strong> an illicit<br />
trade—smuggl<strong>in</strong>g.” 34 In 1788, a prom<strong>in</strong>ent priest noted the “bountiful<br />
nature” <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong> that permits the many k<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong> food crops that<br />
“reproduce themselves all year round.” 35 Don Pedro elaborates on<br />
this history <strong>and</strong> how <strong>in</strong>digenous forms <strong>of</strong> plant<strong>in</strong>g such as by conucos<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s. Multicropp<strong>in</strong>g is still the norm among<br />
campes<strong>in</strong>os:<br />
It was the Indian way. And it was the jíbaro way. <strong>The</strong> colonization <strong>of</strong><br />
the l<strong>and</strong> by the Spaniards <strong>and</strong> then the Americans, <strong>in</strong>to a one-crop<br />
economy, was resisted by the jíbaros. “At first, we grew cocoa beans<br />
for the conquerors, then we grew g<strong>in</strong>ger, which grows wild along the<br />
riverbeds, then we grew c<strong>of</strong>fee, then we grew sugar cane, <strong>and</strong> then<br />
tobacco,” said Don Pedro. “But <strong>in</strong> Utuado we always managed to<br />
grow many crops simultaneously—the tobacco, the c<strong>of</strong>fee, <strong>and</strong> our<br />
own food. So, though <strong>in</strong> the lowl<strong>and</strong>s they had a one-crop economy, <strong>in</strong><br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong>s we boasted a diversified agriculture. That accounted for<br />
our more sound economy <strong>in</strong> our towns. In our l<strong>and</strong> we raised corn, all<br />
k<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong> beans, rice, <strong>and</strong> roots—the old Indian food. Even our l<strong>and</strong> had<br />
an <strong>in</strong>dependent spirit.” 36<br />
Orig<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Proletariat<br />
At the start <strong>of</strong> the seventeenth century, a large cultural <strong>and</strong> psychological<br />
barrier between the towns <strong>and</strong> rural areas permeated the isl<strong>and</strong> until<br />
the end <strong>of</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century. 37 Hundreds <strong>of</strong> subsistence farmers <strong>in</strong><br />
rural <strong>and</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong> regions were basically isolated from the sugar farms,<br />
cattle ranches, <strong>and</strong> towns. López notes that those <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terior were<br />
“the ancestors <strong>of</strong> the latter-day jíbaro,” 38 <strong>of</strong> which a present <strong>and</strong> future<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous cont<strong>in</strong>uum can be obviously <strong>in</strong>ferred as confirmed earlier by<br />
Morris. In addition, the only municipalities set up at this time were San<br />
Juan <strong>and</strong> San Germán, both <strong>of</strong> which were small <strong>and</strong> sparsely populated.<br />
In fact, by the end <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth century, no roads had been built<br />
on the isl<strong>and</strong>. 39 Sugar production <strong>and</strong> cattle exports grew slowly <strong>and</strong><br />
so for Spa<strong>in</strong>, <strong>Borikén</strong> was <strong>of</strong> m<strong>in</strong>or economic importance marketwise
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 73<br />
until the late 1700s. 40 Thus, the Jíbaro were liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dependently at<br />
this time <strong>and</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> their own way. <strong>The</strong>y were cut <strong>of</strong>f <strong>and</strong><br />
ignored by the government <strong>and</strong> Spanish elite, <strong>and</strong> misunderstood<br />
by the dom<strong>in</strong>ant academy then as well as now. <strong>The</strong> renowned native<br />
Pacific scholar Epeli Hau‘<strong>of</strong>a alluded to the general plight <strong>of</strong> grassroots<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous cultures, which applies to the Jíbaro story: “<strong>The</strong><br />
other level is that <strong>of</strong> ord<strong>in</strong>ary people, peasants <strong>and</strong> proletarians, who,<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the poor flow <strong>of</strong> benefits from the top, skepticism about<br />
stated policies <strong>and</strong> the like, tend to plan <strong>and</strong> make decisions about<br />
their lives <strong>in</strong>dependently, sometimes with surpris<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> dramatic<br />
results that go unnoticed or ignored at the top. Moreover, academic<br />
<strong>and</strong> consultancy experts tend to overlook or mis<strong>in</strong>terpret grassroots<br />
activities because they do not fit with prevail<strong>in</strong>g views about the nature<br />
<strong>of</strong> society <strong>and</strong> its development.” 41<br />
Spa<strong>in</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> was essentially strategic <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong><br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g control over the Spanish <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>and</strong> Central America.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y could have cared less about the people. Internationally, it was<br />
“imperative that Spa<strong>in</strong> hold on to the isl<strong>and</strong>, for should it fall <strong>in</strong>to the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the enemies <strong>of</strong> Spa<strong>in</strong> it could serve as a base <strong>of</strong> operations<br />
that could disrupt <strong>and</strong> even paralyze the entire Spanish-American<br />
commercial system.” 42 Attacks by the English, French, <strong>and</strong> Dutch<br />
throughout the seventeenth century actually revealed Spa<strong>in</strong>’s weaknesses<br />
<strong>and</strong> loss <strong>of</strong> territory, which resulted <strong>in</strong> the establishment <strong>of</strong> a<br />
permanent presence among its enemies <strong>in</strong> the Antilles <strong>and</strong> other places<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Americas. 43 From a contemporary perspective Figueroa-Mercado<br />
concluded, “there was more smoke than fire <strong>and</strong> that Spa<strong>in</strong> was<br />
not as powerful as was thought.” 44 Lamourt-Valentín affirms Spa<strong>in</strong>’s<br />
weaknesses, loss <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, <strong>and</strong> how the Spaniards<br />
were astounded at the major civilization they had encountered. <strong>The</strong><br />
native account here runs counter to the history taught <strong>of</strong> Spanish<br />
dom<strong>in</strong>ance lend<strong>in</strong>g a sharp alternative perspective on events: “This<br />
[was] a major civilization. It freaked the Spanish out. <strong>The</strong> Spanish<br />
were not established <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y reestablished themselves<br />
on the cont<strong>in</strong>ent. <strong>The</strong>y lost the <strong>Caribbean</strong> . . . <strong>The</strong>y were kicked out<br />
<strong>of</strong> all the major isl<strong>and</strong>s. <strong>The</strong>y only had Havana <strong>and</strong> the western part<br />
<strong>of</strong> Cuba . . . In Santo Dom<strong>in</strong>go, the only th<strong>in</strong>g they had were two or<br />
three trade outposts. And the rest <strong>of</strong> Santo Dom<strong>in</strong>go they never conquered,<br />
<strong>and</strong> they never conquered, def<strong>in</strong>itely, never conquered Haití.<br />
<strong>The</strong> French were <strong>in</strong>vited <strong>in</strong>to Haití by the cacikes.” 45<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g phenomena about <strong>Borikén</strong> was the large<br />
number <strong>of</strong> nonslaves who contributed to the labor force. This had<br />
also begun <strong>in</strong> the early seventeenth century. As the economy began
74<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
to grow <strong>in</strong> the eighteenth century, particularly the sugar <strong>in</strong>dustry,<br />
more slaves were imported to the isl<strong>and</strong> as a needed source <strong>of</strong> labor. 46<br />
However, as López writes, nonslave labor by the mid-eighteenth<br />
century had “assumed great importance <strong>in</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> activities, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
some sugar <strong>and</strong> c<strong>of</strong>fee farms non-slave laborers <strong>of</strong>ten outnumbered<br />
the slaves. <strong>The</strong>se free laborers, however, constituted an unstable<br />
labor force s<strong>in</strong>ce many <strong>of</strong> them would work only for part <strong>of</strong> the year,<br />
<strong>and</strong> others <strong>of</strong>ten left their employers <strong>and</strong> settled as subsistence farmers<br />
<strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terior.” 47 This situation resulted <strong>in</strong> the first appearance<br />
<strong>of</strong> the proletariat as recorded <strong>in</strong> Western history, notes Lamourt-<br />
Valentín. <strong>The</strong> Frenchman André Pierre Ledru was sent to <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> the 1790s where he recorded free laborers work<strong>in</strong>g “arm-<strong>in</strong>arm,<br />
shoulder-to-shoulder at the same work <strong>in</strong> the same way as the<br />
slaves. What he’s describ<strong>in</strong>g is the proletariat.” 48 Marriages by slaves<br />
to Indian people compromised the slave owner to employ the free<br />
laborer. <strong>The</strong> slave would not be allowed to work if the owner did not<br />
also employ the free laborer because the slave belonged to the community,<br />
not to the owner. 49 <strong>The</strong>se “free laborers” were mostly “Free<br />
Colored” Indian people <strong>and</strong> “Free Negroes” as <strong>in</strong>terpreted from the<br />
1771 <strong>and</strong> 1778 censuses analyzed below. By the end <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth<br />
century, some important censuses had been taken <strong>and</strong> the<br />
population <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> had grown, with a good number <strong>of</strong> people<br />
located <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terior: “<strong>The</strong> population was over 150,000 <strong>and</strong> a<br />
significant proportion <strong>of</strong> it was now concentrated <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
cha<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terior. <strong>The</strong>re were several dozen towns; Ponce <strong>and</strong><br />
Mayagüez were exp<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g commercial centers, <strong>and</strong> San Germán had<br />
a population <strong>of</strong> several thous<strong>and</strong>. Town life throughout the isl<strong>and</strong><br />
was livelier than <strong>in</strong> the past; contact between the towns <strong>and</strong> the rural<br />
areas was greater. More merchants now traveled through the <strong>in</strong>terior<br />
<strong>and</strong> more people lived year round <strong>in</strong> the towns. San Juan, which still<br />
rema<strong>in</strong>ed the commercial, adm<strong>in</strong>istrative <strong>and</strong> ecclesiastical capital,<br />
was a bustl<strong>in</strong>g community <strong>of</strong> over 10,000 people.” 50<br />
Late Eighteenth-Century Censuses<br />
<strong>The</strong> written <strong>and</strong> ethnological narrative <strong>of</strong> a cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
presence on the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> is corroborated by certa<strong>in</strong> Spanish<br />
censuses that were taken <strong>in</strong> the second half <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth century.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se unequivocally show that hundreds <strong>of</strong> Indian people were still<br />
there almost three hundred years after Spanish contact. This data <strong>in</strong><br />
itself disproves the mid-sixteenth-century theory <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
ext<strong>in</strong>ction. Given our discussion <strong>in</strong> the next section <strong>of</strong> typically
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 75<br />
underestimated <strong>in</strong>digenous population figures <strong>in</strong> the Spanish colonies,<br />
<strong>and</strong> largely underestimated totals for the Americas as a whole,<br />
the censuses analyzed below, specifically the categories “Indians” <strong>and</strong><br />
“Free Colored,” were also underestimations. I further importantly<br />
view both “full blooded” <strong>and</strong> mestizo Indian people <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> as<br />
essentially one family, as they were closely related to each other culturally<br />
<strong>and</strong> biologically. <strong>The</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> dist<strong>in</strong>guish<strong>in</strong>g human be<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
based on “racial purity” <strong>and</strong> “blood quantum” measurements were<br />
racist European colonial <strong>in</strong>ventions meant to separate native peoples<br />
from each other, whether for political, cultural, or economic reasons,<br />
<strong>in</strong> order to assimilate, marg<strong>in</strong>alize, or slowly verify their ext<strong>in</strong>ction.<br />
Thus, the implications <strong>of</strong> estimat<strong>in</strong>g an overall Indian population<br />
count for the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the late eighteenth century are huge. In order<br />
to get a better idea <strong>of</strong> the size <strong>of</strong> the population, I will exam<strong>in</strong>e two<br />
censuses taken. <strong>The</strong> figures brought out are arbitrary or rough estimates,<br />
but should give the reader an idea <strong>of</strong> the significance <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous presence at that time.<br />
Most <strong>of</strong> the data from the censuses <strong>of</strong> 1771 <strong>and</strong> 1778 are provided<br />
here by <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican historians Salvador Brau, Loida Figueroa-Mercado,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Juan Manuel Delgado. <strong>The</strong> censuses were by order <strong>of</strong> K<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Carlos III 51 <strong>and</strong> conducted by Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra. Both reveal<br />
the category “Indians,” or “Indios” as written <strong>in</strong> Spanish. Regard<strong>in</strong>g<br />
this category, Brau wrote, “<strong>The</strong>se Indians, whose existence had been<br />
proven <strong>of</strong>ficially, were not the progeny <strong>of</strong> racial mixtures classified as<br />
pardos libres, but pure blooded [de raza pura] types, descendents <strong>of</strong><br />
those emancipated by Charles V, who tried to distance themselves<br />
from their oppressors. Still settled <strong>in</strong> l<strong>and</strong>s close to San Germán del<br />
Guadianilla <strong>in</strong> 1570, they migrated up to the harshest [agrio] mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
range, <strong>in</strong> a vic<strong>in</strong>ity called La Indiera.” 52 This group comprised<br />
“360 heads <strong>of</strong> family with 752 male sons <strong>and</strong> 1,190 women <strong>of</strong> every<br />
age <strong>and</strong> status,” 53 for a total <strong>of</strong> 2,302 people as noted <strong>in</strong> the 1778<br />
census. <strong>The</strong>se censuses were taken <strong>in</strong> the region <strong>of</strong> Maricao, <strong>in</strong> the<br />
communities now known as Indiera Alta, Indiera Baja, <strong>and</strong> Indiera<br />
Fria, where the population had lived <strong>in</strong> isolation for over two hundred<br />
years. 54 A census taken <strong>in</strong> 1799 showed that their numbers had<br />
rema<strong>in</strong>ed virtually unchanged with 2,300 Indian people counted. 55<br />
<strong>The</strong> results <strong>of</strong> the 1771 <strong>and</strong> 1778 censuses noted <strong>in</strong> Table 4.1 are<br />
extracted from Figueroa-Mercado. It should be po<strong>in</strong>ted out that Brau<br />
cites the years <strong>of</strong> these censuses as 1777 <strong>and</strong> 1787, 56 with the exact<br />
same categories <strong>and</strong> figures as Figueroa-Mercado’s. I am us<strong>in</strong>g her<br />
dates, which are also cited by Arturo Santana <strong>and</strong> Rafael Torrech <strong>in</strong><br />
their atlas, 57 <strong>and</strong> as the 1778 census is commonly referred to today.
76<br />
Table 4.1.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
Year 1771 Year 1778<br />
Whites 31,951 46,756<br />
“Indians” 1,756 2,302<br />
Free Colored 24,164 34,867<br />
Free Negroes 4,747 7,866<br />
Mulatto slaves 3,343 4,657<br />
Negro slaves 4,249 6,603<br />
Note: Figueroa-Mercado writes, “Please note that there was a majority <strong>of</strong> non-whites. In 1771,<br />
38,259 compared to 31,951, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1778 56,295 compared to 46,756. Please note, moreover, that<br />
crossbreeds are not specified (native with White) or other mixtures, under the term ‘free coloured<br />
people’. If we compare this census with O’Reilly’s made <strong>in</strong> 1765 we note an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> the number<br />
<strong>of</strong> slaves from 7,592 <strong>in</strong> 1771 <strong>and</strong> 11,560 <strong>in</strong> 1778, as compared to 5,037 slaves <strong>in</strong> 1765.” 58<br />
In an <strong>in</strong>terview with Delgado, he made three important po<strong>in</strong>ts clear<br />
to me regard<strong>in</strong>g the data from the census category “Indians”: (1) at<br />
the time these censuses were taken <strong>and</strong> previous to that La Indiera (lit.,<br />
“place where the Indian lives”) comprised the entire mounta<strong>in</strong> region,<br />
not just the areas around Maricao as Indiera is known as today; (2) the<br />
censuses were conducted by the Catholic Church <strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
taken from church baptism records, or from Indian people who had<br />
been baptized; <strong>and</strong> (3) the censuses did not take <strong>in</strong>to account the<br />
many who had not been baptized. Delgado emphasized, “<strong>The</strong>re were<br />
many more people there than the census <strong>in</strong>dicates.” <strong>The</strong> census data<br />
actually revealed “10 percent <strong>of</strong> the reality.” 59 This <strong>in</strong>formation can<br />
be corroborated through Delgado’s extensive research <strong>and</strong> knowledge<br />
<strong>of</strong> the subject matter s<strong>in</strong>ce his childhood. In the mid-1960s, this<br />
educator began document<strong>in</strong>g the resistance <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ued survival<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous population through archival records <strong>and</strong> oral history.<br />
60 Some <strong>of</strong> his important f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs reveal how the Jíbaro protested<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st abuse, discrim<strong>in</strong>ation, <strong>and</strong> the imposition <strong>of</strong> names by the<br />
Catholic Church, 61 <strong>and</strong> how hundreds <strong>of</strong> Indian names or surnames<br />
were hidden or disguised as nicknames (apodos) that survived as actual<br />
names used mostly by campes<strong>in</strong>os. 62 Much <strong>of</strong> this resistance came<br />
about <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century <strong>in</strong> conjunction with the establishment<br />
<strong>of</strong> towns <strong>in</strong> central mounta<strong>in</strong> regions. Prior to this time, there were no<br />
“towns” or churches set up <strong>in</strong> many places to conduct censuses <strong>and</strong><br />
implement Spanish policies.<br />
In focus<strong>in</strong>g on the 1778 census, s<strong>in</strong>ce the category “Indians” only<br />
took <strong>in</strong>to account those who were baptized, or 10 percent <strong>of</strong> the total<br />
accord<strong>in</strong>g to Delgado, there would have been approximately 23,000
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 77<br />
“full blooded” Indian people <strong>in</strong> the vic<strong>in</strong>ity where the census was taken,<br />
that is, <strong>in</strong> the communities now known as Indiera Alta, Indiera Baja,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Indiera Fria <strong>in</strong> the municipality <strong>of</strong> Maricao. Next, the general data<br />
for the censuses were extracted from numerous pueblos (towns) established<br />
at that time, primarily coastal <strong>and</strong> rural areas <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the capital<br />
<strong>of</strong> San Juan. 63 <strong>The</strong> light areas <strong>of</strong> Figure 4.1 <strong>in</strong>dicate the pueblos from<br />
where the censuses were taken. <strong>The</strong> black areas <strong>of</strong> the municipalities <strong>of</strong><br />
San Germán, Arecibo, <strong>and</strong> Coamo were also measured <strong>in</strong> the survey.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce the censuses only considered the category “Indians” from the<br />
region <strong>of</strong> Maricao, they did not take <strong>in</strong>to account the Indian people<br />
liv<strong>in</strong>g throughout the Cordilleras or other mounta<strong>in</strong> regions, as La<br />
Indiera was known as back then, nor those <strong>in</strong> the Sierra de Luquillo. If<br />
we estimate the number <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terior regions<br />
<strong>of</strong>, for example, Las Marias, Lares, Adjuntas, Jayuya, Ciales, Morovis,<br />
Orocovis, Villalba, Barranquitas, <strong>and</strong> Aibonito, all <strong>of</strong> which were not<br />
a part <strong>of</strong> the census count as there were no towns established <strong>in</strong> these<br />
areas at the time, 64 the population count becomes much larger. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
regions <strong>and</strong> others that had yet to establish towns, with the exceptions<br />
<strong>of</strong> Guanica <strong>and</strong> Vega Alta, are highlighted <strong>in</strong> the gray areas <strong>of</strong><br />
the map. If we multiply Maricao <strong>and</strong> the ten areas listed previously by<br />
the population count determ<strong>in</strong>ed for Maricao <strong>in</strong> 1778 (11 × 23,000),<br />
we arrive at a tentative figure <strong>of</strong> 253,000 <strong>in</strong>habitants. However, s<strong>in</strong>ce<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous survival “may” have been greatest <strong>in</strong> Maricao due to the<br />
remoteness <strong>of</strong> the region, we should reduce the 23,000 count for the<br />
other regions. If we halve this figure, which may be generous because<br />
Figure 4.1 By permission <strong>and</strong> copyright <strong>of</strong> Editorial Cordillera, San Juan, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 1988.
78<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
other mounta<strong>in</strong> areas were also very remote as mentioned below, we<br />
come up with an <strong>in</strong>digenous population count <strong>of</strong> about 11,500 people<br />
per region. In multiply<strong>in</strong>g this number by the ten regions <strong>and</strong> add<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the 23,000 figure for Maricao, we arrive at a total count <strong>of</strong> approximately<br />
138,000 <strong>in</strong>dios resid<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> these mounta<strong>in</strong> areas <strong>in</strong> 1778. This<br />
number is still likely an underestimation, s<strong>in</strong>ce the censuses did not<br />
account for the people liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> other mounta<strong>in</strong>ous places such as<br />
Cidra, Aguas Buenas, Comerio, Naranjito, <strong>and</strong> Corozal, which too<br />
had yet to establish towns, 65 or people <strong>in</strong> coastal <strong>and</strong> rural regions not<br />
measured <strong>in</strong> the censuses.<br />
Some have <strong>in</strong>deed questioned whether Maricao comprised the largest<br />
concentration <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s. Naniki says<br />
the Ciales <strong>and</strong> Orocovis regions were “just as remote” as Maricao,<br />
add<strong>in</strong>g that the total count mentioned previously is a “m<strong>in</strong>imum.”<br />
Back then, “all mounta<strong>in</strong> regions were remote,” <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the Sierra<br />
de Luquillo. 66 This makes sense as, aga<strong>in</strong>, La Indiera comprised most<br />
<strong>of</strong> these regions <strong>and</strong>, as some who have been <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s know,<br />
you can get very lost up there even travel<strong>in</strong>g by car today! For those<br />
who may be skeptical about the 138,000 estimate, this figure would<br />
no doubt <strong>in</strong>clude many “Free Colored,” or free “mixed blooded”<br />
people, the <strong>of</strong>fspr<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the racial <strong>in</strong>termix<strong>in</strong>g that took place. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
were also not counted <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions noted <strong>in</strong> the gray areas<br />
<strong>of</strong> the map. This category <strong>of</strong> the censuses is the other important area<br />
to consider, the data taken from the light areas <strong>of</strong> the map. “Free<br />
Colored” people, or “pardos libres” (“free browns”) <strong>in</strong> Spanish, comprised<br />
the largest population <strong>of</strong> nonwhites <strong>in</strong> the censuses who were<br />
not slaves, <strong>and</strong> their numbers had actually <strong>in</strong>creased considerably from<br />
1771 to 1778.<br />
In his research at the Catholic Church <strong>in</strong> Morovis, Martínez-Torres<br />
found out that Catholic priests had written <strong>in</strong> their baptism records<br />
that “pardos people were Indian descendants.” 67 This is <strong>in</strong> spite <strong>of</strong> the<br />
fact that at the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century, Governor Toribio<br />
Montes “b<strong>and</strong>ed all the non-whites together under the title <strong>of</strong> free<br />
colored people (pardos),” 68 <strong>and</strong> elim<strong>in</strong>ated the category “Indios” <strong>in</strong><br />
the process. 69 He did this when “faced with the difficulty <strong>of</strong> fix<strong>in</strong>g<br />
ethnic orig<strong>in</strong>s.” 70 Thus, there was a strong Indian presence <strong>in</strong> Morovis<br />
at the end <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth century as this town was not founded<br />
until 1818. Martínez-Torres confirmed to me that “pardos people”<br />
were commonly descended from Indians. Federico Ribes-Tovar noted<br />
that pardos <strong>in</strong>cluded “Indian halfbreeds.” 71 And Picó also acknowledged<br />
that “part <strong>of</strong> the population then called pardo had Amer<strong>in</strong>dian<br />
blood.” 72 I have been able to determ<strong>in</strong>e from my research that the
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 79<br />
category “Free Colored” primarily perta<strong>in</strong>ed to mestizos, or Indian<br />
people <strong>in</strong>termixed with Africans, or “native with White,” as Figueroa-<br />
Mercado <strong>in</strong>dicated. When this author discusses “natives” <strong>in</strong> her book,<br />
she is specifically referr<strong>in</strong>g to the Indian population.<br />
This category would also <strong>in</strong>clude African people who <strong>in</strong>termixed<br />
with whites, or so-called “mulattos,” who were not slaves. However,<br />
Manuel Álvarez-Nazario wrote that prior to Montes’s group<strong>in</strong>g, the<br />
established use <strong>of</strong> the term “mulato” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> was without a<br />
doubt reserved for mestizos who were slaves, <strong>and</strong> pardo for mestizos<br />
who were free. 73 So when Abbad y Lasierra penned <strong>in</strong> 1788 that<br />
“mulatos” on the isl<strong>and</strong> comprised the largest segment <strong>of</strong> the population,<br />
74 he was unwitt<strong>in</strong>gly referr<strong>in</strong>g to mestizo Indian people. This is<br />
apparent as Pablo Morales-Cabrera keenly revealed Abbad y Lasierra’s<br />
ignorance <strong>of</strong> the Indian population, <strong>and</strong> how he perceived them to<br />
have a very “limited mentality.” 75 This was the th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the dom<strong>in</strong>ant<br />
establishment <strong>of</strong> the time as the Indian presence was m<strong>in</strong>imized,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the people misunderstood <strong>and</strong> essentially perceived to be <strong>in</strong>capable<br />
<strong>of</strong> reason<strong>in</strong>g or abstract th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g. Given that the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples rout<strong>in</strong>ely <strong>in</strong>termixed on the coasts <strong>and</strong> rural areas, where most<br />
<strong>of</strong> the census data were collected from, Indian descendants would<br />
have ma<strong>in</strong>ly comprised the second largest total <strong>in</strong> the censuses. <strong>The</strong><br />
34,867 count <strong>in</strong> 1778 is alone quite reveal<strong>in</strong>g for the purposes <strong>of</strong> our<br />
study. However, s<strong>in</strong>ce the gray regions <strong>of</strong> the map were also not a part<br />
<strong>of</strong> the census count for this category, this group would have made up<br />
a considerably larger portion <strong>of</strong> the population through the <strong>in</strong>termarriage<br />
that had taken place <strong>in</strong> these areas.<br />
Lastly, I’m rem<strong>in</strong>ded <strong>of</strong> my talks with Cuko, who emphasized that<br />
“todo <strong>in</strong>dios” had populated the Cordilleras at least until the time <strong>of</strong><br />
the 1868 Grito de Lares revolution. Regard<strong>in</strong>g the 1778 census, he<br />
agreed with Delgado’s assessment that only 10 percent <strong>of</strong> the Indian<br />
population <strong>in</strong> Maricao would have been counted. 76 Of the Catholic<br />
Church, he said, “<strong>The</strong> people who didn’t go to church were nonexistent<br />
to them.” <strong>The</strong> Catholics were “the first <strong>in</strong>truders to destroy<br />
our past.” <strong>The</strong>y did not come to help the native people but to help<br />
the Spaniards to establish themselves <strong>and</strong> to change the m<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong> the<br />
people. Liko remarked that if there were five thous<strong>and</strong> natives <strong>in</strong> a<br />
community but they had only changed the m<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong> a few, those few<br />
might be counted, but they would ignore the rest. As to the culture,<br />
he expla<strong>in</strong>ed that all <strong>of</strong> the people <strong>in</strong> a great region, <strong>in</strong> maybe thous<strong>and</strong>s<br />
<strong>of</strong> places, who had already died—all had lived the same Jíbaro<br />
lifestyle. This cont<strong>in</strong>uity applied to the whole isl<strong>and</strong>. He believed<br />
there were “much more people on the coast.” Because there are a lot
80<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> rivers there, whole communities <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dios rema<strong>in</strong>ed for hundreds<br />
<strong>and</strong> hundreds <strong>of</strong> years. <strong>The</strong> only difference today, he added, is that<br />
they have become “modernized.” <strong>The</strong> government does not care that<br />
the people could be conscious <strong>of</strong> who they are. 77<br />
Given all <strong>of</strong> this, we can now estimate that there could have been<br />
well over two hundred thous<strong>and</strong> Indian <strong>in</strong>habitants present <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong> the late eighteenth century. This figure does not contradict<br />
López’s statement that the population <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> was over 150,000,<br />
with a significant proportion <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terior, or Pico’s comment<br />
about “the families <strong>of</strong> farmers <strong>and</strong> squatters who made up the<br />
mass <strong>of</strong> the population at the end <strong>of</strong> the eighteenth century.” 78 This<br />
figure does not contradict the hundreds <strong>of</strong> Jíbaros who had fled to the<br />
mounta<strong>in</strong>s two hundred fifty years earlier, <strong>and</strong> who would have cont<strong>in</strong>ued<br />
to propagate among themselves <strong>and</strong> with those who were already<br />
there. <strong>The</strong>se people had ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed or synthesized <strong>in</strong>to new forms<br />
many <strong>of</strong> their cultural traditions. <strong>The</strong> figure also takes <strong>in</strong>to account<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous survival <strong>in</strong> rural <strong>and</strong> coastal regions, which was probably<br />
much more widespread than previously acknowledged. When I gave<br />
this presentation <strong>of</strong> survival at an annual <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples’ festival<br />
<strong>in</strong> Jayuya <strong>in</strong> 2006 <strong>and</strong> 2008 (as colloquia), my f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs were roundly<br />
agreed upon by those <strong>in</strong> attendance. <strong>The</strong> president <strong>of</strong> the Cooperative<br />
Center where the festival is held said a two hundred thous<strong>and</strong><br />
population figure was “on the low side.” 79 <strong>The</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t to be made<br />
about the late eighteenth-century censuses is how they grossly underestimated<br />
the Indian population by not tak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to consideration the<br />
Jíbaro (both “full blooded” <strong>and</strong> “mestizo”) resid<strong>in</strong>g throughout the<br />
isl<strong>and</strong> at the time. As to her research, Figueroa-Mercado concluded,<br />
“it is evident that the time has come to throw overboard the fallacy<br />
<strong>of</strong> the exterm<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> the native population.” 80 In our search for<br />
the dialectical truth, the data revealed up to this po<strong>in</strong>t does <strong>in</strong>deed<br />
debunk the myth <strong>of</strong> the mid-sixteenth-century ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples.<br />
M<strong>in</strong>imiz<strong>in</strong>g Population Figures<br />
<strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong> myths <strong>and</strong> motives <strong>and</strong> rationalizations for them have<br />
<strong>of</strong> course not been limited to the Carib or Jíbaro. Low population<br />
count<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>and</strong> near ext<strong>in</strong>ction myths <strong>of</strong> many <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
groups have been, at least until recently, the dom<strong>in</strong>ant trend <strong>of</strong><br />
Western scholarship contribut<strong>in</strong>g to their marg<strong>in</strong>alization. <strong>The</strong> Tasmanian<br />
<strong>and</strong> Yuchi had long ago been written <strong>of</strong>f as “ext<strong>in</strong>ct,” yet the<br />
aborig<strong>in</strong>al Tasmanian voice still speaks today, 81 <strong>and</strong> the Yuchi appear
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 81<br />
to be alive <strong>and</strong> well. 82 In Hawai‘i, the Hawaiian Homel<strong>and</strong>s program<br />
was set up <strong>in</strong> 1921 because the Kānaka Maoli were, for one, thought<br />
to be on the br<strong>in</strong>k <strong>of</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>and</strong> thus <strong>in</strong> need <strong>of</strong> “rehabilitation.”<br />
While most have not benefited from the program, the Kanaka Maoli<br />
population <strong>in</strong> the Hawaiian Isl<strong>and</strong>s today is approximately two hundred<br />
thous<strong>and</strong>, with another two hundred thous<strong>and</strong> or so people liv<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong> the diaspora. This is not unlike the high recovery rates <strong>and</strong><br />
numbers <strong>of</strong> American Indian groups <strong>in</strong> the United States. By 1930,<br />
“a surge to 333,397 had occurred, <strong>and</strong> the Native North American<br />
population has grown every decade s<strong>in</strong>ce.” 83 It was simply <strong>in</strong>conceivable<br />
to many scholars <strong>in</strong> earlier times to believe that these populations<br />
could have survived such horrendous encounters with the European<br />
world. This survival <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity clearly applies to the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>.<br />
Recent studies reveal that pre-European contact native population<br />
figures were deflated for various reasons. <strong>The</strong> general contemporary<br />
trend for the Americas, for example, is toward the acceptance <strong>of</strong> higher<br />
numbers <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>habitants hav<strong>in</strong>g populated the region. What does this<br />
mean <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous political, social, <strong>and</strong> cultural development?<br />
What might it mean <strong>in</strong> relation to ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>and</strong> post-contact<br />
survival? For social scientists, the size <strong>of</strong> the Amer<strong>in</strong>dian population<br />
“directly affects their <strong>in</strong>terpretations <strong>of</strong> New World civilizations <strong>and</strong><br />
cultures.” 84 Larger population sizes have been l<strong>in</strong>ked to degrees <strong>of</strong><br />
socioeconomic <strong>and</strong> cultural sophistication. Regard<strong>in</strong>g the numbers,<br />
William Denevan writes, “It would not be an overstatement to hold<br />
that almost every major <strong>in</strong>vestigation <strong>of</strong> pre-Columbian cultural evolution<br />
<strong>and</strong> ecology, <strong>of</strong> the European conquest, <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> colonial social<br />
<strong>and</strong> economic history must ultimately raise the question <strong>of</strong> Indian<br />
numbers. Thus, the effort to determ<strong>in</strong>e those numbers cont<strong>in</strong>ues, <strong>and</strong><br />
as the quality <strong>of</strong> the research improves, the trend is toward acceptance<br />
<strong>of</strong> higher numbers.” 85 <strong>The</strong> extensive studies conducted by researchers<br />
<strong>in</strong> the 1960s <strong>and</strong> 1970s reveal much larger <strong>in</strong>digenous populations<br />
throughout the Western hemisphere than <strong>in</strong>itially thought. One estimate<br />
derived from a number <strong>of</strong> serious studies <strong>in</strong>dicated a population<br />
total <strong>in</strong> 1492 <strong>of</strong> 57,300,000 for the Americas as a whole, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
5,850,000 <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>. 86 Cook <strong>and</strong> Borah calculated<br />
a midpo<strong>in</strong>t range <strong>of</strong> seven to eight million <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples for Hispaniola<br />
alone. 87 <strong>The</strong> s<strong>in</strong>gle most important reason for the <strong>in</strong>itial low<br />
figures appears to be because surveys did not consider the enormous<br />
population losses due to <strong>in</strong>troduced diseases. Epidemics <strong>of</strong>ten arose<br />
decades <strong>and</strong> sometimes centuries prior to the first European censuses
82<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
taken. 88 While these high counts were controversial when orig<strong>in</strong>ally<br />
revealed, the numbers kept climb<strong>in</strong>g:<br />
Less than twenty-five years ago conventional scholarly op<strong>in</strong>ion held—<br />
as it had for generations—that the pre-Columbian population <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Americas was somewhere between 8 <strong>and</strong> 14 million persons, with no<br />
more than a million <strong>in</strong> North America. Today’s historians <strong>and</strong> anthropologists<br />
now commonly accept figures up to ten times as high—as<br />
many as ten million <strong>in</strong> North America, twenty-five million <strong>in</strong> central<br />
Mexico alone, <strong>and</strong> 90 to 112 million for the entire hemisphere. If correct,<br />
such estimates mean that the population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong> the<br />
15th century was equal to that <strong>of</strong> Europe, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g Russia, at the time.<br />
With every pass<strong>in</strong>g year vastly higher estimates appear <strong>in</strong> the scholarly<br />
literature <strong>of</strong> so-called “pre-contact” native populations, from the<br />
Canadian forest <strong>and</strong> lake regions to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong> coasts <strong>of</strong> Peru. 89<br />
Despite this, many writers have traditionally downplayed the evidence<br />
<strong>and</strong> mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> higher population counts, <strong>and</strong> not all accept<br />
the recent figures. Borah po<strong>in</strong>ts out that for particularly Spanish<br />
areas <strong>of</strong> penetration many researchers have tended to dismiss early<br />
high population calculations, such as tribute counts or Las Casas’s figures,<br />
or revised them considerably downward at will. 90 For the North<br />
American cont<strong>in</strong>ent, it has been “expedient for non-Indian ‘experts’<br />
to m<strong>in</strong>imize the size <strong>of</strong> aborig<strong>in</strong>al Indian populations, while denigrat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the level <strong>of</strong> socio-economic atta<strong>in</strong>ment that presumably resulted<br />
<strong>in</strong> such sparseness <strong>of</strong> human presence.” 91 This lessen<strong>in</strong>g can be applied<br />
to both pre <strong>and</strong> post-European contact <strong>in</strong>digenous populations. One<br />
implication for post-contact figures is that while Indo-European contact<br />
reduced <strong>in</strong>digenous populations at <strong>in</strong>credibly high attrition rates,<br />
scholars did not consider the different forms <strong>and</strong> tremendous amount<br />
<strong>of</strong> resistance that did occur. This po<strong>in</strong>t seems to be universally miss<strong>in</strong>g<br />
from the literature until recently. <strong>The</strong> conditions for survival to take<br />
place were also important factors as elaborated on shortly.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are other important reasons for discredit<strong>in</strong>g high population<br />
counts. Borah affirms that vary<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>terpretations <strong>of</strong> history related to<br />
population fuel disagreements <strong>of</strong> the past <strong>and</strong> present <strong>and</strong> the human<br />
condition. Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, a smaller native population that experienced<br />
less or no loss <strong>of</strong> life, along with the belief <strong>in</strong> the more “primitive”<br />
nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous political <strong>and</strong> social structures, dim<strong>in</strong>ishes European<br />
guilt. 92 Conversely, the destruction <strong>of</strong> large populations <strong>and</strong><br />
sophisticated native structures are held to signify greater European<br />
guilt as a result <strong>of</strong> colonialism. This issue directly refers to reparation
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 83<br />
“for historical <strong>and</strong> material wrongs to native peoples.” 93 <strong>The</strong> Spanish<br />
denial <strong>of</strong> the “Black Legend” <strong>of</strong> terrorism <strong>and</strong> genocide <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Americas would fit <strong>in</strong> neatly here because if few or no crimes were<br />
committed, there would be no basis for reparation, seek<strong>in</strong>g justice<br />
<strong>and</strong> tak<strong>in</strong>g responsibility for policies <strong>and</strong> actions. This po<strong>in</strong>t could<br />
also expla<strong>in</strong> why the theory <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction has<br />
been so vigorously upheld. If the people no longer exist, or if they<br />
have been “assimilated” <strong>in</strong>to ma<strong>in</strong>stream society, then the issue would<br />
be mute. Lewis Hanke mentions how many scholars, although seem<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
biased, have l<strong>in</strong>ked Spanish guilt <strong>and</strong> conscience with its actions.<br />
What is lost <strong>in</strong> the follow<strong>in</strong>g quotation is how the Spanish campaign<br />
was ultimately sanctioned by the Crown through royal letters, papal<br />
decrees, <strong>and</strong> subsequent European treaties. <strong>The</strong>se historians appear<br />
to be correct, as Spanish “theories” to work out their “problems”<br />
did largely turn out to be just theory: “Historians, especially those<br />
writ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> English, even when they have recognized the existence <strong>of</strong><br />
Spanish theories deal<strong>in</strong>g with Spa<strong>in</strong>’s American problems, have usually<br />
conf<strong>in</strong>ed themselves to po<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g the f<strong>in</strong>ger <strong>of</strong> scorn to show how<br />
far Spanish practice <strong>in</strong> America departed from the theory elaborated<br />
by the crown <strong>in</strong> Spa<strong>in</strong>. <strong>The</strong> Spaniards’ concern to work out a policy<br />
which they could justify to their own consciences has been dismissed<br />
as hypocritical religiosity ak<strong>in</strong> to the spirit <strong>of</strong> the walrus <strong>in</strong> Alice’s<br />
Adventures <strong>in</strong> Wonderl<strong>and</strong>, who shed such bitter tears while busily<br />
assist<strong>in</strong>g the carpenter to consume so many oysters.” 94<br />
<strong>The</strong> notion <strong>of</strong> “progress,” where the present is thought to be superior<br />
to the past, is also woven <strong>in</strong>to the belief that earlier periods <strong>of</strong><br />
history consisted <strong>of</strong> smaller populations, particularly if the population<br />
size was estimated to equate to a present-day one. 95 This is a subjective<br />
response <strong>and</strong> plays <strong>in</strong>to the belief that Western civilization <strong>and</strong> the<br />
development <strong>of</strong> state societies are more “advanced” than “stateless”<br />
political <strong>and</strong> social structures. However, stateless peoples as conceptualized<br />
as “primitive” are <strong>in</strong>vented by <strong>in</strong>tellectuals <strong>in</strong> relation to state<br />
societies <strong>and</strong> diametrically opposed to modernity, 96 or to what is considered<br />
to be “civilized.” This bifurcation is a manufactured construct<br />
for it is scholars who have ethnocentrically def<strong>in</strong>ed the concepts <strong>and</strong><br />
thus empowered them. Ashley Montagu po<strong>in</strong>ts out that such terms<br />
can be damag<strong>in</strong>g because they may “embody prejudices <strong>and</strong> pseudological<br />
rationalizations based on unanalyzed systems <strong>of</strong> values.” 97<br />
<strong>The</strong> negative notion <strong>of</strong> “primitivism” has been rout<strong>in</strong>ely employed<br />
<strong>in</strong> theory <strong>and</strong> practice aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples precisely because<br />
native value systems have been either dismissed as “superstitious” or
84<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
misunderstood. Montagu notes how the concept is actually a myth <strong>of</strong><br />
evolutionary theory:<br />
So entrenched, however, have our beliefs become concern<strong>in</strong>g the orthol<strong>in</strong>ear<br />
evolution <strong>of</strong> man that our conceptions <strong>of</strong> “progress,” “development,”<br />
<strong>and</strong> “evolution” have rendered the assumption automatic that<br />
what developed later <strong>in</strong> time must therefore be more “advanced” <strong>and</strong><br />
more “evolved” than that which developed earlier. From this the “logical”<br />
<strong>in</strong>ference followed that what was less developed must be earlier<br />
than that which was more developed, <strong>and</strong> therefore the earlier was the<br />
more “primitive” <strong>and</strong> the later the more “advanced.” Furthermore,<br />
s<strong>in</strong>ce straight-l<strong>in</strong>e evolution is taken for granted by so many, it followed<br />
that the more advanced developed from the less advanced, from the<br />
“primitive,” <strong>and</strong> that the former was “superior” to the latter. 98<br />
Another idea that the l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Americas were sparsely populated<br />
is derived from the Roman concept <strong>of</strong> terra nullius, or “vacant<br />
l<strong>and</strong>s,” which came to be applied to the “doctr<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> discovery” where<br />
non-Christian l<strong>and</strong>s could be seized with impunity. Here it would<br />
be legally advantageous to Euroamerican nations to rationalize small<br />
native population sizes. For <strong>in</strong>stance, while Emmerich de Vattel<br />
implied that Indian nations had rights <strong>of</strong> “occupancy,” he br<strong>and</strong>ed<br />
them as “w<strong>and</strong>er<strong>in</strong>g tribes” <strong>and</strong> “savages” whose “small numbers”<br />
could not possibly populate large territories <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong>, much less fulfill<br />
their “obligation <strong>of</strong> cultivat<strong>in</strong>g the earth.” 99 He therefore “legalized”<br />
the tak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> their l<strong>and</strong>s: “<strong>The</strong>ir uncerta<strong>in</strong> occupancy <strong>of</strong> these vast<br />
regions can not be held as a real <strong>and</strong> lawful tak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> possession; <strong>and</strong><br />
when the Nations <strong>of</strong> Europe, which are too conf<strong>in</strong>ed at home, come<br />
upon l<strong>and</strong>s which the savages have no special need <strong>of</strong> <strong>and</strong> are mak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
no present <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uous use <strong>of</strong>, they may lawfully take possession <strong>of</strong><br />
them <strong>and</strong> establish colonies <strong>in</strong> them.” 100 We should recall here that the<br />
bulk <strong>of</strong> the early English journey<strong>in</strong>g to North America was to escape<br />
religious persecution, rather than be<strong>in</strong>g “too conf<strong>in</strong>ed at home” <strong>in</strong> a<br />
territorial sense. Paradoxically, the need to “cultivate the earth” was<br />
merely an excuse to take it, for Indian people had long been fulfill<strong>in</strong>g<br />
their cultural obligation as the first agriculturalists <strong>of</strong> the hemisphere<br />
as expla<strong>in</strong>ed here by M. Annette Jaimes. This refutes the idea <strong>of</strong> the<br />
“primitive” <strong>in</strong> regard to Amer<strong>in</strong>dian value systems <strong>and</strong> “sparseness”<br />
<strong>in</strong> populat<strong>in</strong>g the l<strong>and</strong>:<br />
Upwards <strong>of</strong> 60% <strong>of</strong> the subsistence <strong>of</strong> most Native American societies<br />
came directly from agriculture, with hunt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> gather<strong>in</strong>g provid<strong>in</strong>g
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 85<br />
a decidedly supplemental source <strong>of</strong> nutrients (just as fish<strong>in</strong>g did <strong>and</strong><br />
does, throughout the world). This highly developed agricultural base<br />
was greatly enhanced by extensive trade networks <strong>and</strong> food storage<br />
techniques which afforded precontact American Indians what was (<strong>and</strong><br />
might well still be, if reconstituted) far <strong>and</strong> away the most diversified<br />
<strong>and</strong> balanced diet on earth.<br />
In actuality, fully two-thirds <strong>of</strong> all the vegetal foodstuffs now consumed<br />
by humanity were under cultivation <strong>in</strong> Native America—<strong>and</strong><br />
nowhere else—at the moment Columbus first set foot on Hispañola.<br />
An <strong>in</strong>structive, but by no means exhaustive, list <strong>of</strong> crops <strong>in</strong>cludes corn,<br />
potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, squash, pumpk<strong>in</strong>s, most<br />
variety <strong>of</strong> beans, all varieties <strong>of</strong> pepper except black, amaranth, manioc<br />
(tapioca), mustard <strong>and</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> other greens, sunflowers, cassava,<br />
some types <strong>of</strong> rice, artichokes, avocadoes, okra, chayotes, peanuts,<br />
cashews, walnuts, hickory nuts, pecans, p<strong>in</strong>eapples, bread fruit, passion<br />
fruit, many melons, persimmons, choke cherries, papayas, cranberries,<br />
blueberries, blackberries, c<strong>of</strong>fee, sassafras, vanilla, chocolate, <strong>and</strong><br />
cocoa. In order to raise this proliferation <strong>of</strong> food items, American Indians<br />
had perfected elaborate <strong>and</strong> sophisticated agricultural technologies<br />
throughout the hemisphere long before the arrival <strong>of</strong> the first European.<br />
This <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong>tricate <strong>and</strong> highly efficient irrigation systems,<br />
ecologically <strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>and</strong> highly effective plant<strong>in</strong>g methods such as<br />
milpa <strong>and</strong> conuco, <strong>and</strong> the ref<strong>in</strong>ement <strong>of</strong> what amounted to botanical<br />
experimentation facilities, among other th<strong>in</strong>gs. 101<br />
Vattel’s justification for the confiscation <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous l<strong>and</strong>s ultimately<br />
reverted back to the discovery pr<strong>in</strong>ciple. 102 Similarly, U.S.<br />
Chief Justice John Marshall <strong>in</strong>voked terra nullius <strong>in</strong> the 1823 l<strong>and</strong>mark<br />
case Johnson v. McIntosh, when the United States first established<br />
plenary power over Indian l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> affairs. 103 In order to uphold the<br />
concept <strong>of</strong> discovery <strong>and</strong> avoid adjudication to the prevail<strong>in</strong>g laws<br />
<strong>of</strong> the time, Stiffarm <strong>and</strong> Lane expla<strong>in</strong> that “it was/is necessary to<br />
believe that there were very few native people prior to the onset <strong>of</strong><br />
the European <strong>in</strong>vasion <strong>of</strong> North America. A substantial precontact<br />
native population would imply that the l<strong>and</strong> was for all <strong>in</strong>tents <strong>and</strong><br />
purposes not vacant. In that event, the supposed rights <strong>of</strong> discovery<br />
<strong>and</strong> conquest Marshall wished to rely upon would be governed, under<br />
the then prevail<strong>in</strong>g Laws <strong>of</strong> Nations, by certa<strong>in</strong> fairly strict criteria perta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
to prosecution <strong>of</strong> ‘Just Wars.’” 104 Thus, along with the 1831<br />
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia decision, where Marshall br<strong>and</strong>ed the sovereign<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependently recognized Cherokee nation as a “domestic<br />
dependent nation,” based aga<strong>in</strong> on “discovery,” 105 the United States,<br />
<strong>in</strong> its genocidal westward expansion, came to violate Indian law, the
86<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
Law <strong>of</strong> Nations, <strong>and</strong> the separation <strong>of</strong> church <strong>and</strong> state as written <strong>in</strong><br />
its constitution.<br />
While the debate over the size <strong>of</strong> pre-contact native populations<br />
has not been fully resolved, the tendency is clearly toward the acceptance<br />
<strong>of</strong> higher figures, with more sophisticated <strong>and</strong> complex societal<br />
development than previously thought. This can be applied to the<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, too. Las Casas’s high Antillean population<br />
counts were probably tend<strong>in</strong>g closer to the reality than not <strong>and</strong> have<br />
been substantiated by recent studies. Aside from Cook <strong>and</strong> Borah’s<br />
more than doubl<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> his figure for Hispaniola, some <strong>of</strong> the earliest<br />
evidence <strong>and</strong> reports show<strong>in</strong>g very large populations <strong>in</strong> Spanish occupied<br />
areas would support him. Fewkes confirmed this when he wrote<br />
about <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: “<strong>The</strong> Europeans who first l<strong>and</strong>ed on the shores <strong>of</strong><br />
Porto <strong>Rico</strong> [sic] reported the isl<strong>and</strong> to be densely peopled. <strong>The</strong> early<br />
Spanish voyagers state that the population was distributed over the<br />
whole isl<strong>and</strong>, but that it was thickly settled <strong>in</strong> the littoral tracts <strong>and</strong><br />
along the banks <strong>of</strong> the rivers.” 106 This corresponds to what Cuko said<br />
earlier. It should be po<strong>in</strong>ted out that the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions would not<br />
have been fully reported upon because the early voyagers could not<br />
have possibly traveled its vast <strong>and</strong> isolated terra<strong>in</strong>. <strong>The</strong> implication is<br />
that the overall population would have been even larger than reports<br />
suggested due to population concentrations there.<br />
Still, the <strong>in</strong>itial high population numbers for <strong>Borikén</strong>, <strong>of</strong> two hundred<br />
thous<strong>and</strong>, six hundred thous<strong>and</strong>, or more than a million there<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> Jamaica as reported by Las Casas, 107 have been rout<strong>in</strong>ely<br />
rejected. Figueroa-Mercado notes that the six hundred thous<strong>and</strong><br />
person figure given was “impossible” as a “rudimentary” agricultural<br />
economy could not have susta<strong>in</strong>ed such a high population. 108 Brau<br />
reduced this figure to an <strong>in</strong>credibly low sixteen thous<strong>and</strong>. 109 Alegría<br />
says that Las Casas’s figure “seems exaggerated” given what is known<br />
about the “native economy” <strong>and</strong> distribution <strong>of</strong> natives <strong>in</strong> smaller<br />
isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>in</strong> the region. 110 He calculated a maximum figure <strong>of</strong> about<br />
thirty thous<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>habitants. 111 Unfortunately, these beliefs <strong>and</strong> calculations<br />
fall right <strong>in</strong> l<strong>in</strong>e with the concept <strong>of</strong> “primitivism,” which as<br />
we have seen is a myth <strong>of</strong> evolutionary theory. Alegría, ironically, goes<br />
on to support Fewkes <strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g out the “densely populated” isl<strong>and</strong>s<br />
the Spanish chroniclers documented <strong>in</strong> travel<strong>in</strong>g along the Antillean<br />
coasts. “<strong>The</strong>y write <strong>of</strong> valleys full <strong>of</strong> cleared fields <strong>and</strong> dotted with<br />
communities, many with ceremonial plazas.” 112 Regard<strong>in</strong>g the use <strong>of</strong><br />
agricultural techniques <strong>in</strong> relation to population size, he affirms, “<strong>The</strong><br />
use <strong>of</strong> conucos <strong>in</strong>dicates that, as was the case with many other large<br />
<strong>and</strong> complex societies <strong>in</strong> the Americas, the Taíno needed to <strong>in</strong>crease
Jíbaro Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong> 87<br />
agricultural production <strong>in</strong> order to support a large population on a<br />
limited amount <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong>.” 113 Jaimes’s previous description <strong>of</strong> agricultural<br />
diversity, abundance, <strong>and</strong> sophisticated utilized techniques <strong>in</strong> the<br />
early Americas would support these statements. <strong>The</strong> very elaborate<br />
Antillean art, artifacts, <strong>and</strong> pottery found, along with the many ceremonial<br />
grounds crafted, are testament to a highly skilled culture.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>Borikén</strong> was a ma<strong>in</strong> cultural center <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong> (along with<br />
Kiskeya), is it really <strong>in</strong>conceivable that the population there could<br />
have exceeded a million <strong>in</strong>habitants at the time <strong>of</strong> European contact?<br />
Much higher population rates than previously known throughout the<br />
Americas would support this idea.<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, given the right conditions, the chances for post-contact<br />
survival would also <strong>in</strong>crease as a result <strong>of</strong> colonization. This survival<br />
appears to depend on factors such as climate conditions, topography,<br />
isolation, <strong>and</strong> the spread <strong>of</strong> epidemics. Studies have shown that “epidemics<br />
did not have a uniform impact with<strong>in</strong> a region, depend<strong>in</strong>g<br />
on settlement pattern, degree <strong>of</strong> isolation, population density, climate<br />
conditions, <strong>and</strong> other factors.” 114 <strong>The</strong>se factors have helped to expla<strong>in</strong><br />
long-term <strong>in</strong>digenous survival <strong>in</strong> various mounta<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terior regions <strong>in</strong><br />
the Americas. Cook <strong>and</strong> Borah’s methods <strong>and</strong> f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> demographic<br />
pre- <strong>and</strong> post-European contact population counts for central México<br />
<strong>and</strong> Columbia could have direct implications for the mounta<strong>in</strong>ous<br />
<strong>in</strong>terior <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. <strong>Indigenous</strong> survival is expla<strong>in</strong>ed by the authors’<br />
look at zonal differences <strong>and</strong> climate <strong>in</strong> relation to the destruction <strong>of</strong><br />
population. <strong>The</strong>ir <strong>in</strong>quiry <strong>in</strong>to differences between plateau, <strong>in</strong>termediate<br />
zone, <strong>and</strong> coastal regions <strong>of</strong> central México led them to realize<br />
that “the higher the altitude the less the loss <strong>of</strong> population <strong>in</strong> central<br />
Mexico through factors <strong>in</strong>troduced by the Europeans. Obviously the<br />
relation is one <strong>of</strong> temperature <strong>and</strong> humidity.” 115<br />
In Colombia, the variety <strong>of</strong> climate zones also exhibits a direct corollary<br />
between altitud<strong>in</strong>al differences <strong>and</strong> destruction <strong>of</strong> population.<br />
Like central México, “the areas studied <strong>in</strong> Colombia show destruction<br />
<strong>of</strong> population but with the same marked altitud<strong>in</strong>al differences<br />
<strong>in</strong> impact; that is, the higher the altitude <strong>and</strong> consequently the colder<br />
the climate, the less massive the operation <strong>of</strong> the factors <strong>and</strong> the<br />
greater the proportionate survival <strong>of</strong> the aborig<strong>in</strong>al population.” 116<br />
For <strong>in</strong>stance, population loss for the Tunja <strong>and</strong> Pamplona liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the<br />
<strong>in</strong>terior regions <strong>of</strong> Colombia was much lower than for the Quimbaya,<br />
who resided <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>termediate zone analogous to central México. 117<br />
<strong>The</strong> Tunja <strong>and</strong> Pamplona achieved equilibrium <strong>and</strong> began the recovery<br />
process near the mid-eighteenth century, whereas the Quimbaya<br />
are said to have become effectively “ext<strong>in</strong>ct” by 1650. 118
88<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> direct correlation made between altitude <strong>and</strong> climate <strong>in</strong> relation<br />
to survival means that the proportion or chances <strong>of</strong> survival <strong>in</strong><br />
higher mounta<strong>in</strong> areas, compared to lower zones, would likely be<br />
greater. Aside from the isolation <strong>of</strong> many rural <strong>and</strong> coastal areas <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong> that contributed to survival there, this correlation could<br />
directly be applied to the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions with altitudes extend<strong>in</strong>g<br />
up to four thous<strong>and</strong> feet <strong>and</strong> lower temperatures than <strong>in</strong> other parts<br />
<strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. In terms <strong>of</strong> disease, the reported measles <strong>and</strong> small pox<br />
epidemics <strong>of</strong> 1518 <strong>and</strong> 1529 took place among the encomienda populations<br />
along the coast. <strong>The</strong>re is no <strong>in</strong>dication that these epidemics<br />
effectively spread to the mounta<strong>in</strong>s. <strong>The</strong> ancient presence <strong>and</strong> postcontact<br />
flight <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro occurred before these outbreaks. All <strong>in</strong><br />
all, the conditions for survival—isolation, isolation from disease, altitude,<br />
<strong>and</strong> climate—were most conducive to the mounta<strong>in</strong>ous <strong>in</strong>terior.<br />
<strong>The</strong> remoteness <strong>of</strong> these regions is substantiated from our previous<br />
discussions. This survival is confirmed by the late eighteenth-century<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous presence.<br />
Conclusion<br />
<strong>The</strong> Jíbaro cont<strong>in</strong>ued to resist the Spanish presence <strong>in</strong> their own subtle<br />
way from the early seventeenth to n<strong>in</strong>eteenth centuries. Intermarriage<br />
<strong>and</strong> the absorption <strong>of</strong> the smaller African <strong>and</strong> Spanish populations<br />
enhanced the survival <strong>and</strong> growth <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous culture. This type<br />
<strong>of</strong> synthesis has taken place with<strong>in</strong> many <strong>in</strong>digenous societies worldwide.<br />
<strong>The</strong> late eighteenth-century Spanish censuses grossly underestimated<br />
the tens <strong>of</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Indian people resid<strong>in</strong>g on the isl<strong>and</strong><br />
at that time as it measured “Indios” from only one region <strong>and</strong> did not<br />
consider “pardos libres” as <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples. This determ<strong>in</strong>ation is<br />
consistent with deflated Spanish native population counts throughout<br />
the hemisphere. As to the pre-European population, the nonconsideration<br />
<strong>of</strong> epidemics that took place prior to surveys, European guilt<br />
result<strong>in</strong>g from the consequences <strong>of</strong> colonialism, the ethnocentric concept<br />
<strong>of</strong> “primitivism,” <strong>and</strong> justifications for the seizure <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong>s were<br />
ma<strong>in</strong> reasons for m<strong>in</strong>imiz<strong>in</strong>g the numbers. As noted, isolation <strong>and</strong><br />
altitud<strong>in</strong>al <strong>and</strong> climate factors likely <strong>in</strong>creased the chances for postcontact<br />
survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, particularly <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions. <strong>The</strong><br />
passive resistance <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity outl<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> this chapter have proven<br />
to be successful, for this history has been passed down for generations<br />
<strong>and</strong> is still recounted by Jíbaro descendants today.
Chapter 5<br />
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro<br />
<strong>The</strong> jíbaro <strong>and</strong> the slum dweller cont<strong>in</strong>ue to tell stories orally, stories<br />
<strong>in</strong> which the experience <strong>of</strong> daily life <strong>and</strong> the nightmares <strong>and</strong> the<br />
dreams <strong>of</strong> bright nights sparkled by the coquí <strong>and</strong> the cucubanos<br />
awaken the imag<strong>in</strong>ation to <strong>in</strong>vent the legends that beautify the<br />
historical reality <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>’s past <strong>and</strong> present life. This persistent<br />
trait seems to ga<strong>in</strong> momentum <strong>in</strong>stead <strong>of</strong> wan<strong>in</strong>g as the centuries<br />
pass, as if we had made a secret pact to communicate with each other<br />
<strong>in</strong> this search for our image <strong>in</strong> all the sources <strong>of</strong> our <strong>in</strong>ner self. 1<br />
<strong>The</strong> Jíbaro man told me a story that pr<strong>of</strong>oundly <strong>in</strong>fluenced him <strong>and</strong><br />
one he could never forget. His mother was ill <strong>and</strong> had been unconscious.<br />
His family had taken her to the hospital but because it was<br />
a Sunday, they would not receive her. Desperate, he began driv<strong>in</strong>g<br />
around <strong>and</strong> took a side road to the end where there was a two-story<br />
house. <strong>The</strong> man saw a woman on the second floor, who soon asked<br />
him what he wanted. He said his mother was sick, unconscious, <strong>and</strong><br />
they could not f<strong>in</strong>d help. <strong>The</strong> woman told her daughter she was go<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to help them <strong>and</strong> to keep an eye on the beans on the stove. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
carried the woman <strong>in</strong>to the house, <strong>in</strong>to what the man described as a<br />
“temple.” He remembered see<strong>in</strong>g c<strong>and</strong>les <strong>and</strong> images <strong>of</strong> sa<strong>in</strong>ts. <strong>The</strong><br />
woman then did someth<strong>in</strong>g he had never experienced before. She<br />
gathered a good bundle <strong>of</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> plants <strong>and</strong> began to ceremonially<br />
wave them, as if to extract someth<strong>in</strong>g out <strong>of</strong> the sick woman. <strong>The</strong><br />
woman woke up <strong>and</strong> walked out <strong>of</strong> the temple on her own two feet.<br />
When they got home, she ate abundantly. She had been unconscious<br />
for a week <strong>and</strong> is still alive today. 2<br />
<strong>The</strong> momentum <strong>of</strong> the stories <strong>and</strong> experiences have <strong>in</strong>deed magnified<br />
as the Jíbaro has always existed <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. <strong>The</strong> wife <strong>of</strong> Cuko
90<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
expressed that her whole family has forever been from a certa<strong>in</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
region <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y had no memory <strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g from any<br />
other place. She said they were Jíbaro because they culturally grew<br />
up that way. 3 <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>in</strong> shap<strong>in</strong>g n<strong>in</strong>eteenth <strong>and</strong> parts <strong>of</strong><br />
twentieth-century <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican society, along with their cont<strong>in</strong>ued<br />
resistance to colonialism <strong>and</strong> fight for <strong>in</strong>dependence, are the primary<br />
focuses <strong>of</strong> this chapter. <strong>The</strong> voices brought out further reflect the<br />
attitudes, character, culture, <strong>and</strong> values <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro, past <strong>and</strong> present.<br />
It could be said that the “modern Jíbaro,” who popular literature<br />
has portrayed, emerged <strong>in</strong> the early n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century together with<br />
the erasure <strong>of</strong> the census category “Indios” <strong>and</strong> birth <strong>of</strong> a “<strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Rican” nationality. Aga<strong>in</strong>, “Indios” became listed as “pardos libres.”<br />
This act came directly on the heels <strong>of</strong> the development <strong>of</strong> a <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Rican political <strong>and</strong> national consciousness. In other words, the creation<br />
<strong>of</strong> a <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican awareness came at the expense <strong>of</strong> the Indian<br />
or Jíbaro. This form <strong>of</strong> ethnocide negated or <strong>in</strong>stantly wiped out<br />
the Indian presence from the record books, <strong>and</strong> s<strong>in</strong>ce the category<br />
“pardos libres,” which we now know primarily perta<strong>in</strong>ed to Indian<br />
people, has not been <strong>in</strong>terpreted this way <strong>in</strong> history, the job was complete.<br />
As with <strong>in</strong>digenous groups historically, this negation assumes a<br />
national consciousness to be superior to, <strong>and</strong> thus takes precedence<br />
over all th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong>digenous, particularly one’s identity. Franke Wilmer<br />
expla<strong>in</strong>s that the push for national <strong>in</strong>tegration was a phenomenon that<br />
came at the expense <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>and</strong> was encouraged by a<br />
world system primarily centered on economic benefits: “<strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
peoples belong to the non-European, decentralized local communities<br />
that resisted the process <strong>of</strong> assimilation, national <strong>in</strong>tegration, <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>corporation <strong>in</strong>to areas <strong>of</strong> the world colonized <strong>and</strong> now controlled<br />
by descendants <strong>of</strong> Europeans. Because <strong>in</strong>corporation <strong>in</strong>to the world<br />
system is largely, but not exclusively, an economic process, claims to<br />
resources (l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> subsurface m<strong>in</strong>erals) occupied or used by <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
peoples are <strong>of</strong>ten made by the modern state on the grounds that<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous peoples are morally <strong>in</strong>competent to make the so-called<br />
best use <strong>of</strong> resources.” 4<br />
As it turns out, the modern Jíbaro <strong>of</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century<br />
were (<strong>and</strong> still are) Indian descendants. <strong>The</strong> name “<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican”<br />
came to apply to the general population, or ironically, the majority<br />
Jíbaro people <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. Made <strong>in</strong>visible <strong>and</strong> not given the<br />
credit deserved, they became a pr<strong>in</strong>cipal contributor to a <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Rican nationality. <strong>The</strong> politically <strong>and</strong> socially conservative colonial<br />
Spanish <strong>and</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican criollo elite <strong>of</strong> the early n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century<br />
set the political or neocolonial boundaries <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 91<br />
national consciousness. <strong>The</strong>ir strong ties to Spa<strong>in</strong> contributed to<br />
their fear <strong>of</strong> “the masses.” López notes that at no time “did these<br />
groups develop a program <strong>of</strong> socio-economic reform beneficial to<br />
the masses to go along with their political dem<strong>and</strong>s.” 5 <strong>The</strong> rul<strong>in</strong>g<br />
class fear <strong>of</strong> revolution, as was tak<strong>in</strong>g place <strong>in</strong> South America <strong>and</strong><br />
México, together with the importation <strong>of</strong> conservative French planters<br />
escap<strong>in</strong>g the revolution <strong>in</strong> Haití, contributed to their str<strong>in</strong>gent<br />
policies. As agricultural production <strong>in</strong>creased, slavery grew <strong>and</strong> so,<br />
too, the number <strong>of</strong> African slaves brought <strong>in</strong>. <strong>The</strong> late eighteenth<br />
<strong>and</strong> n<strong>in</strong>eteenth centuries also saw an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>of</strong> immigrant groups<br />
to the isl<strong>and</strong> such as Corsicans <strong>and</strong> the Irish. All <strong>of</strong> this does not<br />
detract from the established <strong>in</strong>digenous presence, which has been<br />
consistently underestimated. High birth rates <strong>in</strong> the eighteenth <strong>and</strong><br />
n<strong>in</strong>eteenth centuries contributed substantially to the natural <strong>in</strong>crease<br />
<strong>of</strong> the total population. As touched on later, for <strong>in</strong>stance, Jíbaro<br />
women <strong>in</strong> the old days bore many children <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten did not register<br />
them.<br />
An <strong>Indigenous</strong> Consciousness<br />
Despite the push toward a national awareness, the Jíbaro ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
an <strong>in</strong>digenous consciousness because they were the native people.<br />
This is a very important po<strong>in</strong>t because nearly all writers have not<br />
acknowledged or drawn this ethnical <strong>and</strong> cultural l<strong>in</strong>k as the Indian<br />
for them has been a memory <strong>of</strong> the past, or the Jíbaro cannot possibly<br />
fit that “image.” For example, <strong>in</strong> his book on the development<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro <strong>in</strong> 1935, José Rosario noted that the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
were “practically exterm<strong>in</strong>ated” <strong>and</strong> then makes the <strong>in</strong>credible statement<br />
that the large majority <strong>of</strong> Jíbaros are <strong>of</strong> “pure Spanish blood.” 6<br />
Although physical traits rema<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> some <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>in</strong> the countryside,<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Indians disappeared too rapidly to leave marked traces<br />
<strong>of</strong> their features <strong>in</strong> the present-day <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican.” 7 This is the sort <strong>of</strong><br />
double talk that has been cont<strong>in</strong>ually recycled, but, as we have shown,<br />
the Spanish population <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> had always been limited. Thus,<br />
the Jíbaro has been typically portrayed as “country folk” w<strong>and</strong>er<strong>in</strong>g<br />
around aimlessly, rather than a people grounded <strong>in</strong> the earth as the<br />
first agriculturalists. Also, s<strong>in</strong>ce the name “Jíbaro” is ethnically Indian<br />
<strong>in</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>, why would Spaniards collectively call themselves someth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
they were not? Some sort <strong>of</strong> deep transformation must have occurred<br />
for “Spaniards” to become Jíbaro.<br />
Indeed, the Indian <strong>and</strong> Jíbaro are both culturally <strong>and</strong> genealogically<br />
l<strong>in</strong>ked. <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro man whose mother was sick told me both <strong>of</strong> his
92<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
gr<strong>and</strong>mothers were <strong>in</strong>dia. Many people addressed him as “el <strong>in</strong>dio,”<br />
<strong>and</strong> he th<strong>in</strong>ks he is <strong>of</strong> “90 percent” native blood <strong>in</strong> reference to the<br />
DNA test<strong>in</strong>g that has taken place. 8 In reference to time, marriage, <strong>and</strong><br />
survival, an elder from Yauco replied, “We keep be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dios.” As to<br />
his rebellious youth, he stated, “When you have the Indian blood,<br />
I can tell you, the Indian blood is too hot—very hot.” He said he<br />
was “Jíbaro,” <strong>and</strong> felt “more than proud to be Jíbaro, than <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueño.”<br />
In the community where he lives now, everybody’s Jíbaro.<br />
“Everybody who lives <strong>in</strong> the [countryside] like us . . . is Jíbaro.” 9<br />
Another person I <strong>in</strong>terviewed, named Uahtibili, wanted me to know<br />
that s<strong>in</strong>ce he was four years old his mother would tell him, “Nosotros<br />
somos <strong>in</strong>dios.” He said his whole family is Jíbaro. His gr<strong>and</strong>father on<br />
his mother’s side <strong>of</strong> the family was “<strong>in</strong>dio” <strong>and</strong> his gr<strong>and</strong>mother was<br />
“mestiza,” <strong>of</strong> both Indian <strong>and</strong> African descent. He noted that his<br />
father was a part <strong>of</strong> the DNA study. He tested “100 percent”—“<strong>in</strong>dio<br />
completo.” 10 Uahtibili’s gr<strong>and</strong>parents on his father’s side were from<br />
Utuado. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the oral history told to him by his uncles <strong>and</strong><br />
the rest <strong>of</strong> his family still liv<strong>in</strong>g there, their family has been native to the<br />
Caguana area for hundreds <strong>and</strong> hundreds <strong>of</strong> years. <strong>The</strong> l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> barrio<br />
Caguana around the ceremonial center were a part <strong>of</strong> his family’s l<strong>and</strong><br />
before the government took it. Until that time, the last gr<strong>and</strong>mothers<br />
to do traditional ceremonies there were his gr<strong>and</strong>mother <strong>and</strong> aunt.<br />
His gr<strong>and</strong>mother, great-gr<strong>and</strong>mother, <strong>and</strong> great-great-gr<strong>and</strong>mother<br />
were all comadronas (midwives) <strong>and</strong> cu<strong>and</strong>eras. His family cont<strong>in</strong>ues<br />
to carry on what traditions they can today. 11 Despite Rosario’s claim,<br />
these are the types <strong>of</strong> testimonies commonly told by Jíbaro people<br />
contemporarily as to their ethnic makeup.<br />
<strong>The</strong> dist<strong>in</strong>ction between the Jíbaro <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican criollo<br />
or “blanquito” (whites) has also been one <strong>of</strong> culture, values, <strong>and</strong><br />
character. Pepe said they have always known this because “<strong>in</strong> our communities<br />
people are always criticiz<strong>in</strong>g the values <strong>and</strong> behaviors <strong>of</strong> the<br />
blanquitos . . . <strong>The</strong>y have power <strong>and</strong> money, but they are not us.” He<br />
added that everyone is conscious that the criollo as a socioeconomic<br />
class has control over the l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>esses they stole from them.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> criollos have developed a <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> the image <strong>of</strong> the European,<br />
not a product <strong>of</strong> the natives.” 12 Even though they may have<br />
been born <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, they are still foreigners to the Jíbaro because<br />
they keep steal<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> oppress<strong>in</strong>g them. “Our values are good,” he<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued, because they are values that give them a good spirit <strong>and</strong><br />
make them happy. “<strong>The</strong> values that the people express constantly are<br />
more <strong>of</strong> a spiritual th<strong>in</strong>g . . . We have happ<strong>in</strong>ess.” He said the Jíbaro<br />
work hard, have a good meal, <strong>and</strong> then go to rest. <strong>The</strong>y are not so
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 93<br />
concerned about the value <strong>of</strong> money. <strong>The</strong> challenge for them is to<br />
preserve their happ<strong>in</strong>ess, despite adversity. 13<br />
On the other h<strong>and</strong>, the rul<strong>in</strong>g class has looked at the Jíbaro with<br />
disda<strong>in</strong>. Ste<strong>in</strong>er noted that the “scholarly scions <strong>of</strong> the older colonialism<br />
<strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>—the wealthy criollos—viewed the jíbaro more<br />
solemnly, but no less contemptuously.” 14 He referenced Rosario, who<br />
had written that the Jíbaro “is ignorant <strong>and</strong> sickly, superstitious, <strong>and</strong><br />
as a producer, he is dreadfully <strong>in</strong>efficient.” 15 He also wrote that “s<strong>in</strong>ce<br />
the jíbaro comprises nearly three-fourths <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>’s population,<br />
he constitutes the isl<strong>and</strong>’s greatest social problem.” 16 Rosario does not<br />
underst<strong>and</strong> the Jíbaro because he is obviously not one <strong>of</strong> them. What<br />
he wrote would be laughable to them. He only sees color, not realiz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that there were <strong>and</strong> are many “white Indians” on the isl<strong>and</strong>, as well as<br />
throughout the Americas (both pre- <strong>and</strong> post-European contact). As<br />
the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples, the Jíbaro had a different worldview from the<br />
settler <strong>and</strong> criollo <strong>and</strong>, hence, were misunderstood <strong>and</strong> looked down<br />
on. Ironically, Rosario unwitt<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong>fers that <strong>in</strong> the 1930s the Jíbaro<br />
Indian comprised the majority <strong>of</strong> the population. This is <strong>in</strong>deed true.<br />
Culturally, accord<strong>in</strong>g to him, “the Indian was as potent <strong>in</strong> form<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
social <strong>in</strong>heritance <strong>of</strong> the jíbaro as the Spaniards themselves.” 17 But if<br />
the Indian was practically ext<strong>in</strong>ct, how could this be? His “explanation”<br />
is that the Spaniards “adjusted themselves to the environment,”<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>herited the <strong>in</strong>digenous culture before the Indian people disappeared!<br />
18 This is a most remarkable tale as this would have had to have<br />
happened over the course <strong>of</strong> about a s<strong>in</strong>gle generation. However, the<br />
reality as we know was that the Indian women, <strong>in</strong> large part, endured<br />
<strong>and</strong> absorbed the Spaniard, the two groups <strong>in</strong>termix<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> marry<strong>in</strong>g<br />
from the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> contact, <strong>and</strong>, as already noted <strong>and</strong> exp<strong>and</strong>ed on<br />
shortly, many Jíbaro did not come <strong>in</strong>to contact with the Spanish until<br />
the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century. While some Spaniards, no doubt, became<br />
Jíbaro through <strong>in</strong>herit<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>digenous culture, or ways <strong>of</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g<br />
th<strong>in</strong>gs, the large majority <strong>of</strong> Jíbaro people are <strong>of</strong> Indian blood. Most<br />
today are mestizo. All <strong>of</strong> this goes to show how potent the Indian<br />
aspect <strong>of</strong> society has been <strong>in</strong> compris<strong>in</strong>g the physical, cultural, <strong>and</strong><br />
social <strong>in</strong>heritance <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro.<br />
An Attitude <strong>of</strong> Freedom<br />
Pepe’s description <strong>of</strong> a more contemporary cultural rift can be easily<br />
transported back to the early n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century. Up until this time,<br />
the Jíbaro <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong> many isolated areas <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> had<br />
basically rema<strong>in</strong>ed free. Aside from a couple <strong>of</strong> established settlements
94<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> towns such as Utuado, the Spaniards did not move to colonize<br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions until the early 1800s, <strong>and</strong> they did not have full<br />
control over the isl<strong>and</strong> until after the 1868 Grito de Lares. 19 Accord<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to Lamourt-Valentín, “We were a free country up until 1812. This<br />
is the same history as any <strong>of</strong> the African <strong>and</strong> Asian countries when<br />
European expansionism explodes after the Napoleonic wars, <strong>and</strong> they<br />
[the Spanish] take over <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> . . . Historically, the Spanish supposedly<br />
had sovereignty here over all that period <strong>of</strong> time previous, but<br />
that was only an economic arrangement. What they had was San Juan.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y didn’t have the isl<strong>and</strong>.” 20 Picó essentially confirms Lamourt-<br />
Valentín’s statement <strong>in</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>g about the eighteenth century: “<strong>The</strong><br />
daily life <strong>of</strong> the vast majority <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans who lived outside the<br />
walls <strong>of</strong> San Juan was organized <strong>in</strong> a different manner from that provided<br />
for <strong>in</strong> the laws <strong>and</strong> regulations. If one reads the reports <strong>of</strong> the<br />
bishops’ pastoral visits or the accounts <strong>of</strong> eighteenth-century travelers,<br />
one can detect that, <strong>in</strong> the workplace <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> social activities, there<br />
was no constant presence <strong>of</strong> the state or <strong>of</strong> its ideology.” 21 Life was<br />
organized differently based on the values, culture, <strong>and</strong> character <strong>of</strong> the<br />
people. Those <strong>in</strong> San Juan sought power, money, <strong>and</strong> public esteem,<br />
while those <strong>in</strong> the country were generous, humble, <strong>and</strong> wished to be<br />
left alone. <strong>The</strong>y were also strong when their freedom was threatened.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Jíbaro has always made a po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> this. William Feliciano, the<br />
elder from Yauco, said, “Everyth<strong>in</strong>g is okay . . . We don’t have no<br />
problem with nobody.” But if somebody has a problem with them,<br />
“then they have a problem” <strong>in</strong> deal<strong>in</strong>g with the Jíbaro. 22 <strong>The</strong> typical<br />
character <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro or Boricua, highlight<strong>in</strong>g those who went to<br />
Hawai‘i over a century ago, is depicted here by Arroyo:<br />
<strong>The</strong>y were proud <strong>of</strong> their <strong>in</strong>dian culture as <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
Boriquen. <strong>The</strong>ir heritage was based on a love <strong>of</strong> freedom <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependence.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spaniards called them “jibaros” which meant men <strong>of</strong><br />
freedom. <strong>The</strong>y were also called “Los Macheteros” for their use <strong>of</strong> cane<br />
knives as weapons <strong>in</strong> the fight for freedom <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependence. An early<br />
comm<strong>and</strong>er <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>’s Spanish regiment referred to the jibaros as<br />
“the free coloured <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong>” [sic]. So the most significant<br />
aspect <strong>of</strong> the Porto Ricans who migrated to the plantations <strong>in</strong><br />
Hawaii was that they were free persons. <strong>The</strong>ir attitude <strong>of</strong> freedom was<br />
to determ<strong>in</strong>e their behavior <strong>in</strong> a slave-like environment on those plantations.<br />
<strong>The</strong> haol[e] (white) l<strong>and</strong>owners, <strong>in</strong> their ignorance <strong>of</strong> culture <strong>and</strong><br />
history, seek<strong>in</strong>g laborers for their sugar cane, sent agents to <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong><br />
to recruit to a slave condition a group <strong>of</strong> people who had historically<br />
fought for <strong>and</strong> fiercely protected their freedom. 23
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 95<br />
In the workplace, the Jíbaro had been farm<strong>in</strong>g the l<strong>and</strong> as their<br />
ancestors had done. <strong>The</strong>y were a self-sufficient people. “On his small<br />
plot <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong>, that was his not by deed but by <strong>in</strong>heritance, the jíbaro<br />
grew all the food he needed for his family. He freely picked the wild<br />
tropical fruits grow<strong>in</strong>g about his bohío, or hut, to sweeten his diet. On<br />
the isl<strong>and</strong> there were no droughts, no crop failures, <strong>and</strong> the grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
season lasted all year. <strong>The</strong> jíbaro had little money. But he was a<br />
free man,” remarked Ste<strong>in</strong>er. 24 This comment is aside from the great<br />
storm, or huracán, which would destroy crops, take lives, <strong>and</strong> was<br />
critical <strong>in</strong> br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g the Jíbaro to Hawai‘i <strong>in</strong> the first place. Cuko noted<br />
that <strong>in</strong> the “old times <strong>of</strong> the ancestors,” the l<strong>and</strong> was to be worked<br />
<strong>and</strong> used to provide for the people. <strong>The</strong>y had no “papers.” He said the<br />
outsiders <strong>in</strong>vented the papers <strong>of</strong> private property to steal the l<strong>and</strong> from<br />
them. 25 Lipio, an old <strong>and</strong> wise Indian elder from Isabela, expressed<br />
that when he was grow<strong>in</strong>g up <strong>in</strong> the early 1900s they grew “more<br />
than enough” <strong>of</strong> the native foods such as yuca, yautía, ñame, batata,<br />
maíz, beans, <strong>and</strong> fruits. He said his father owned a store <strong>and</strong> was a<br />
campes<strong>in</strong>o who owned a lot <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the area. Many people were<br />
liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the vic<strong>in</strong>ity <strong>and</strong> a lot <strong>of</strong> them were liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> bohíos made <strong>of</strong><br />
yagua <strong>and</strong> madera. 26 <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro man told me that when he was grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
up <strong>in</strong> the 1950s, they would produce everyth<strong>in</strong>g they consumed.<br />
In the conuco gardens they would plant many different th<strong>in</strong>gs. In the<br />
area where he lived, everybody had fields <strong>and</strong> produced. When you<br />
harvested you would share with the neighbors, <strong>and</strong> they would likewise<br />
share with you. At one time <strong>in</strong> his youth he did not believe <strong>in</strong><br />
the relationship between the stages <strong>of</strong> the moon <strong>and</strong> plant<strong>in</strong>g. But as<br />
he began to observe <strong>and</strong> ask questions <strong>of</strong> people <strong>in</strong> the community,<br />
he came to believe <strong>in</strong> the process because you do not produce the<br />
same results if you do not follow the rules. If you do not plant at the<br />
right moment, the greatest yield will be lost. He said this makes you<br />
believe <strong>in</strong> the stages <strong>of</strong> the moon. <strong>The</strong> man still grows all types <strong>of</strong><br />
fruits <strong>and</strong> other essentials such as yuca, yautía, batata, <strong>and</strong> maíz. 27 It<br />
is, therefore, most <strong>in</strong>accurate to say that the Jíbaro was “dreadfully<br />
<strong>in</strong>efficient” when they had been grow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> eat<strong>in</strong>g everyth<strong>in</strong>g they<br />
needed. <strong>The</strong>y did not meet the colonizer’s pretentious “expectations”<br />
but certa<strong>in</strong>ly met their own.<br />
Given the sheer isolation <strong>of</strong> so many communities <strong>and</strong> places, the<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>of</strong> the state ideology on the masses was <strong>in</strong>deed m<strong>in</strong>imum.<br />
It would <strong>of</strong> course <strong>in</strong>crease as the Spaniards colonized <strong>and</strong> established<br />
more towns <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century, but still did not extend<br />
to many isolated areas <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong> impact <strong>of</strong> the ideology <strong>of</strong><br />
Catholicism on the masses was also not as <strong>in</strong>fluential as has been
96<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
commonly thought. As the <strong>of</strong>ficial religion <strong>of</strong> the state, López noted<br />
that the Catholic Church essentially functioned as “another branch<br />
<strong>of</strong> the government, loyal to, controlled by <strong>and</strong> dependent on it for a<br />
good proportion <strong>of</strong> its <strong>in</strong>come.” 28 Many Jíbaro were nom<strong>in</strong>al Catholics<br />
<strong>in</strong> order to please the authorities <strong>and</strong> avoid their wrath. While<br />
the church was very apparent <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> its religious dogma, “<strong>The</strong><br />
jíbaro came to church only two or three times dur<strong>in</strong>g the year. On<br />
the other h<strong>and</strong> no chapels were established <strong>in</strong> the country, so that<br />
there was no <strong>in</strong>fluence which could start a process <strong>of</strong> evolution <strong>in</strong> the<br />
religion <strong>in</strong>herited at the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the settlement.” 29 <strong>The</strong> church’s<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence did not reach <strong>in</strong>to the cracks <strong>and</strong> crevices <strong>of</strong> the countryside<br />
<strong>and</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong> regions. This po<strong>in</strong>t harkens back to the large percentage<br />
<strong>of</strong> Indian people who had not been baptized <strong>and</strong> counted <strong>in</strong> the<br />
late eighteenth-century censuses. Cuko expressed that he does not<br />
believe <strong>in</strong> censuses because <strong>in</strong> those days, at the time <strong>of</strong> his father <strong>and</strong><br />
gr<strong>and</strong>father, the women would bear 10 or 12 children <strong>and</strong> not go to<br />
register them if she was not a participant <strong>of</strong> the church. He said everyth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
happened <strong>in</strong> the community away from the church. He po<strong>in</strong>ted<br />
out that the native people would baptize their children on their own<br />
without the presence <strong>of</strong> the church, so they wouldn’t know anyth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> their existence. 30 Déborah Berman-Santana adds that rurally people<br />
were “most <strong>of</strong>ten married not by the church but rather by local<br />
customs, such as go<strong>in</strong>g away together <strong>and</strong> then sett<strong>in</strong>g up housekeep<strong>in</strong>g.”<br />
31 <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro had their own traditional form <strong>of</strong> “baptism,” as<br />
exp<strong>and</strong>ed on <strong>in</strong> the next chapter.<br />
Cuko expla<strong>in</strong>ed that when the census people would come, if there<br />
was a difficult dirt road to maneuver, they would not go there. But if<br />
you were to walk to the end <strong>of</strong> the road, you would f<strong>in</strong>d 40 houses<br />
that might have eight children <strong>in</strong> each house. <strong>The</strong>se people would not<br />
be counted <strong>in</strong> the census, he said. This is traditionally why the people<br />
went so far away: so they would not be identified, have to deal with<br />
the government <strong>and</strong> church, <strong>and</strong> rema<strong>in</strong> a free people. This is also a<br />
very recent history as the time period Cuko is referr<strong>in</strong>g to was the late<br />
n<strong>in</strong>eteenth <strong>and</strong> twentieth centuries. <strong>The</strong> people <strong>in</strong> these places had<br />
been well established hav<strong>in</strong>g resided there for centuries. Cuko then<br />
told the story <strong>of</strong> what he witnessed when the census people came to<br />
his house to talk to his gr<strong>and</strong>father, who was very old at the time. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
asked him what his “race” was <strong>of</strong> which he replied, “I am trigueño”<br />
(brown sk<strong>in</strong>ned). <strong>The</strong> census taker said, “No, no, what I want to<br />
know is what race you are.” His gr<strong>and</strong>father then remarked, “Well,<br />
I am <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueño.” <strong>The</strong> census man aga<strong>in</strong> said, “No, I want to<br />
know your race.” His gr<strong>and</strong>father never did reveal his “race,” or that
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 97<br />
he was <strong>in</strong>dio, so the census person wrote down whatever he wanted<br />
to. 32 Perhaps the census taker’s curiosity would have been satisfied<br />
if he had revealed his true identity. But this was the pattern, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
<strong>in</strong>dio was once aga<strong>in</strong> not counted, nor wanted to be counted. This<br />
experience speaks to the Jíbaro’s <strong>in</strong>dependent spirit by not want<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
associate with or be dependent on outsiders.<br />
Revolts <strong>and</strong> Atrocities<br />
In these mounta<strong>in</strong> towns lived the guerrilleros <strong>and</strong> macheteros who had<br />
fought the Spaniards <strong>in</strong> the revolts <strong>of</strong> the early 1800s. On the Plaza <strong>of</strong><br />
Lares it was the jíbaros (many had come from neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Utuado)<br />
who raised the flag <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> the Revolution <strong>of</strong> 1868. When<br />
that revolution was lost after the Spanish repressions <strong>of</strong> 1887, the ‘Terrible<br />
Year,’ many <strong>of</strong> its <strong>in</strong>tellectual leaders had to flee the country, but<br />
it was the illiterate but know<strong>in</strong>g jíbaros who kept the <strong>in</strong>dependence<br />
movement stubbornly alive. By 1891 they had become so strong that<br />
the colonial police arrested seventy members <strong>of</strong> the Asociación Liberal<br />
Separatista de Utuado on the charge <strong>of</strong> ‘conspiracy’ to drive the<br />
Spaniards out. <strong>The</strong>y were defended by the statesman <strong>and</strong> poet José de<br />
Diego. Not even his eloquence could help them, though, for several <strong>of</strong><br />
the accused proudly proclaimed their guilt <strong>in</strong> court. 33<br />
<strong>The</strong> many revolts <strong>and</strong> attempted revolution <strong>of</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth<br />
century, all the way up until the 1950s, <strong>and</strong> exemplified today by<br />
the cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g struggle <strong>in</strong> Bieke (Vieques) versus the U.S. military,<br />
were cont<strong>in</strong>uations <strong>of</strong> the sixteenth-century revolts <strong>and</strong> war <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependence.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Jíbaro was the primary impetus <strong>of</strong> these struggles,<br />
while slave upris<strong>in</strong>gs were also significant. <strong>The</strong>ir plight <strong>and</strong> condition,<br />
along with the push for abolition, were motivat<strong>in</strong>g factors for<br />
some <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican criollo elite to assume their leadership roles <strong>in</strong><br />
support<strong>in</strong>g these causes. “And the revolts <strong>of</strong> the jíbaros, both <strong>of</strong><br />
overt <strong>and</strong> passive resistance, were now eulogized, <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten led,<br />
by the Creole <strong>in</strong>tellectuals,” wrote Ste<strong>in</strong>er. 34 <strong>The</strong> more progressive<br />
leaders born <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> had developed a nationalist identity, <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly yearned for autonomy or <strong>in</strong>dependence. <strong>The</strong>y viewed<br />
themselves apart from the Spaniards, <strong>of</strong>ten resent<strong>in</strong>g their imposed<br />
dictates. With the need for more labor, repressive laws <strong>and</strong> policies<br />
implemented <strong>in</strong> the first half <strong>of</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century greatly<br />
affected the grassroots general population. Subsistence farmers,<br />
now called “squatters,” were <strong>of</strong>ten evicted from their own l<strong>and</strong>s<br />
that had been seized by large l<strong>and</strong>owners. <strong>The</strong> goal, states López,<br />
“was to create a l<strong>and</strong>less peasantry who would be forced to seek
98<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
employment or sharecropp<strong>in</strong>g agreements <strong>in</strong> the sugar, c<strong>of</strong>fee <strong>and</strong><br />
tobacco establishments <strong>in</strong> order to survive.” 35 <strong>The</strong> l<strong>and</strong>less were<br />
compelled to work <strong>and</strong> forced to register on rolls. As used <strong>in</strong> South<br />
Africa, “work books” (libretas reglamentarias) were distributed to<br />
workers to update their employment service. <strong>The</strong>se were ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
by employers, who imposed strict penalties if the books were lost. 36<br />
<strong>The</strong> Guardia Rural (rural police) <strong>and</strong> Spanish Guardia Civil were<br />
established to enforce labor laws <strong>and</strong> protect l<strong>and</strong>owners: “On the<br />
whole, the rural population rema<strong>in</strong>ed poor, illiterate, isolated from<br />
the ma<strong>in</strong> urban centers, exploited <strong>and</strong> abused <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten brutalized<br />
by the Guardia Rural <strong>and</strong> the Guardia Civil.” 37<br />
<strong>The</strong>se factors contributed to the revolts <strong>of</strong> the 1860s culm<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong> the 1868 Grito (“the Cry”) de Lares, or when “the people<br />
rose aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>justice,” remarked Cuko. 38 This attempted revolution<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependence was meant to free the people <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> from Spanish<br />
rule, abolish slavery, <strong>and</strong> “represented the <strong>in</strong>terests <strong>of</strong> most <strong>of</strong> the<br />
population.” 39 It was orchestrated <strong>and</strong> led by revolutionary figures like<br />
Ramón Emeterio Betances, Segundo Ruiz-Belvis, Mariana Braceti,<br />
<strong>and</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> foreign hacendados (l<strong>and</strong>owners). While much credit<br />
has been rightfully attributed to these leaders, the revolution would<br />
never have been possible if it were not for the unacclaimed masses.<br />
Picó notes, “some 600 or more people armed with shotguns, revolvers,<br />
<strong>and</strong> machetes entered Lares,” <strong>and</strong> “551 people were arrested<br />
<strong>in</strong> connection with the Grito de Lares.” 40 Women, like Braceti, also<br />
played important roles as Figueroa-Mercado alluded to: it is “a fact<br />
that many <strong>of</strong> the leaders were related through the women, who were<br />
one hundred percent beh<strong>in</strong>d the revolution.” 41 Lares was one vital<br />
l<strong>in</strong>k (or cell) <strong>in</strong> the larger takeover, so there were many people <strong>in</strong><br />
other parts <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> ready <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> the action. Along with<br />
Lares, most <strong>of</strong> these places such as San Sebastián, Camuy, <strong>and</strong> Utuado<br />
were Jíbaro strongholds. Silén describes the pr<strong>of</strong>ound mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
the event: “<strong>The</strong> Grito de Lares marked the birth <strong>of</strong> our <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
nationality. It was the voice <strong>of</strong> a <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> that had its own <strong>in</strong>terests<br />
<strong>and</strong> its own consciousness. . . . <strong>The</strong> revolutionary nucleus was<br />
recruited from among our campes<strong>in</strong>os. <strong>The</strong> jíbaro, as the man who<br />
produced the c<strong>of</strong>fee on the hacienda, was cast <strong>in</strong> the lead<strong>in</strong>g revolutionary<br />
role <strong>of</strong> the anonymous hero fight<strong>in</strong>g for the dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> his<br />
class. In jo<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the revolution he put his protest on the l<strong>in</strong>e aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />
the privileges <strong>and</strong> luxury <strong>of</strong> a t<strong>in</strong>y m<strong>in</strong>ority. From that day on, the<br />
jíbaro was the people.” 42<br />
<strong>The</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>father <strong>of</strong> Cuko’s gr<strong>and</strong>father was a fighter at the time.<br />
He was a tiznado, or “native warrior.” Through the oral tradition
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 99<br />
passed down to him by his “fathers,” Cuko told me that native warrior<br />
groups would pa<strong>in</strong>t their faces with ashes <strong>and</strong> go out for a few<br />
days at a time to sabotage the Spaniards. When I asked him <strong>of</strong> those<br />
who were fight<strong>in</strong>g at the time <strong>of</strong> the revolution, he said everybody<br />
(“todos”) was Jíbaro <strong>and</strong> tiznado. He likened their role to a soldier or<br />
army look<strong>in</strong>g for the victory for “one people.” Cuko recalled learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that a group <strong>of</strong> tiznado had gathered <strong>in</strong> his community dur<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
Grito. <strong>The</strong>y went down to the border area <strong>of</strong> San Sebastián to try to<br />
prevent the Spaniards from gett<strong>in</strong>g to Lares. <strong>The</strong>ir success was partial.<br />
Comment<strong>in</strong>g on the overall outcome <strong>of</strong> the revolution, he expressed<br />
that they “neither lost nor won.” While the Spaniards made it <strong>in</strong>to<br />
Lares, their success was not so strong because if you go to Lares today<br />
you f<strong>in</strong>d native communities everywhere. In this sense, the Grito was<br />
a victory because you don’t see many Spaniards there, but there are<br />
many barrios <strong>of</strong> Jíbaro people carry<strong>in</strong>g on their traditions. Cuko said<br />
that this side <strong>of</strong> the history is not told <strong>in</strong> “the books.” 43<br />
Another part <strong>of</strong> the event that has been largely left out <strong>of</strong> the narrative<br />
is how the people cont<strong>in</strong>ued to fight the Spaniard afterward.<br />
Pluma, a Jíbara cultural practitioner born <strong>and</strong> raised <strong>in</strong> Lares, po<strong>in</strong>ted<br />
out that a lot <strong>of</strong> fight<strong>in</strong>g cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s. As she has<br />
learned through her family history, native revolts also cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong><br />
the town. <strong>The</strong> people burned down many <strong>of</strong> the stores owned by<br />
wealthy Spaniards <strong>and</strong> criollos. 44 She then began to s<strong>in</strong>g a song that<br />
was composed to signify this turn <strong>of</strong> events. So despite Maldonado-<br />
Denis’s comments that the revolution was “snuffed out immediately,”<br />
<strong>and</strong> there was “no revolutionary consciousness” to susta<strong>in</strong> the revolution,<br />
45 the resistance cont<strong>in</strong>ued well after the <strong>in</strong>itial upris<strong>in</strong>g had<br />
been put down. It would be more accurate to say that there was no<br />
leadership rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g to susta<strong>in</strong> the revolution as most leaders had<br />
been arrested, fled, or were not there to beg<strong>in</strong> with. But the revolutionary<br />
consciousness <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro, which had been <strong>in</strong>stilled s<strong>in</strong>ce the<br />
early 1500s, rema<strong>in</strong>ed. While it certa<strong>in</strong>ly did not produce the desired<br />
results, the Grito de Lares lives on historically <strong>in</strong> the consciousnesses<br />
<strong>of</strong> many as the event is annually commemorated. Ste<strong>in</strong>er recalled his<br />
journey to Lares a century after the Cry: “It was like that all day<br />
on the road to Lares. On mounta<strong>in</strong>ous slopes so steep they would<br />
have defied goats, <strong>in</strong> the bateys <strong>of</strong> jíbaro huts, <strong>and</strong> on the ver<strong>and</strong>as <strong>of</strong><br />
country houses, thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> people sang <strong>and</strong> shouted<br />
<strong>and</strong> waved <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican flags <strong>and</strong> happy clenched fists at the pass<strong>in</strong>g<br />
cars; while the young people danced to the tune <strong>of</strong> patriotic <strong>and</strong><br />
revolutionary songs on the loudspeakers. Even ‘La Bor<strong>in</strong>queña,’ the<br />
national anthem, was sweet on the lips.” 46
100<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
While the revolution from Spa<strong>in</strong> was apparently lost, it became a<br />
catalyst <strong>and</strong> reference po<strong>in</strong>t for subsequent liberation efforts. “When<br />
a revolution is not won, it has no end.” 47 <strong>The</strong> movement had become,<br />
more or less, an <strong>in</strong>digenist nationalist struggle for social, cultural,<br />
economic, <strong>and</strong> political <strong>in</strong>dependence. This co<strong>in</strong>cided with the cont<strong>in</strong>uation<br />
<strong>of</strong> repressive policies aga<strong>in</strong>st the masses. “From 1875 to<br />
1885 a procession <strong>of</strong> ten Spanish governors heaped new persecutions<br />
<strong>and</strong> limitations on top <strong>of</strong> the old tyrannies,” wrote Silén. 48 With Spa<strong>in</strong><br />
close to los<strong>in</strong>g all <strong>of</strong> her “possessions” <strong>in</strong> the Americas, <strong>and</strong> the then<br />
governor’s fear <strong>of</strong> los<strong>in</strong>g control, they clamped down even further.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>famous torture era, or “el componte,” 49 was ignited after the<br />
formation <strong>of</strong> the Autonomist Party <strong>in</strong> 1887 <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluences <strong>of</strong> underground<br />
separatist societies. Extremist conservative propag<strong>and</strong>a aimed<br />
at “separatist” autonomists, many <strong>of</strong> whom were actually quite conservative,<br />
led to a flood <strong>of</strong> Spanish atrocities committed throughout<br />
the isl<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong> atrocities would periodically cont<strong>in</strong>ue until the Spaniards<br />
were f<strong>in</strong>ally expelled from <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1898.<br />
When I first began hear<strong>in</strong>g stories <strong>of</strong> the acts that were carried<br />
out aga<strong>in</strong>st the people at this time, I thought for sure these must<br />
have been descriptions <strong>of</strong> the crimes the Spaniards had undertaken<br />
<strong>in</strong> the sixteenth century. However, I soon learned that what I was<br />
hear<strong>in</strong>g were accounts <strong>of</strong> a very recent history. Elder Lipio’s mother,<br />
who had lived dur<strong>in</strong>g el componte, used to tell him about what happened.<br />
When the Spaniards <strong>and</strong> the government came, they would<br />
follow “los <strong>in</strong>dios” around <strong>and</strong> kill the men <strong>and</strong> rape the women. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
would also throw the babies <strong>in</strong> the air <strong>and</strong> have them fall on their<br />
swords. When the people would run away <strong>and</strong> hide <strong>in</strong> the woods,<br />
the Spaniards would then burn down the forest. 50 Surely, I thought,<br />
these must have been <strong>of</strong> the descriptions <strong>of</strong> Las Casas’s time <strong>and</strong> witness!<br />
But Lipio said that a lot <strong>of</strong> Indian people had been fight<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
Spaniards <strong>in</strong> the area where we were. This was go<strong>in</strong>g on shortly before<br />
he was born. In speak<strong>in</strong>g, he was actually referr<strong>in</strong>g to his own people<br />
as elder Lipio is about as “full blooded” as one can get. I then met<br />
another elder, named Dom<strong>in</strong>go Guzman, from the same area <strong>of</strong> Isabela<br />
as Lipio. He was about 108 <strong>and</strong> born <strong>in</strong> the “suburuko,” or deep<br />
forest. His daughter was told that there were many families that lived<br />
back there <strong>in</strong> those days. She had “strong Indian features.” I highlight<br />
this because a good number <strong>of</strong> the faces I have seen <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> over<br />
the years rem<strong>in</strong>d me <strong>of</strong> the faces I have viewed pag<strong>in</strong>g through North<br />
American Indian picture books. Both <strong>of</strong> elder Guzman’s parents were<br />
born <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, <strong>and</strong> he said his son had the blood <strong>of</strong> an “<strong>in</strong>dio.”<br />
When talk<strong>in</strong>g about el componte, he was told by elders <strong>and</strong> his parents
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 101<br />
that the Spaniards came “two years” before he was born. This would<br />
have been right about the time <strong>of</strong> the Spanish American war. He said<br />
the Spaniards would “throw the babies up” <strong>and</strong> stick them with their<br />
knives. <strong>The</strong>y did this to make the “Boricuas” “respect them,” he<br />
added. Aga<strong>in</strong>, this happened at that moment, two years before he was<br />
born. <strong>The</strong> elder uttered that the Boricua were fed up with the Spaniards.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was too much poverty, so they began the upris<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong><br />
upheaval. Thus, the Spaniards brought el componte to them. 51<br />
<strong>The</strong> Jíbaro man said he learned a lot about this era from his gr<strong>and</strong>mother.<br />
She was born about 1838 <strong>and</strong> lived until she was 127. She<br />
died <strong>in</strong> 1965. Her name was Catana; her mother’s name was Calaya;<br />
<strong>and</strong> her gr<strong>and</strong>mother was Na<strong>in</strong>a. His gr<strong>and</strong>mother told him about the<br />
torture <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternment <strong>of</strong> el componte. When the Spaniards came, they<br />
were not good. <strong>The</strong>y would “pull out” the f<strong>in</strong>gers <strong>of</strong> the natives <strong>and</strong>,<br />
for those who resisted, they would break their central sp<strong>in</strong>e. <strong>The</strong> people<br />
used to flee to the forest. He said his mother knew some <strong>of</strong> those<br />
who had their f<strong>in</strong>gers broken <strong>and</strong> went through this experience. <strong>The</strong><br />
man then noted that <strong>Borikén</strong> was <strong>in</strong> a difficult situation because <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Spanish American war. When the Spaniards were retreat<strong>in</strong>g from the<br />
Americans, they would <strong>in</strong>undate the countryside, steal<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> loot<strong>in</strong>g<br />
from the people. <strong>The</strong>y had to bury their goods <strong>and</strong> money to<br />
prevent them from be<strong>in</strong>g taken. 52 Lastly, Cuko confirms for us what<br />
elder’s Lipio <strong>and</strong> Guzman had said. He was told by his gr<strong>and</strong>parents<br />
that the Spaniards would tie a belt around the waists <strong>of</strong> women who<br />
were pregnant. <strong>The</strong>n, after forc<strong>in</strong>g the babies out, they would throw<br />
them up <strong>and</strong> catch them with their knives. Cuko po<strong>in</strong>ted out that his<br />
gr<strong>and</strong>parents did not talk much about the time <strong>of</strong> the early Spanish<br />
com<strong>in</strong>g, but they spoke about what was happen<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> their lives <strong>and</strong><br />
what they personally knew. 53 As a consequence <strong>of</strong> these brutal actions,<br />
it would be very <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g to see the reaction <strong>of</strong> K<strong>in</strong>g Juan Carlos <strong>of</strong><br />
Spa<strong>in</strong>, who only a few years ago downplayed the negative effect <strong>of</strong> the<br />
colonial Spanish presence <strong>in</strong> the Americas!<br />
<strong>The</strong> repression <strong>and</strong> atrocities heaved upon the population were, <strong>in</strong><br />
large part, <strong>in</strong> relation to the resistance perceived or carried out. Separatists<br />
societies like the Asociación Liberal Separatista de Utuado,<br />
as mentioned previously, <strong>and</strong> Club Bor<strong>in</strong>quen, were prom<strong>in</strong>ent.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se pro-<strong>in</strong>dependence types <strong>of</strong> groups cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong> the 1890s<br />
with Cuban <strong>in</strong>fluence: “<strong>The</strong> Separatist activities gathered force <strong>in</strong><br />
the decade <strong>of</strong> the ’90’s [sic], due to the <strong>in</strong>fluence Cuban Separatism<br />
had on <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Separatism, this time under the leadership<br />
<strong>of</strong> José Martí.” 54 <strong>The</strong>re were more upris<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> significance like the<br />
one attempted <strong>and</strong> put down <strong>in</strong> Yauco <strong>in</strong> 1897. So many grassroots
102<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
people <strong>in</strong> particularly the rural <strong>and</strong> mounta<strong>in</strong> areas <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> had<br />
resisted the Spanish presence until the very end. <strong>The</strong> autonomous<br />
status granted to <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1898 lasted only a short time,<br />
until the Americans crushed it. After fight<strong>in</strong>g for nearly four centuries<br />
to expel the Spaniards, it must have been truly demoraliz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to the Jíbaro when the Americans moved <strong>in</strong>. <strong>The</strong> reluctance <strong>of</strong> the<br />
autonomist leadership to heed Betances’s repeated calls to take up<br />
arms before it was too late meant they went from puppets <strong>of</strong> one<br />
regime to another. Still, the Jíbaro was ready: “As late as 1901, when<br />
‘Premier’ Luis Muñoz Rivera was threatened with death by pro-<br />
American mobs, he was secretly visited by <strong>in</strong>dependentista leaders<br />
who told him that a guerrilla army <strong>of</strong> eight thous<strong>and</strong> jíbaros was<br />
wait<strong>in</strong>g ‘to march on San Juan’ to defend him. Muñoz refused the<br />
<strong>of</strong>fer. ‘<strong>The</strong>re must not be bloodshed,’ he said. In the mounta<strong>in</strong>s the<br />
jíbaros waited for another day <strong>and</strong> another leader.” 55<br />
<strong>The</strong> U.S. military presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> also came at the expense<br />
<strong>of</strong> the general population, despite their pronouncements <strong>of</strong> “benevolent<br />
<strong>in</strong>tentions.” <strong>The</strong> Americans <strong>in</strong>vaded out <strong>of</strong> their own political,<br />
economic, <strong>and</strong> moral self <strong>in</strong>terest, like they did <strong>in</strong> Cuba <strong>and</strong> numerous<br />
Pacific countries like Hawai‘i, <strong>and</strong> as they had done <strong>in</strong> their wars<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st North American Indian nations. <strong>The</strong> first th<strong>in</strong>g they did <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong>, said the Jíbaro man, was to devalue the currency. <strong>The</strong> dollar<br />
became the <strong>of</strong>ficial exchange to the advantage <strong>of</strong> American bus<strong>in</strong>esses.<br />
<strong>The</strong> period <strong>of</strong> military rule was “particularly harsh,” writes Picó. “In<br />
the countryside there were still b<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> tiznados who attacked Spanish<br />
property. <strong>The</strong> military government repressed these with a heavy<br />
h<strong>and</strong>, but <strong>in</strong> some parts <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> it took time to reestablish the<br />
<strong>in</strong>stitutional order.” 56 <strong>The</strong> Americans were apparently committ<strong>in</strong>g<br />
similar atrocities like the Spaniards <strong>in</strong> “reestablish<strong>in</strong>g order.” When<br />
he was a young boy, elder Lipio personally witnessed American troops<br />
go<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to homes where they would rape the women <strong>and</strong> kill the children.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y would wait for the husb<strong>and</strong>s to come home <strong>and</strong> then kill<br />
them. Some would take the women <strong>and</strong> the l<strong>and</strong>. My <strong>in</strong>itial surprise<br />
led me to confirm if it was really the Americans he was talk<strong>in</strong>g about<br />
<strong>in</strong> reveal<strong>in</strong>g this oral history. Elder Lipio expressed that he saw this,<br />
<strong>and</strong> it was the “gr<strong>in</strong>go.” He said the gr<strong>in</strong>gos came to take the l<strong>and</strong><br />
from the people. 57 Pepe told me <strong>of</strong> testimonies he has learned about<br />
from mostly elders that tell <strong>of</strong> American massacres <strong>and</strong> assaults on<br />
native communities through <strong>in</strong>formation atta<strong>in</strong>ed from the Spaniards.<br />
<strong>The</strong> two sides were apparently collaborat<strong>in</strong>g. He said the Americans<br />
knew they had to crush the native people <strong>in</strong> order to take the isl<strong>and</strong>,<br />
<strong>and</strong> there are a lot <strong>of</strong> oral accounts to support this. 58 <strong>The</strong>se actions
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 103<br />
by the Americans are, <strong>in</strong> fact, not surpris<strong>in</strong>g given their track record<br />
<strong>and</strong> that they were carry<strong>in</strong>g out similar outrages at this time <strong>in</strong> Cuba<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Philipp<strong>in</strong>es, both <strong>of</strong> which were very bloody affairs. Torture<br />
such as “waterboard<strong>in</strong>g,” then known as the “water-cure,” was used<br />
by the Americans dur<strong>in</strong>g the Philipp<strong>in</strong>e-American War. <strong>The</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
sentiment displayed dur<strong>in</strong>g the northern Luzon campaign could be<br />
applied to <strong>Borikén</strong>, especially to those who resisted:<br />
If the people sympathized with <strong>and</strong> supported the guerillas, <strong>and</strong> if,<br />
<strong>in</strong>deed, this was a “people’s war,” then the only solution was war<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st the people . . . An American congressman who visited the Philipp<strong>in</strong>es,<br />
<strong>and</strong> who preferred to rema<strong>in</strong> anonymous, spoke frankly about<br />
the results <strong>of</strong> the campaign: “You never hear <strong>of</strong> any disturbances <strong>in</strong><br />
Northern Luzon,” he reported, “because there isn’t anybody there to<br />
rebel . . . <strong>The</strong> good Lord <strong>in</strong> heaven only knows the number <strong>of</strong> Filip<strong>in</strong>os<br />
that were put under ground. Our soldiers took no prisoners, they kept<br />
no records; they simply swept the country <strong>and</strong> wherever <strong>and</strong> whenever<br />
they could get hold <strong>of</strong> a Filip<strong>in</strong>o they killed him.” 59<br />
Resistance to American <strong>and</strong> criollo rule would cont<strong>in</strong>ue throughout<br />
the first half <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century. At one po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>in</strong> 1936, after<br />
the Nationalist party was established <strong>and</strong> had ga<strong>in</strong>ed strength, New<br />
Deal strategist Earl Hanson wrote, “<strong>The</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican voters<br />
are now committed to <strong>in</strong>dependence.” 60 For the Jíbaro, nationalist<br />
hero Pedro Albizu-Campos was a leader they supported. His unequivocal<br />
st<strong>and</strong> for the <strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>of</strong> the country <strong>and</strong> the struggle he<br />
endured meant he was one <strong>of</strong> them. Uahtibili’s father was an admirer<br />
<strong>of</strong> Albizu-Campos, <strong>and</strong> a descendant <strong>of</strong> native warriors who fought<br />
for the l<strong>and</strong>. He had said Don Pedro was <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>and</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the native way. He was a part <strong>of</strong> the nationalist movement s<strong>in</strong>ce he was<br />
15, a cadete <strong>of</strong> the Republic. Uahtibili has a fond memory <strong>of</strong> when,<br />
as a boy, his father took him to see Don Pedro at the plaza <strong>in</strong> Río<br />
Piedras. He was an electrify<strong>in</strong>g speaker <strong>and</strong> great leader. 61 When Pepe<br />
was very young, he remembers his father <strong>and</strong> those around him talk<strong>in</strong>g<br />
about the nationalist movement <strong>and</strong> Albizu-Campos. Pepe would<br />
always th<strong>in</strong>k that this was someth<strong>in</strong>g about their lifestyle <strong>and</strong> struggle<br />
as native people. His family was liv<strong>in</strong>g at that time <strong>in</strong> the swamps <strong>of</strong><br />
San Juan, so he felt the movement had to do with “us,” or “the people<br />
that lived the way we lived.” He was told that Albizu-Campos “fought<br />
for our liberty” <strong>and</strong> was a victim <strong>of</strong> the government because he was<br />
do<strong>in</strong>g the right th<strong>in</strong>g. His family <strong>and</strong> close friends strongly identified<br />
with the values <strong>of</strong> Don Pedro <strong>and</strong> his fight for the people, opposed
104<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
to the rul<strong>in</strong>g class. When Pepe would see him <strong>in</strong> the news, he would<br />
th<strong>in</strong>k, “Our own people can do this, put up a fight.” He used to feel<br />
very frustrated when people would talk about the defeat <strong>of</strong> the nationalist<br />
upris<strong>in</strong>g. 62<br />
Carlos Feliciano, a leader <strong>of</strong> the Cadet Corps who was imprisoned<br />
with Albizu-Campos for several months, noted, “<strong>The</strong> struggle for<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence beg<strong>in</strong> when Columbus l<strong>and</strong>ed. And the first Indian<br />
fight aga<strong>in</strong>st him.” 63 He spoke very highly <strong>of</strong> Don Pedro: “Oh, he<br />
was a beautiful man. He was the most beautiful man I ever know.<br />
Never <strong>in</strong> my life I see a man like Albizu Campos . . . If I tell you this,<br />
you won’t believe it. But <strong>in</strong> the five years I was <strong>in</strong> prison, I never was<br />
so free as the time I spent with Albizu Campos. I feel free. That was<br />
the truth.” 64 Feliciano also commented on the revolution <strong>of</strong> 1950,<br />
which he said was provoked by Luis Muñoz-Marín’s government to<br />
“break down” the Nationalist party. “After that, <strong>in</strong> Jayuya, <strong>in</strong> Utuado,<br />
<strong>in</strong> Arecibo, <strong>in</strong> Río Piedras, <strong>in</strong> San Juan, <strong>in</strong> Mayagüez, <strong>in</strong> many other<br />
towns we beg<strong>in</strong> to fight. It’s true the Lares revolution was big; but<br />
that was just <strong>in</strong> Lares. This time, <strong>in</strong> a dozen towns we start the real<br />
struggle for <strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>and</strong> open revolution.” 65 Muñoz-Marín<br />
later said the Nationalists were “just a m<strong>in</strong>ority lunatic quirk,” 66 a<br />
reference to “the armed jíbaros <strong>of</strong> Don Pedro,” accord<strong>in</strong>g to Ste<strong>in</strong>er.<br />
Yet, the government had to use the five thous<strong>and</strong> soldiered U.S.<br />
296th Infantry to suppress the revolution! 67 Perhaps the follow<strong>in</strong>g act<br />
<strong>of</strong> Bolívar Marquez dur<strong>in</strong>g the Ponce Massacre epitomizes the Jíbaro<br />
or <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican spirit <strong>and</strong> tenacity for freedom <strong>in</strong> a long struggle:<br />
“On sunny Palm Sunday afternoon, a young <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican dragged<br />
his dy<strong>in</strong>g body over the hot pavement <strong>of</strong> a Ponce street. It was March<br />
21, 1937. Summon<strong>in</strong>g all his strength, he reached the sidewalk. His<br />
f<strong>in</strong>ger moistened <strong>in</strong> his blood, he wrote,<br />
¡Viva la República!<br />
¡Abajo los ases<strong>in</strong>os!<br />
Long Live the Republic!<br />
Down with the assass<strong>in</strong>s!” 68<br />
F<strong>in</strong>al Reflections <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cont<strong>in</strong>uity</strong><br />
After the American takeover <strong>in</strong> 1898, the construction <strong>of</strong> cemeteries<br />
was directly related to the <strong>in</strong>digenous presence. “Even after the<br />
conquest <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> by the United States, the religious rites <strong>of</strong><br />
the Bor<strong>in</strong>quén Indians seemed to have survived at Caguanas, near<br />
Utuado. <strong>The</strong> ‘pagan rituals’ <strong>of</strong> the dead caused the first American
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 105<br />
Governor to order the immediate build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> modern cemeteries,”<br />
expla<strong>in</strong>ed Ste<strong>in</strong>er. 69 He remarked how certa<strong>in</strong> religious <strong>of</strong>fer<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued “well <strong>in</strong>to the twentieth century,” referr<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> part to Fewkes’s<br />
f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs. 70 In the section <strong>of</strong> his study titled, “Present Descendants<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Porto Rican [sic] Indians,” Fewkes repeatedly noted<br />
the “Indian features” <strong>of</strong> people he came across “everywhere,” <strong>and</strong><br />
particularly <strong>in</strong> isolated mounta<strong>in</strong> areas. 71 Of the bohíos the <strong>in</strong>habitants<br />
lived <strong>in</strong>, he compared the modern “cab<strong>in</strong>s” he encountered <strong>in</strong><br />
his research with the more traditional Indian bohío. As with the modern<br />
<strong>in</strong>corporation <strong>of</strong> madera <strong>and</strong> t<strong>in</strong> ro<strong>of</strong>s <strong>in</strong> the build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> bohíos,<br />
the follow<strong>in</strong>g passage provides a good example <strong>of</strong> how the people<br />
reta<strong>in</strong>ed their traditional ways, <strong>in</strong> synthesized forms, <strong>in</strong> adapt<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
Western culture: “<strong>The</strong> houses <strong>of</strong> the aborig<strong>in</strong>al Porto Ricans were<br />
like those <strong>of</strong> the Haitians <strong>and</strong> not very different from the cab<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong><br />
the poorer people <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> to-day [sic], especially those <strong>in</strong> the<br />
mounta<strong>in</strong>s, where old types <strong>of</strong> construction still survive. Naturally<br />
modern cab<strong>in</strong>s present many modifications, as the use <strong>of</strong> iron nails<br />
<strong>in</strong> fasten<strong>in</strong>g the beams, but the materials used <strong>in</strong> construction are<br />
practically the same, <strong>and</strong> the old architectural types are still followed<br />
<strong>in</strong> modern dwell<strong>in</strong>gs.” 72<br />
Martínez-Torres noted that people were still liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> bohíos <strong>in</strong> the<br />
mid-twentieth century. Regard<strong>in</strong>g present-day descendants <strong>in</strong> the town<br />
<strong>of</strong> Morovis, he said, “<strong>The</strong>re are a lot <strong>of</strong> families here <strong>in</strong> Morovis who<br />
are Indian descendants,” <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g his own. 73 People were also liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
caves before <strong>and</strong> after European contact. Martínez-Torres showed me<br />
the Indian pictographs he had found <strong>in</strong> the caves <strong>of</strong> Morovis. Some<br />
<strong>of</strong> these pictographs are <strong>of</strong> horses that were drawn after the Spanish<br />
arrival, s<strong>in</strong>ce the horse is not endemic to the region. 74 <strong>The</strong> then director<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Institute <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Culture suggested to him that<br />
they might have been “dogs,” to which Martínez-Torres replied that<br />
dogs didn’t have re<strong>in</strong>s. 75 He has further conducted oral <strong>in</strong>terviews<br />
with some <strong>of</strong> the “old people” <strong>of</strong> Morovis. <strong>The</strong>se elders revealed stories<br />
about their Indian gr<strong>and</strong>parents be<strong>in</strong>g captured by Spaniards with<br />
their tra<strong>in</strong>ed dogs. One woman he <strong>in</strong>terviewed, named “La India,”<br />
said her gr<strong>and</strong>mother was captured <strong>and</strong> made to be a wife. Martínez-<br />
Torres found out that La India’s gr<strong>and</strong>mother had been baptized <strong>in</strong><br />
1842. He stressed that these types <strong>of</strong> stories are still told <strong>in</strong> the center<br />
<strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>, with many <strong>of</strong> these events happen<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth<br />
century. When he first heard these testimonies, he thought these<br />
people were perhaps “dream<strong>in</strong>g with fantasies” <strong>and</strong> remember<strong>in</strong>g old<br />
stories <strong>of</strong> a very long time ago. But through his research, he came to
106<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
realize that “these people were talk<strong>in</strong>g about their real gr<strong>and</strong>parents<br />
that were [there] three generations ago.” 76<br />
Another family I had the opportunity <strong>of</strong> meet<strong>in</strong>g is the Chéverez<br />
family. <strong>The</strong>y still live <strong>in</strong> a fairly isolated area <strong>of</strong> Morovis <strong>and</strong> have<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> cultural traditions such as the mak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> ceramic pottery. Elder <strong>and</strong> matriarch, Doña Varín, told me their<br />
family has always lived there, referr<strong>in</strong>g to the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions. She<br />
confirmed that people were liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s prior to the Spanish<br />
presence, <strong>and</strong> that people had lived <strong>in</strong> caves, too. 77 Delgado comes<br />
to let the cat out <strong>of</strong> the bag <strong>in</strong> his research by most significantly reveal<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> people were liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> caves, especially before<br />
1830 up until the mid-twentieth century. <strong>The</strong>y went there to escape<br />
from the Spaniards. <strong>The</strong> oral history <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro constantly refers<br />
to the memory <strong>of</strong> this era as the “año de las guácaras,” or “the time<br />
we lived <strong>in</strong> the caves.” 78 This was the most important time <strong>of</strong> these<br />
people’s lives. We can say with utter assurance that those who were<br />
liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> these caves were Indian descendants. Delgado states that the<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican academy does not acknowledge this era <strong>in</strong> the <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
history <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. 79 This is basically just another way the academy<br />
has attempted to “whitewash” the Jíbaro out <strong>of</strong> existence <strong>and</strong> has<br />
failed to tell the truth regard<strong>in</strong>g the native plight.<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, Angel Santiago-Cruz, Boricua <strong>and</strong> president <strong>of</strong> the United<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Association <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i, recalled that when he was grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
up <strong>in</strong> Bayamón <strong>in</strong> the 1960s <strong>and</strong> 1970s, bohíos were still be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
used, <strong>and</strong>, while most people were not liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> them, there were<br />
Indian families scattered throughout the area. 80 He also told me there<br />
were a lot <strong>of</strong> native families present <strong>in</strong> many other regions <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong><br />
at the time. Santiago-Cruz said many <strong>of</strong> the th<strong>in</strong>gs his mother <strong>and</strong><br />
gr<strong>and</strong>mother did were not <strong>in</strong>troduced by the Europeans. For <strong>in</strong>stance,<br />
the way they prepared their foods <strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>gredients <strong>and</strong> utensils<br />
they used were <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>in</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>. Those around him specifically<br />
grew plants for medic<strong>in</strong>al use, <strong>and</strong> they always planted by the cycles <strong>of</strong><br />
the moon. He po<strong>in</strong>ted out that dur<strong>in</strong>g his mother <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>mother’s<br />
generation, it was not popular to talk about these th<strong>in</strong>gs because they<br />
had been made to feel ashamed <strong>of</strong> their Indian background. This was<br />
due <strong>in</strong> part to the American takeover <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> the foreign<br />
cultural <strong>in</strong>fluences that had been <strong>in</strong>troduced. Nevertheless, they still<br />
did th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> the native way. 81
<strong>The</strong> Modern Jíbaro 107<br />
Conclusion<br />
As the population <strong>of</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> at the end <strong>of</strong><br />
the eighteenth century was primarily <strong>in</strong>digenous, this was largely the<br />
case throughout the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth <strong>and</strong> well <strong>in</strong>to the twentieth century.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the 1800s, there were “entire villages <strong>of</strong> Indians <strong>in</strong><br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong>s.” 82 <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro largely comprised the population <strong>of</strong> the<br />
rural areas <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>, too, <strong>and</strong> many were liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> caves. <strong>The</strong>y had<br />
<strong>in</strong> one form or another cont<strong>in</strong>ued to resist Spanish imperial policies<br />
<strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century, endured the “el componte” torture era, <strong>and</strong><br />
has been a ma<strong>in</strong> impetus <strong>in</strong> oust<strong>in</strong>g the colonizer. This resistance has<br />
persisted dur<strong>in</strong>g the American occupation era. While an important contributor<br />
to the formation <strong>of</strong> a <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican nationality, the Jíbaro ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
an <strong>in</strong>digenous consciousness <strong>and</strong> many <strong>of</strong> their social <strong>and</strong> cultural<br />
traditions, albeit <strong>of</strong>ten <strong>in</strong> synthesized forms. As revealed <strong>in</strong> this chapter<br />
<strong>and</strong> the next, I have learned through my experiences <strong>and</strong> sources that<br />
a strong native cultural identity <strong>and</strong> dist<strong>in</strong>ct values <strong>and</strong> characteristics<br />
have been passed down through many many families over generations.<br />
<strong>The</strong> oral history <strong>and</strong> voices brought out reveal <strong>in</strong>timate testimonies that<br />
contradict <strong>and</strong> add life to accepted historical accounts.
This page <strong>in</strong>tentionally left blank
Chapter 6<br />
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the<br />
<strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement<br />
<strong>The</strong> first sections <strong>of</strong> this f<strong>in</strong>al chapter exp<strong>and</strong> on <strong>and</strong> go <strong>in</strong>to detail<br />
about certa<strong>in</strong> customary <strong>and</strong> spiritual areas <strong>of</strong> cultural survival <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong>. <strong>The</strong> testimonies are powerful <strong>and</strong> help us to see clearer the<br />
extent <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro presence. <strong>The</strong> shamanistic practice that came to be<br />
known as “espiritismo” (spiritualism), essentially predict<strong>in</strong>g the future,<br />
spiritual heal<strong>in</strong>g, or assist<strong>in</strong>g one on a spiritual level, has deep roots<br />
on the isl<strong>and</strong>. Over time, some important aspects <strong>of</strong> the Christian <strong>and</strong><br />
African traditions were adopted <strong>and</strong> syncretized <strong>in</strong>to the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
belief structure. I will comment on the mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> this syncretism <strong>and</strong><br />
how it perta<strong>in</strong>s to certa<strong>in</strong> spiritual traditions, such as the Rosario Cantar.<br />
I’ll further draw on analogies <strong>of</strong> how these practices relate back<br />
to ancient times <strong>and</strong> a general <strong>in</strong>digenous philosophy. Espiritismo was<br />
widely used <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth <strong>and</strong> first half <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century,<br />
<strong>and</strong> is still practiced today. Medic<strong>in</strong>al heal<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> l<strong>in</strong>guistic survival<br />
are other significant areas that are looked at. <strong>The</strong>se forms <strong>of</strong> survival<br />
are testament to degrees <strong>of</strong> resistance that were set <strong>in</strong>to place over<br />
time. It should also be noted that espiritistas <strong>and</strong> cu<strong>and</strong>eros were prevalent<br />
<strong>and</strong> widely used among the early Boricua who went to Hawai‘i.<br />
This is documented by Arroyo, who tells numerous stories <strong>of</strong> different<br />
forms <strong>of</strong> heal<strong>in</strong>g performed <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> telepathy. He wrote, “<strong>The</strong> espiritista<br />
was usually a good person, but could also put a curse on someone.<br />
Even though the Bor<strong>in</strong>kees were religious, mostly Catholic, they all<br />
believed <strong>in</strong> the old ways, sometimes referred to as voodoo.” 1 <strong>The</strong> latter<br />
parts <strong>of</strong> the chapter explore the role <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro-Boricua <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluenc<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the twentieth century <strong>in</strong>dependence movement on the isl<strong>and</strong>.<br />
I look at the <strong>in</strong>digenous mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the contemporary movement
110<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> struggle <strong>and</strong> how break<strong>in</strong>g the cycle <strong>of</strong> dependency could create<br />
a more susta<strong>in</strong>able <strong>and</strong> just future.<br />
Customs, Espiritistas, <strong>and</strong> Cu<strong>and</strong>eros<br />
<strong>The</strong> practice <strong>of</strong> espiritismo has been passed down s<strong>in</strong>ce ancient times<br />
as our ancestors rout<strong>in</strong>ely evoked the spirits to assist them. <strong>The</strong> most<br />
sacred <strong>and</strong> cherished spiritual symbol <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples<br />
is the cemí. Made <strong>of</strong> stone or wood, cemís are not “gods” or<br />
“idols,” as they have <strong>of</strong>ten been <strong>in</strong>terpreted to be, but personal or<br />
familial guardians represent<strong>in</strong>g various spiritual entities <strong>and</strong> a l<strong>in</strong>k<br />
between the physical <strong>and</strong> ancestral worlds. <strong>The</strong>y may be compared to<br />
the functions <strong>of</strong> Christian sa<strong>in</strong>ts. 2 <strong>The</strong> cemí, whose powers were <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
evoked through the cohoba (a native plant that is <strong>in</strong>haled) ceremony,<br />
was used as a means to, for example, heal the sick, assist women <strong>in</strong><br />
childbirth, help br<strong>in</strong>g about an abundant harvest, achieve victory <strong>in</strong><br />
war, <strong>and</strong> make prophesies about the future. Although Pané, Peter<br />
Martyr, <strong>and</strong> Las Casas all equated the tradition with “devil worship,”<br />
they recorded numerous functions <strong>of</strong> the cemí. Las Casas observed,<br />
“When I would ask the Indians at times: ‘Who is this zemi you name?’<br />
they answered me: ‘He who makes it ra<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> makes the sun sh<strong>in</strong>e<br />
<strong>and</strong> gives us children <strong>and</strong> the other benefits we desire.’” 3 <strong>The</strong> powers<br />
drawn forth by the modern-day espiritista are basically a cont<strong>in</strong>uum <strong>of</strong><br />
the spiritual practice <strong>of</strong> the ancient behike, similar to a shaman.<br />
A woman I met <strong>in</strong> her seventies told me that when she was grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
up everybody believed <strong>in</strong> espiritistas. Her Indian apodo is “Güiya.”<br />
When she was young she lived with her aunt <strong>in</strong> a bohío made <strong>of</strong> yagua.<br />
<strong>The</strong> floor was made <strong>of</strong> earth. She recalled that when she was pregnant<br />
with her son, one <strong>of</strong> his feet became positioned improperly. She was <strong>in</strong><br />
pa<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> knew it would be dangerous if she went <strong>in</strong>to labor. She consulted<br />
an espiritista, or “a man who worked with spirits,” who helped<br />
her <strong>and</strong> solved the problem. 4 Güiya said her mother was <strong>in</strong>dia. She<br />
never ate on the table or sat on a chair. She always squatted <strong>and</strong> ate<br />
with her f<strong>in</strong>gers. She ate from dita (a bowl-shaped calabash made from<br />
the native higüera tree), as most did <strong>in</strong> the old days <strong>and</strong> some still do<br />
today. 5 <strong>The</strong> people back then also commonly drank from coca (a cup<br />
made from coconut that is African <strong>in</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>). <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> the calabash<br />
<strong>of</strong> course relates back to the story <strong>of</strong> Yaya <strong>and</strong> Yayahel <strong>in</strong> the creation<br />
myth <strong>of</strong> the sea. Güiya expressed to me what her mother would do<br />
if she wanted it to stop ra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g. She would use a piece <strong>of</strong> stick, wrap<br />
one end with cloth, <strong>and</strong> light it on fire. She’d then wave it <strong>and</strong> say,<br />
“Santa Clara, make the ra<strong>in</strong> go away,” repeatedly. “Clara,” or “claro,”
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 111<br />
means to clear. It would work. Güiya would do it, too. Her daughter,<br />
Migui, remembered one time when it was “ra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g really hard,” <strong>and</strong><br />
her mother “did it.” Five or ten m<strong>in</strong>utes later, “the sky cleared up, <strong>and</strong><br />
the sun came out.” 6 Here, a Christian sa<strong>in</strong>t’s name was adopted to fit<br />
an <strong>in</strong>digenous practice <strong>in</strong> adapt<strong>in</strong>g to the times. <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> the stick<br />
<strong>and</strong> fire was strictly a native way <strong>of</strong> carry<strong>in</strong>g out the act. Migui also<br />
recalled that if her gr<strong>and</strong>mother felt that someth<strong>in</strong>g was go<strong>in</strong>g wrong,<br />
she would wave her arms <strong>and</strong> say, “Espiritumado get away from me!” 7<br />
It still gave her the chills to reflect on this.<br />
Pepe, who is the son <strong>of</strong> Güiya, said his gr<strong>and</strong>mother strongly<br />
believed <strong>in</strong> espiritismo. “She believed that everyth<strong>in</strong>g was due to<br />
spirits.” His mother used to sew for a liv<strong>in</strong>g. He remembered one<br />
day when the sew<strong>in</strong>g mach<strong>in</strong>e broke. His gr<strong>and</strong>mother rushed <strong>in</strong>to<br />
the room <strong>and</strong> got out a bottle <strong>of</strong> “alcoholado” (alcohol distilled with<br />
plants). She then spr<strong>in</strong>kled the alcoholado over the mach<strong>in</strong>e <strong>and</strong> began<br />
to talk to the spirit that was caus<strong>in</strong>g the damage. She would say, “Get<br />
out <strong>of</strong> that mach<strong>in</strong>e <strong>and</strong> go to where you should be! Go to where you<br />
belong. You don’t belong here anymore.” She was adamant about this<br />
because the family depended on the money generated from her daughter’s<br />
work. Pepe said he was always frightened whenever she would<br />
do these types <strong>of</strong> th<strong>in</strong>gs. For his gr<strong>and</strong>mother, there was “always the<br />
presence <strong>of</strong> spirits <strong>in</strong> any happen<strong>in</strong>g.” For <strong>in</strong>stance if there was a social<br />
problem with the neighbors, she would immediately evoke the spirits<br />
to resolve the conflict. While she was not “formally” an espiritista, this<br />
is the way she lived her life. 8 Her speak<strong>in</strong>g to the sew<strong>in</strong>g mach<strong>in</strong>e is<br />
a good example <strong>of</strong> how <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples believe that all th<strong>in</strong>gs are<br />
alive <strong>and</strong> communicate.<br />
When I entered the kitchen <strong>of</strong> Isabel Serrano, the wife <strong>of</strong> elder Feliciano,<br />
she was <strong>in</strong> the process <strong>of</strong> peel<strong>in</strong>g about six hundred bananas.<br />
She said she had peeled fifteen hundred the other day. 9 She <strong>and</strong> her<br />
husb<strong>and</strong> were <strong>in</strong> the process <strong>of</strong> mak<strong>in</strong>g some <strong>of</strong> the most delicious<br />
pasteles I have ever tasted. <strong>The</strong>y did this every week <strong>and</strong> sold them<br />
as their bus<strong>in</strong>ess. She was born <strong>in</strong> Arecibo. Her mother, who I met,<br />
was orig<strong>in</strong>ally from Utuado <strong>and</strong> had strong Indian features. She told<br />
me her mother’s mother was “<strong>in</strong>dia.” 10 Back then, they lived <strong>in</strong> a<br />
barrio far from town. <strong>The</strong>ir house was made <strong>of</strong> yagua <strong>and</strong> the ro<strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> t<strong>in</strong>. Everyone had t<strong>in</strong> ro<strong>of</strong>s where they lived, <strong>in</strong>stead <strong>of</strong> traditional<br />
thatched ro<strong>of</strong>s made <strong>of</strong> yagua or enea leaves, <strong>in</strong> adapt<strong>in</strong>g to the use <strong>of</strong><br />
metal. She noted that they cooked with fogón <strong>and</strong> used dita <strong>and</strong> coca.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y also raised animals <strong>and</strong> cultivated crops. She then said, “In those<br />
times, we lived better than now.” One dilemma today is that everyth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
is too expensive. <strong>The</strong>y didn’t have to pay very much for th<strong>in</strong>gs
112<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
before, <strong>and</strong> life was more community oriented. She also talked about<br />
the times when there would be a drought, which usually lasted for six<br />
or seven months. As a remedy, they would go down to the river where<br />
she would pray the rosary <strong>and</strong> the young people beh<strong>in</strong>d her would<br />
put statues under the water to make it ra<strong>in</strong>. It would work because<br />
it would ra<strong>in</strong> after that, she said. 11 We see here how Christian statues<br />
became substitutes for the cemí, which was associated with water <strong>and</strong><br />
used to make it ra<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> ancient times. <strong>The</strong> Carib also buried them <strong>in</strong><br />
the earth <strong>in</strong> seek<strong>in</strong>g assistance from the ancestral world <strong>and</strong> later to<br />
keep them away from the Spaniards.<br />
I came to ask Isabel if there was African ancestry <strong>in</strong> her family<br />
because she was very dark sk<strong>in</strong>ned. She answered, “I suppose, yes,<br />
but I don’t know them.” I then had the pleasure <strong>of</strong> view<strong>in</strong>g her family<br />
photo album. <strong>The</strong> multiethnic makeup <strong>of</strong> the many members <strong>of</strong><br />
her family clearly revealed African, Indian, <strong>and</strong> mestizo <strong>in</strong>fluences. She<br />
actually looked more “<strong>in</strong>dio” when she was younger. In terms <strong>of</strong> the<br />
root culture <strong>of</strong> her family, she commented, “All <strong>of</strong> them are <strong>in</strong>dio, no<br />
matter what.” 12 I asked Uahtibili the same question because one <strong>of</strong> his<br />
gr<strong>and</strong>mothers was mestiza <strong>of</strong> African descent. He replied that he does<br />
not know <strong>of</strong> his African cultural background. 13 That part <strong>of</strong> his family<br />
history was lost. He did not know <strong>of</strong> his family from Africa similarly<br />
to how most African Americans <strong>in</strong> the United States were removed<br />
from know<strong>in</strong>g about their African ancestral roots. What he knows is<br />
immediate, or what he learned about when he was grow<strong>in</strong>g up. And<br />
that is that the cultural base <strong>of</strong> his family is <strong>in</strong>dio. This experience is no<br />
different for many <strong>in</strong>digenous groups or peoples who are accustomed<br />
to know<strong>in</strong>g about the places or l<strong>and</strong>s where they are from. This po<strong>in</strong>t<br />
also speaks to the critics who are constantly remark<strong>in</strong>g about how the<br />
African aspect <strong>of</strong> the Indian “revival” is ignored <strong>and</strong> disregarded. But<br />
this is not an issue <strong>of</strong> disregard but one <strong>of</strong> familiarity. Uahtibili said<br />
he knows <strong>of</strong> many people who look African on the outside but their<br />
culture is <strong>of</strong> the Indian <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y may refer to themselves<br />
as “Afro-Boricua,” because they are <strong>of</strong> mixed African <strong>and</strong> Indian<br />
descent. 14<br />
Isabel told me she had cooked with wood <strong>and</strong> used dita her whole<br />
life. She was about to make more dita as the higüera fruit <strong>in</strong> her yard<br />
was ready to harvest. <strong>The</strong>y also used spoons made <strong>of</strong> the maya leaf.<br />
Isabel used to be an espiritista. She said she was “born” an espiritista<br />
<strong>and</strong> did it for many years, but not any more. Elder Feliciano <strong>in</strong>tervened<br />
say<strong>in</strong>g he did not believe <strong>in</strong> espiritismo. “I never see noth<strong>in</strong>g,”<br />
he replied. “<strong>The</strong>y make you a fool.” 15 My immediate thought here<br />
drew back to the way Pané’s religiously biased <strong>and</strong> mock<strong>in</strong>g narration
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 113<br />
<strong>of</strong> the philosophy made the Indian people look rather silly. He was<br />
the one who orig<strong>in</strong>ally portrayed the practice as foolish <strong>and</strong> “deceptive.”<br />
16 Isabel tried to expla<strong>in</strong> that people used to be more espiritista<br />
than Catholic, seem<strong>in</strong>g to imply that the belief <strong>and</strong> practice back then<br />
were more respected, as well as widespread. <strong>The</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t to keep<br />
<strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d here is not whether espiritismo “works,” but that this belief as<br />
a form <strong>of</strong> spiritualism still exists <strong>and</strong> was well practiced until recently.<br />
It has survived <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> for centuries.<br />
When Isabel said they also used to look more to cur<strong>and</strong>eros <strong>and</strong><br />
comadronas, elder Feliciano agreed <strong>and</strong> added, “<strong>The</strong> people who come<br />
from the Indians” use plants to get better. 17 Cur<strong>and</strong>eros were <strong>and</strong> are<br />
sophisticated <strong>in</strong> their knowledge <strong>of</strong> medic<strong>in</strong>al herbs. S<strong>in</strong>ce doctors <strong>and</strong><br />
hospitals <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century were normally located <strong>in</strong> the ma<strong>in</strong><br />
urban areas car<strong>in</strong>g primarily for the elite, rurally, accord<strong>in</strong>g to López,<br />
“the vast majority <strong>of</strong> people usually turned to home remedies or local<br />
cur<strong>and</strong>eros when ill.” 18 As documented <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terviews with contemporary<br />
practitioners by María Dolores Hajosy-Benedetti, a scholar <strong>and</strong><br />
practitioner <strong>of</strong> traditional folk medic<strong>in</strong>e, heal<strong>in</strong>g through traditional<br />
medic<strong>in</strong>al plants <strong>and</strong> herbs was still be<strong>in</strong>g practiced <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
the late 1980s. 19 And there are many cur<strong>and</strong>eros on the isl<strong>and</strong> today.<br />
Hajosy-Benedetti writes about the many benefits <strong>and</strong> heal<strong>in</strong>g power<br />
<strong>of</strong> wild plants <strong>and</strong> how they have susta<strong>in</strong>ed our species for thous<strong>and</strong>s<br />
<strong>of</strong> years. In addition, us<strong>in</strong>g wild plants affirms “our connection with<br />
our ancestors, <strong>and</strong> thus with the traditions that susta<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> def<strong>in</strong>e<br />
us as a people . . . <strong>and</strong> as natural be<strong>in</strong>gs.” 20 One <strong>of</strong> her <strong>in</strong>terviews<br />
was with Bárbara Rodríguez, a practitioner from the central mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
region <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>, who shared some familial background <strong>of</strong> what<br />
she knows about native plants:<br />
My great gr<strong>and</strong>mother always had all k<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong> medic<strong>in</strong>al plants<br />
grow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> her garden. She never ran to the doctor for pills or <strong>in</strong>jections.<br />
In those days, everyone used the medic<strong>in</strong>al plants grow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
their gardens; they knew how to prepare them because their parents<br />
<strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>parents <strong>and</strong> their great gr<strong>and</strong>parents had done it. <strong>The</strong><br />
knowledge passed from one person to another, from one generation<br />
to another.<br />
Every jíbaro household had its garden, <strong>and</strong> every garden had its red<br />
m<strong>in</strong>t (yerba buena), marjoram (mejorana), rosemary (romero), pepperm<strong>in</strong>t<br />
(menta), lemon grass (limoncillo), rue (ruda), fragrant geranium<br />
(geranio oloroso), paletaria. <strong>The</strong>y were an important part <strong>of</strong> the household.<br />
In what looked like an ornamental flower garden, you could f<strong>in</strong>d<br />
medic<strong>in</strong>e for just about everyth<strong>in</strong>g. 21
114<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
Isabel <strong>and</strong> elder Feliciano also began talk<strong>in</strong>g about the benefits<br />
<strong>and</strong> cures <strong>of</strong> us<strong>in</strong>g medic<strong>in</strong>al plants. He said aspir<strong>in</strong> only “blocks”<br />
your headache but plants heal you. She added, “When the cu<strong>and</strong>eros<br />
give you plants, you get better.” <strong>The</strong>y were both critical <strong>of</strong> Western<br />
medic<strong>in</strong>e, especially how the <strong>in</strong>dustry makes a pr<strong>of</strong>it <strong>of</strong>f <strong>of</strong> patients.<br />
He named plants that cure strokes, while she talked about prevent<strong>in</strong>g<br />
cancer. Once, when Isabel was hav<strong>in</strong>g her breasts exam<strong>in</strong>ed, some<br />
nodules were found. She healed herself. She made a prescription us<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the plants anamú <strong>and</strong> yantén from her book on natural medic<strong>in</strong>e.<br />
When she went back to be checked, the nodules were shr<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong><br />
they disappeared <strong>in</strong> a year. Regard<strong>in</strong>g her own experiences, Hajosy-<br />
Benedetti writes, “Personally, I can attest to the efficacy <strong>of</strong> many <strong>of</strong><br />
the remedies described <strong>in</strong> this work: aloe (sábila) for bronchial compla<strong>in</strong>ts,<br />
burns <strong>and</strong> constipation, wild balsam apple (cundeamor) for<br />
sk<strong>in</strong> problems, chicken bone broth for chronic fatigue, rue (ruda) <strong>and</strong><br />
broadleaf cori<strong>and</strong>er (recao) for menstrual irregularity, <strong>and</strong> herbal baths<br />
for physical <strong>and</strong> spiritual renewal are among them.” 22<br />
Elder Shachira is an espiritista. She was born <strong>in</strong> San Sebastián de<br />
Pep<strong>in</strong>o <strong>and</strong> partly grew up there. When I met her she was wear<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
cotona, or a dress like a tunic. Her gr<strong>and</strong>mother wore one <strong>and</strong> older<br />
women still do today. It was traditionally made from the native maguey<br />
<strong>and</strong> sarobei (algodón or cotton) plants. 23 Contrary to popular utopian<br />
belief <strong>of</strong> the people “runn<strong>in</strong>g around naked,” native peoples made<br />
their own cloth<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> married women <strong>in</strong> ancient <strong>Caribbean</strong> times<br />
would always cover themselves, especially <strong>in</strong> colder climates. Though<br />
most <strong>of</strong> the cloth is imported today, Shachira told me that the use <strong>of</strong><br />
the cotona is an unbroken <strong>in</strong>digenous tradition that has been passed<br />
down by our ancestors. 24 Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Uahtibili <strong>and</strong> his wife, Huana,<br />
the cotonas <strong>of</strong> the past were dyed <strong>of</strong> two basic colors from the seeds<br />
<strong>of</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> plants. <strong>The</strong> woman’s color was yellow <strong>and</strong> the man’s blue,<br />
<strong>and</strong> when mixed, the two produce green represent<strong>in</strong>g mother earth. 25<br />
Shachira then gave another example <strong>of</strong> an <strong>in</strong>digenous custom still<br />
practiced today. She said that if people th<strong>in</strong>k it might ra<strong>in</strong>, they automatically<br />
look up <strong>and</strong> smell for water, rather than turn on the news,<br />
<strong>and</strong> if they smell “wet earth,” it means it is go<strong>in</strong>g to pour. 26<br />
Both Shachira’s gr<strong>and</strong>mother <strong>and</strong> godmother strongly <strong>in</strong>fluenced<br />
her childhood <strong>and</strong> development. Her godmother was an espiritista,<br />
who began teach<strong>in</strong>g her at the age <strong>of</strong> four. She said her godmother took<br />
her <strong>in</strong>to a closer connection with the spiritual world, or the spirituality<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples. When I asked about the syncretiz<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the<br />
various traditions <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, she first said the Indian, African, <strong>and</strong><br />
Spanish traditions all used spirituality. For <strong>in</strong>stance if the Christians say
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 115<br />
that Christ is the spirit, then they are spiritualists. She then expressed<br />
that “<strong>in</strong> this time” the three traditions have been syncretized. She<br />
knows this to be true because, for better or worse, she is <strong>in</strong>fluenced<br />
by all three herself. 27 As to the African tradition <strong>of</strong> espiritismo, it was<br />
substantial <strong>and</strong> survived ma<strong>in</strong>ly on the coasts, particularly <strong>in</strong> the area<br />
<strong>of</strong> Loíza where many African people settled. Espiritsta Doña Bol<strong>in</strong>a<br />
<strong>of</strong> Loíza told Hajosy-Benedetti that she practices the “palo monte—<br />
palo mayombé” tradition <strong>of</strong> the Congolese Bantu-speak<strong>in</strong>g people. 28<br />
She has statues <strong>of</strong> sa<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>and</strong> busts on her altar represent<strong>in</strong>g the three<br />
traditions <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. Describ<strong>in</strong>g Afro-Christian syncretism, Hajosy-<br />
Benedetti writes, “Dur<strong>in</strong>g slavery, African people were forced to<br />
worship Christian sa<strong>in</strong>ts. Thus their own pantheon <strong>of</strong> spiritual be<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
was syncretized with Christian sa<strong>in</strong>ts accord<strong>in</strong>g to the symbolism<br />
accrued to those sa<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>in</strong> devotional works <strong>of</strong> art. Thus, for <strong>in</strong>stance,<br />
Changó—a male deity associated with lightn<strong>in</strong>g—became Sa<strong>in</strong>t Barbara,<br />
whose visual representations always <strong>in</strong>cluded a bolt <strong>of</strong> lightn<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
<strong>and</strong> so on.” 29 Shachira stressed that espiritismo is not a “religion,” or a<br />
“way <strong>of</strong> the doctr<strong>in</strong>e” as she put it, but a form <strong>of</strong> spirituality. She said<br />
that s<strong>in</strong>ce people today are so <strong>in</strong>fluenced by the doctr<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> Christianity,<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> order for them to not be afraid <strong>and</strong> be able to underst<strong>and</strong><br />
the native concepts, she guides them <strong>in</strong> a way they underst<strong>and</strong>, for<br />
example, by us<strong>in</strong>g the terms “father,” “son” <strong>and</strong> “holy spirit,” or by<br />
draw<strong>in</strong>g a parallel between the Christian “father” <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous “sky<br />
father” <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> creation <strong>and</strong> the celestial world. 30 In other words,<br />
she is <strong>of</strong>ten compelled to help people learn about the Indian way <strong>in</strong> a<br />
sort <strong>of</strong> Christian context.<br />
Shachira’s gr<strong>and</strong>mother taught her how to love the earth <strong>and</strong><br />
defend the l<strong>and</strong>. She was rebellious <strong>and</strong> very patriotic because, as<br />
Shachira noted, “<strong>The</strong>y had taken everyth<strong>in</strong>g from her.” Her gr<strong>and</strong>mother<br />
told her, “You are not go<strong>in</strong>g to sell this l<strong>and</strong>,” <strong>and</strong> she’d tap<br />
the ground three times, say<strong>in</strong>g, “This is your l<strong>and</strong>.” She showed her<br />
how to connect with the energy <strong>of</strong> the l<strong>and</strong> through the tapp<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
the earth. She’d tell her the l<strong>and</strong> is go<strong>in</strong>g to feed you, loves you, <strong>and</strong>,<br />
when you feel sad, speak to her. Her gr<strong>and</strong>mother also taught her how<br />
to underst<strong>and</strong> the vibrations <strong>of</strong> the stones—how to speak to them,<br />
which is an Indian tradition. Shachira said that the ancestors used the<br />
stones to send messages. Now, <strong>in</strong> this time, we can read the stones<br />
to learn about the messages they sent. She said the most important<br />
th<strong>in</strong>gs to the ancestors were the ceremonial objects <strong>and</strong> stones they<br />
were us<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong> cemí was the most sacred <strong>of</strong> these. It’s the contact<br />
with the stones that shows us how the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> the past<br />
had a connection with everyth<strong>in</strong>g that was celestial. She is sure this is
116<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
the message the ancestors left for her gr<strong>and</strong>mother <strong>and</strong> her, that is, to<br />
prepare her for the times to defend the l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> to use the stones as a<br />
means <strong>of</strong> communication to the most sacred. 31<br />
Shachira was one <strong>of</strong> the leaders <strong>of</strong> the occupation <strong>of</strong> the Caguana<br />
ceremonial grounds a few years ago. This was to call attention to the<br />
desecration <strong>of</strong> sacred sites <strong>and</strong> excavation <strong>of</strong> ancestral rema<strong>in</strong>s around<br />
the isl<strong>and</strong>. In reference to the recent excavation <strong>of</strong> the Jacana site<br />
near Ponce, she asked, “Why do we have to take out the rema<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong><br />
the ancestors?” In 2007, the U.S. Army Corps <strong>of</strong> Eng<strong>in</strong>eers uncovered<br />
a major <strong>in</strong>digenous site while <strong>in</strong> the process <strong>of</strong> build<strong>in</strong>g a dam.<br />
After they unearthed a good portion <strong>of</strong> the area, “Some 75 boxes <strong>of</strong><br />
skeletons, ceramics, small petroglyphs <strong>and</strong> rocks were sent via Federal<br />
Express <strong>in</strong> two double-boxed shipments for analysis” to the state <strong>of</strong><br />
Georgia. 32 In speak<strong>in</strong>g on this issue, Shachira was very passionate <strong>and</strong><br />
forthright. She exclaimed that if Christ came down at this moment<br />
<strong>and</strong> saw how they were pr<strong>of</strong>an<strong>in</strong>g the tombs, there would be a great<br />
problem because these are his children, too. She added that if she<br />
went to a Christian cemetery <strong>and</strong> took someone out, she would go to<br />
jail. <strong>The</strong> authorities have told the people the “biggest lie” <strong>in</strong> say<strong>in</strong>g<br />
they did not previously know about the location <strong>of</strong> the site. In plann<strong>in</strong>g<br />
for the route <strong>of</strong> the dam, they knew <strong>of</strong> the location through their<br />
aerial photographs <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>frared technology, accord<strong>in</strong>g to her. <strong>The</strong><br />
Army Corps had already made some <strong>in</strong>itial f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs some time before<br />
the ma<strong>in</strong> excavation. <strong>The</strong> plunder<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the site was only exposed after<br />
workers on the project started to sell artifacts to stores <strong>in</strong> the area! 33<br />
That is how the community figured out that the Jacana site had been<br />
dug up.<br />
Uahtibili is also an espiritista. He was one <strong>of</strong> the leaders arrested<br />
at the end <strong>of</strong> the occupation at Caguana. His father used to be both<br />
an espiritista <strong>and</strong> cu<strong>and</strong>ero, who passed the teach<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> traditions<br />
down to him. When he was five years old, he started to dream about<br />
th<strong>in</strong>gs that were go<strong>in</strong>g to happen. He told his mother, <strong>and</strong> she told<br />
him he had “the gift.” His father, <strong>in</strong> time, began to teach him how to<br />
evoke the spirits, or to give <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>fer th<strong>in</strong>gs to the spirits <strong>in</strong> a reciprocal<br />
relationship. He doesn’t go out look<strong>in</strong>g to help people. People<br />
come to him ask<strong>in</strong>g for help. At that time, he will feel nausea or have<br />
a negative feel<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>side himself as a way to identify if there’s a bad<br />
energy <strong>and</strong> if someone needs assistance. This is rem<strong>in</strong>iscent <strong>of</strong> how the<br />
behike <strong>of</strong> the past would purge themselves, by fast<strong>in</strong>g or with a vomit<strong>in</strong>g<br />
stick, before embark<strong>in</strong>g upon their work. Uahtibili said people<br />
still go to “espiritista centers” today. When I asked what percentage<br />
<strong>of</strong> the population believes <strong>in</strong> the practice, he replied, “mucho, mucho.”
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 117<br />
People from the different Christian faiths go there, too. He noted that<br />
he has a lot <strong>of</strong> anecdotes to tell. Once, a political c<strong>and</strong>idate from a<br />
major political party came to him seek<strong>in</strong>g help. Uahtibili saw him <strong>and</strong><br />
felt very bad physically. He told the man he would have problems <strong>and</strong><br />
would not w<strong>in</strong> the upcom<strong>in</strong>g election. Later on, the c<strong>and</strong>idate was<br />
arrested <strong>and</strong> sentenced to five years <strong>in</strong> prison for a federal <strong>of</strong>fense. In<br />
this case, Uahtibili obviously could not help the man but could make<br />
a prediction about his future. 34<br />
When I asked him if the Rosario Cantar (the s<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the rosary)<br />
was a Catholic tradition, he answered, “No.” I asked this because I had<br />
learned from others who believe the ceremony is actually grounded <strong>in</strong><br />
the <strong>in</strong>digenous tradition. While he also believes it is the cont<strong>in</strong>uation<br />
<strong>of</strong> a native tradition, Uahtibili added that it can be seen <strong>in</strong> a different<br />
way depend<strong>in</strong>g on one’s perspective. For example, a Catholic may<br />
see it exclusively as a way <strong>of</strong> giv<strong>in</strong>g thanks to the virg<strong>in</strong> mother, while<br />
Uahtibili’s father, who rejected everyth<strong>in</strong>g Christian, liked the Rosario<br />
Cantar very much <strong>and</strong> used to s<strong>in</strong>g it. Uahtibili said the Jíbaro <strong>in</strong><br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong>s would do the ceremony after a harvest, giv<strong>in</strong>g thanks<br />
to the earth mother as an ancestral tradition. He said the Rosario Cantar<br />
is “the stone,” or “made for all <strong>of</strong> those th<strong>in</strong>gs that people tell.”<br />
Those th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong>clude ask<strong>in</strong>g for nature to heal children, or for a good<br />
harvest or weather, so they do the ceremony every year to give thanks<br />
for these “promises.” A member <strong>of</strong> his family still guides the celebration<br />
where they are from. 35 When I followed up later ask<strong>in</strong>g why his<br />
father “rejected everyth<strong>in</strong>g Christian,” Uahtibili expla<strong>in</strong>ed that he<br />
believed “those people” were not tell<strong>in</strong>g the truth <strong>and</strong> were try<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
trick them <strong>in</strong>to do<strong>in</strong>g someth<strong>in</strong>g they did not want to do us<strong>in</strong>g fear<br />
tactics. His father resented that the Catholic Church rejected other<br />
people who believed someth<strong>in</strong>g different from them. 36<br />
Uahtibili reiterated that the Rosario Cantar is not Catholic. It is not<br />
celebrated <strong>in</strong> the church because they do not want it. It is celebrated<br />
<strong>in</strong> the houses <strong>of</strong> the people or <strong>in</strong> the plazas. While the native aspect <strong>of</strong><br />
the tradition is not apparent on the surface, perhaps giv<strong>in</strong>g the church<br />
the impression they had tamed the flock, the belief is deeply embedded<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Jíbaro soul. Lamourt-Valentín draws an analogy between<br />
a contemporary game played <strong>in</strong> the countryside with the native tradition<br />
<strong>of</strong> the ceremony. Dur<strong>in</strong>g a critical moment <strong>in</strong> the game, “the<br />
light goes out!” while the Rosario Cantar “must end at the po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong><br />
sunrise when the victorious Sun drives away the cold darkness <strong>of</strong> the<br />
night <strong>and</strong> conquers the sky . . . for otherwise the world would end if it<br />
did not do that.” 37 <strong>The</strong>re is a direct reference here to the native story<br />
<strong>of</strong> people emerg<strong>in</strong>g from caves dur<strong>in</strong>g sunlight <strong>and</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g turned <strong>in</strong>to
118<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
stone or trees by the Sun if they were not careful. Below the surface,<br />
the ceremony <strong>of</strong> ask<strong>in</strong>g for promises appears to be the cont<strong>in</strong>uation <strong>of</strong><br />
a traditional Indian areíto. As Lamourt-Valentín expla<strong>in</strong>s,<br />
<strong>The</strong> ceremonies called “Rosario Cantao”, correspond at present as the<br />
nearest tradition to the “areyto” ceremonies. <strong>The</strong> last <strong>of</strong> the older ceremonies<br />
to have taken place occurred <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dieras region <strong>of</strong> Lares,<br />
the 23 <strong>of</strong> September 1868, accompanied by a human sacrifice . . . the<br />
local town priest who was immolated at the head-waters <strong>of</strong> a river called<br />
“<strong>The</strong> river <strong>of</strong> the departure <strong>of</strong> the Tw<strong>in</strong>” (“Guarib<strong>in</strong>já” or “Culebr<strong>in</strong>as”)<br />
which happened to be the place where the last titled Cacique<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Ban Dynasty was sacrificed . . . <strong>in</strong> 1511 . . . the Lord Ah Uaay<br />
Ban-ah Cacique, whose family cont<strong>in</strong>ued to reside <strong>in</strong> that region after<br />
the ab<strong>and</strong>onment <strong>of</strong> the old cacical capital “Guanica”. <strong>The</strong> [S]panish<br />
Chroniclers occasionally mention the celebration <strong>of</strong> these “areyto” preced<strong>in</strong>g<br />
war expeditions or other great enterprises. <strong>The</strong> Spanish Regime<br />
came to occupy the <strong>in</strong>dieras regions <strong>in</strong> question after that date [1868],<br />
which is why these th<strong>in</strong>gs are remembered from that time by the members<br />
<strong>of</strong> the families participat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> them <strong>and</strong> who are native to that<br />
region. 38<br />
He further elaborates on the significance <strong>of</strong> the “santo de palo”<br />
statue, or the “guest <strong>of</strong> honor” dur<strong>in</strong>g the ceremony: “‘Santo de palo’<br />
is a direct translation <strong>of</strong> the term ‘cem<strong>in</strong>che’ or also termed ‘cemi’ . . .<br />
but after the <strong>in</strong>troduction <strong>of</strong> [C]hristianity they were conventionalized<br />
as representations <strong>in</strong> polychromed wood sculptures (triangular <strong>in</strong><br />
form) <strong>of</strong> ‘sa<strong>in</strong>ts’ but with a particular native iconography <strong>in</strong> rebus.” 39<br />
Here we see aga<strong>in</strong> the significance <strong>of</strong> the native cemí <strong>and</strong> how it<br />
comes to be represented through Christian sa<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>and</strong> statues. Thus,<br />
the Jíbaro have been actually us<strong>in</strong>g the Rosario Cantar as a sort <strong>of</strong><br />
“camouflage” to uphold their own tradition. <strong>The</strong>ir expression <strong>of</strong> native<br />
spirituality has cont<strong>in</strong>ued through the celebration <strong>of</strong> the ceremony.<br />
Huana, who was with Uahtibili <strong>and</strong> me, clarified that the Rosario<br />
Cantar was a way <strong>of</strong> perpetuat<strong>in</strong>g an areíto, but the words <strong>of</strong> the songs<br />
they s<strong>in</strong>g are <strong>in</strong> the Catholic tradition. <strong>The</strong> traditional areíto could not<br />
be done because <strong>of</strong> the imposition <strong>of</strong> Christianity. So it’s like a “masquerade,”<br />
she stressed. People started do<strong>in</strong>g the Rosario “us<strong>in</strong>g their<br />
words” so that the Catholic Church <strong>and</strong> priests would th<strong>in</strong>k, “Oh,<br />
those are Catholics.” 40 When I noted that I thought most <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueños<br />
believed the Rosario Cantar was Catholic, Uahtibili said he<br />
had someth<strong>in</strong>g important to say. <strong>The</strong>re is someth<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the subconscious,<br />
he expla<strong>in</strong>ed, where we say, “Oh, that’s a Catholic th<strong>in</strong>g.” But
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 119<br />
<strong>in</strong> reality “what we practice is not a Catholic way.” <strong>The</strong> reality <strong>of</strong> the<br />
ceremony carries a native mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the subconsciousness. 41<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, Uahtibili <strong>and</strong> Huana went on to give another example <strong>of</strong> a<br />
tradition that may “seem” to be Catholic but is, once more, the apparent<br />
perpetuation <strong>of</strong> an <strong>in</strong>digenous tradition. It is called “Noche de<br />
San Juan” (“<strong>The</strong> Night <strong>of</strong> St. John the Baptist”), which is celebrated<br />
on the night <strong>of</strong> the twenty-third <strong>of</strong> June until the next day. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
said it was orig<strong>in</strong>ally observed dur<strong>in</strong>g the summer solstice around the<br />
twenty-first <strong>of</strong> June, but, because the Catholics “run the time,” the<br />
date was moved back. <strong>The</strong> name <strong>of</strong> the ceremony was adopted from<br />
the native name “Xuan,” which <strong>in</strong> the Indian tradition refers to the<br />
“gran lagarto” (great lizard), or the first ancestor <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong><br />
tradition is to go to any place where there is water, whether a beach,<br />
river, or swimm<strong>in</strong>g pool. <strong>The</strong>y wait until midnight <strong>and</strong> then jump <strong>in</strong>to<br />
the water backward, seven or n<strong>in</strong>e times. It is a way <strong>of</strong> cleans<strong>in</strong>g themselves<br />
<strong>of</strong> negative th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> to br<strong>in</strong>g them good luck or a new life.<br />
It is a big celebration they do every year. <strong>The</strong>re is obviously a parallel<br />
here to the Christian significance <strong>of</strong> the work <strong>of</strong> John the Baptist. This<br />
is how the name <strong>and</strong> practice <strong>of</strong> us<strong>in</strong>g water became associated with or<br />
<strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong>to the native tradition. But the orig<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> the ceremony<br />
is a tribute to the first ancestor, Xuan, who is the one that came from<br />
the waters to the earth. So the Noche de San Juan is really to honor<br />
the great lizard. Huana concluded say<strong>in</strong>g, “This is an espiritista ritual.”<br />
Jump<strong>in</strong>g backward <strong>in</strong>to the water “is not a Catholic th<strong>in</strong>g.” <strong>The</strong><br />
ceremony had been performed long before the Spanish arrival. 42 We<br />
can see clearer now how the <strong>in</strong>corporation <strong>of</strong> these Catholic traditions<br />
were used by the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples as survival strategies <strong>in</strong> order to<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> their own cultural identity <strong>and</strong> traditions.<br />
L<strong>in</strong>guistic Survival<br />
Language is a vital element <strong>in</strong> the transmission <strong>of</strong> culture. Over a<br />
century after Antonio de Nebrija published his Gramática de la lengua<br />
castellana (1492), when he claimed that “language is the perfect<br />
<strong>in</strong>strument <strong>of</strong> empire,” native l<strong>in</strong>guistic survival <strong>in</strong> the Antilles was<br />
still apparent. An important thesis <strong>of</strong> a work by Spanish scholar José<br />
Bernardo de Aldrete, called Origenes de la lengua castellana, concerned<br />
how conquerors throughout history <strong>in</strong>flicted their language<br />
on those they conquered. 43 One <strong>of</strong> his chapters, titled, “<strong>The</strong> Vanquished<br />
Receive the Language <strong>of</strong> the Vanquishers, Surrender<strong>in</strong>g <strong>The</strong>ir<br />
Own with <strong>The</strong>ir L<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> People,” elaborated on this argument as<br />
applied to the Iberian Pen<strong>in</strong>sula <strong>and</strong> the Antilles. However, Aldrete’s
120<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
arguments did not always hold up as Walter Mignolo revealed certa<strong>in</strong><br />
contradictions <strong>in</strong> his thesis, such as how the Visigoths as vanquishers<br />
actually “adopted the language <strong>and</strong> culture” <strong>of</strong> the Iberian Pen<strong>in</strong>sula<br />
dur<strong>in</strong>g their conquest there <strong>in</strong> the fifth to seventh centuries. 44<br />
Aldrete was primarily concerned with spread<strong>in</strong>g the Castilian language<br />
over newly organized territories. Territorial organization to him<br />
was not only tied to geographic boundaries but also <strong>in</strong>timately l<strong>in</strong>ked<br />
with language, which “comes with memories shared <strong>and</strong> stored <strong>in</strong> a<br />
common language,” as Mignolo writes. 45 Yet Aldrete observed that<br />
“los Indios,” other than some <strong>of</strong> the nobles (Indios pr<strong>in</strong>cipales), did<br />
not speak much Spanish as they preferred speak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> their own language.<br />
He is critical <strong>of</strong> his Spanish peers for their lack <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>and</strong><br />
not be<strong>in</strong>g efficient enough <strong>in</strong> the teach<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Castilian <strong>in</strong> the “Indies,”<br />
though he is confident that God <strong>and</strong> the Crown would <strong>in</strong> short order<br />
succeed <strong>in</strong> the task. 46 What is important to note here is that Aldrete<br />
was writ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 1606. Not only was there still an <strong>in</strong>digenous presence,<br />
but the <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> population also preferred speak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
their native tongue. This is a strong sign <strong>of</strong> resistance to the Spanish<br />
occupation <strong>and</strong> contradicts Aldrete’s thesis. From the aforementioned<br />
description, the “vanquished” had yet to receive the language <strong>of</strong> the<br />
vanquisher, although the Indian people did acquire the Spanish language<br />
when circumstances necessitated it <strong>and</strong> when it was to their<br />
advantage, like when Columbus left his men beh<strong>in</strong>d at La Navidad on<br />
his first voyage.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is then a question as to how far Spanish imperialism really<br />
spread <strong>in</strong> the Antilles if the colonial language had yet to be acquired<br />
by the seventeenth century. As we have seen, Spa<strong>in</strong> was not as powerful<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Antilles as commonly thought. This certa<strong>in</strong>ly applied to<br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions <strong>and</strong> many isolated areas <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. An analogy<br />
could be drawn here from the Moorish occupation <strong>of</strong> the Iberian<br />
Pen<strong>in</strong>sula. While the Moors imposed their language <strong>and</strong> religion <strong>in</strong><br />
some territories, they left alone “significant portions <strong>of</strong> the pen<strong>in</strong>sula<br />
<strong>in</strong> which people were able to preserve their sense <strong>of</strong> territoriality by<br />
preserv<strong>in</strong>g their religion, Christianity, <strong>and</strong> their language, Castilian.” 47<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spaniards were simply not present <strong>in</strong> many areas <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong><br />
to impose their cultural will. <strong>The</strong> imposition did not beg<strong>in</strong> to take<br />
effect on the isl<strong>and</strong> as a whole until the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century. As language<br />
is a transmitter <strong>of</strong> religion, that did not happen to a large extent<br />
either as previously discussed.<br />
When they were work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the haciendas <strong>in</strong> the late n<strong>in</strong>eteenth<br />
century, Cuko’s gr<strong>and</strong>father, who had also been a tiznado fight<strong>in</strong>g<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st the Spaniards <strong>and</strong> Americans, used to tell him how they would
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 121<br />
plan to create problems for the “bastard Spaniards” right <strong>in</strong> front <strong>of</strong><br />
them. <strong>The</strong> Spaniards would not know what they were talk<strong>in</strong>g about<br />
because they were speak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> their native tongue. <strong>The</strong> way Cuko<br />
expla<strong>in</strong>ed the acquisition <strong>of</strong> the Spanish language <strong>in</strong>to <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
communities made a lot <strong>of</strong> sense. In essence, the more the Spaniards<br />
encroached upon them, the more they would learn the language. In<br />
the same way someone might learn a second language, they acquired<br />
Spanish. But he emphasized that they also cont<strong>in</strong>ued to speak their<br />
native language. That’s how they were able to plan their actions <strong>in</strong><br />
front <strong>of</strong> the colonizer. Uahtibili expla<strong>in</strong>ed the acquisition process<br />
similarly. Because his parents <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>parents did not go to school,<br />
they did not have much <strong>of</strong> an opportunity to learn Spanish. Thus,<br />
they spoke more <strong>of</strong> the native language back then, which was a mixture<br />
<strong>of</strong> Spanish <strong>and</strong> Indian. He said they still speak a mixed dialect<br />
today, especially <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong>s. 48 Cuko s<strong>in</strong>cerely believes that the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous language was the spoken language <strong>of</strong> communication at<br />
the time <strong>of</strong> the Grito de Lares, <strong>and</strong> certa<strong>in</strong>ly the language spoken by<br />
the elders. He th<strong>in</strong>ks that half <strong>of</strong> the native population never came<br />
<strong>in</strong>to contact with the Spaniards until “recently,” or toward the end<br />
<strong>of</strong> their presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. He asked, “Why are there <strong>in</strong>dios <strong>in</strong><br />
the mounta<strong>in</strong>s? Los <strong>in</strong>dios or los Jíbaros were not ext<strong>in</strong>guished. We<br />
changed. We evolved.” 49<br />
Lamourt-Valentín helped to expla<strong>in</strong> the process <strong>of</strong> how the Spanish<br />
language became naturalized <strong>in</strong>to the <strong>in</strong>digenous tongue. <strong>The</strong> Indian<br />
language spoken was “an ‘orig<strong>in</strong>al’ native discourse <strong>in</strong> a ‘naturalized’<br />
language . . . which happens to be Spanish, but with a native frame <strong>of</strong><br />
reference which does not qualify Spanish as a pre-American language,<br />
nor the native language with a colonial identity.” 50 So over time,<br />
Spanish words became adopted <strong>in</strong>to the Indian language, but kept<br />
<strong>in</strong> a “native frame <strong>of</strong> reference.” He said the commercial language <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong> was never Spanish. Spanish was a secondary language. <strong>The</strong><br />
first social language <strong>of</strong> the masses at the time <strong>of</strong> the Grito de Lares<br />
<strong>and</strong> 40 years before then was a regional dialect or the native vernacular.<br />
51 Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, many years later the Commissioner <strong>of</strong> Education <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, <strong>in</strong> mak<strong>in</strong>g a contradictory statement that <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans<br />
were not very devoted to their native language, reported to the U.S.<br />
Congress that a “majority <strong>of</strong> the people . . . do not speak pure Spanish.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir language is a patois, almost un<strong>in</strong>telligible to the natives<br />
<strong>of</strong> Barcelona <strong>and</strong> Madrid.” 52 “Patois” is def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> Webster’s as, for<br />
one, “A regional dialect.” 53 Further, the ethnological methodology<br />
employed by Fewkes at the turn <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century dealt with<br />
“survivals <strong>of</strong> language <strong>in</strong> names <strong>of</strong> places, animals, plants, <strong>and</strong> objects,
122<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g all aborig<strong>in</strong>al <strong>and</strong> many dialectic names peculiar to the modern<br />
isl<strong>and</strong>ers.” 54<br />
Pepe told me his gr<strong>and</strong>mother spoke a strong Jíbaro dialect.<br />
In those days, most people <strong>in</strong> their community spoke the way she<br />
spoke. This was <strong>in</strong> Vega Baja, where his gr<strong>and</strong>mother was from. He<br />
emphasized she would use names for different items <strong>of</strong> cloth<strong>in</strong>g with<br />
words that are not used today (e.g., she would call skirts, “saya.”)<br />
Pepe recalled that when he was <strong>in</strong> school, he was not supposed to<br />
speak like her. Otherwise, he would be scolded <strong>and</strong> would have failed.<br />
So like his mother, he had to change the way he spoke. 55 His sister<br />
confirmed that the words their gr<strong>and</strong>mother used were not underst<strong>and</strong>able<br />
<strong>and</strong> added that she still hears people us<strong>in</strong>g those k<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong><br />
words today. 56 Through my <strong>in</strong>terviews <strong>and</strong> the people I have met, I<br />
have also found the tradition <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous name giv<strong>in</strong>g to be common<br />
today. <strong>The</strong> scholarship <strong>and</strong> oral history revealed by Delgado <strong>and</strong><br />
Lamourt-Valentín show how native names cont<strong>in</strong>ued to be used over<br />
time, <strong>of</strong>ten as a sign <strong>of</strong> resistance to the Spanish imposition <strong>of</strong> names.<br />
Uahtibili began to run <strong>of</strong>f a list <strong>of</strong> Indian apodos commonly used:<br />
Cuki, Cuko, Cano, Cana, Chan, Chico, Ch<strong>in</strong>o, Yuyo, Yayi, Yayo. All<br />
<strong>of</strong> the members <strong>of</strong> his family have an apodo. Huana said it is typical<br />
today for parents to give their children non-native names at birth but<br />
then start call<strong>in</strong>g them by a native apodo when they are young. So the<br />
birth name <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> Uahtibili’s sons, Francisco, is transformed to<br />
“Chico.” Another son’s given name is “Yumac,” who was the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal<br />
cacike <strong>of</strong> Camuy. He was the comm<strong>and</strong>er <strong>of</strong> the Boricua naval<br />
forces <strong>and</strong> helped to w<strong>in</strong> the war <strong>of</strong> Daguao aga<strong>in</strong>st the Spaniards.<br />
Uahtibili then went on to list a number <strong>of</strong> native apellidos (surnames)<br />
still used: Caban, Cuba, Camuy, Abey, Ej<strong>in</strong>, <strong>and</strong> so on. He said there<br />
are “muchos.” Some <strong>of</strong> them can be found by brows<strong>in</strong>g through the<br />
local phone book.<br />
Lastly, many Jíbaro people still utilize a lot <strong>of</strong> Indian words <strong>in</strong> common<br />
speech. <strong>The</strong>re are at least two hundred words <strong>in</strong> use <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>. 57 <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro also speak with a k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> mixed “Spanish-Indian”<br />
accent. For example, s<strong>in</strong>ce there is no “s” sound <strong>in</strong> the native language<br />
equivalent to the Spanish, a word like “tostones” (flat planta<strong>in</strong>)<br />
is commonly pronounced as “totone,” <strong>and</strong> the town <strong>of</strong> “Lares” sounds<br />
like “Lare,” 58 or sometimes “Lari.” When I was speak<strong>in</strong>g to Güiya,<br />
she dist<strong>in</strong>ctly pronounced the town <strong>of</strong> “Morovis” as “Morovi.” Pluma<br />
recalled that when she left Lares to live <strong>in</strong> Mayagüez <strong>and</strong> other places,<br />
her accent changed. She had been gone for eight years <strong>and</strong> when she<br />
returned, she couldn’t underst<strong>and</strong> many th<strong>in</strong>gs her sister, brothers,<br />
<strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>mother were say<strong>in</strong>g. Her gr<strong>and</strong>mother would get upset at
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 123<br />
her because Pluma kept ask<strong>in</strong>g her, “What?” “What?” She remembered<br />
her friends <strong>in</strong> the city used to tease her, say<strong>in</strong>g, “Oh, you are from<br />
‘Lare?’” mak<strong>in</strong>g fun <strong>of</strong> her for not pronounc<strong>in</strong>g the “s.” 59 Likewise,<br />
s<strong>in</strong>ce there is no dist<strong>in</strong>ct “r” sound <strong>in</strong> the Indian language, “carro”<br />
(car) comes to sound like “cao” or “caho,” <strong>and</strong> “arroz” (rice) is pronounced<br />
like “aho,” as there is no “z” sound <strong>in</strong> the language either.<br />
<strong>The</strong> “r” sound at the end <strong>of</strong> words sounds like an “l,” so “doctor”<br />
comes to be “dotól.” And words with an “e” at the end are commonly<br />
pronounced as “i,” so “leche de pote” (a jug <strong>of</strong> milk) becomes “lechi<br />
di poti,” <strong>and</strong> “¿De donde tu eres?” (Where are you from?) sounds like<br />
“¿Di dondi tu eri?” 60 Thus, the added “s,” “r,” “z,” <strong>and</strong> “e” sounds<br />
are Hispanicized versions <strong>of</strong> words. So as exemplified <strong>in</strong> this section,<br />
the use <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous words, sounds, <strong>and</strong> language still cont<strong>in</strong>ue to be<br />
used <strong>in</strong> one form or another, <strong>and</strong> particularly <strong>in</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions<br />
<strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Jíbaro <strong>and</strong> Independence<br />
You will not f<strong>in</strong>d a more extreme case <strong>of</strong> colonialism <strong>in</strong> these past<br />
500 years than that <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.<br />
—Ramsey Clark, 1989<br />
“Jíbaro, Sí! Yankee, No!” “Jíbaro, Sí! Yankee, No!” Those were the<br />
cries com<strong>in</strong>g from the <strong>in</strong>dependence crowd gathered at Guanica dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the event observ<strong>in</strong>g the U.S. <strong>in</strong>vasion <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> a century<br />
before. This refra<strong>in</strong> has been a common one over the years <strong>and</strong> speaks<br />
to a resistance that has now lasted five centuries. It was July 25, 1998.<br />
I had made the drive down from Utuado with some friends to witness<br />
this history. Cars <strong>and</strong> cars from miles away converged on the port city.<br />
<strong>The</strong> traffic jam became so bad that many people simply parked their<br />
cars on the side <strong>of</strong> the road <strong>and</strong> walked. <strong>The</strong> three ma<strong>in</strong> political entities<br />
on the isl<strong>and</strong>—statehood, commonwealth, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependence—<br />
were highly visible <strong>and</strong> had their stag<strong>in</strong>g areas to air their political<br />
views. It was both a festive <strong>and</strong> somber occasion revolv<strong>in</strong>g around a<br />
date <strong>in</strong> history long remembered.<br />
I have previously shown that the Jíbaro or Boricua have been primarily<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence supporters, <strong>and</strong> many are still fight<strong>in</strong>g for the<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>of</strong> their homel<strong>and</strong>. Most <strong>of</strong> my <strong>in</strong>terviewees favor this<br />
political option for the future <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>. As dur<strong>in</strong>g the Spanish<br />
colonial era, the twentieth century <strong>in</strong>dependence struggle was adamant<br />
<strong>in</strong> its dem<strong>and</strong> for freedom. Many Boricua have unjustly spent
124<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
years <strong>in</strong> U.S. prisons fight<strong>in</strong>g for the cause <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependence. A 60-year<br />
battle to halt the American military bomb<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Bieke f<strong>in</strong>ally ended<br />
<strong>in</strong> 2003. Because the United States has consistently kept a firm grip<br />
on <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, violent <strong>and</strong> nonviolent action has been wielded by<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican nationalists as tools <strong>of</strong> liberation <strong>and</strong> self-defense. This<br />
f<strong>in</strong>al part <strong>of</strong> the chapter will elaborate on the <strong>in</strong>digenous mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
the movement for <strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>and</strong> its potential future.<br />
I attempted a similar analysis <strong>in</strong> a chapter <strong>of</strong> my dissertation, titled,<br />
“<strong>The</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement,” so this is an update or revision<br />
<strong>of</strong> that writ<strong>in</strong>g. I have importantly found that the <strong>in</strong>digenous movement<br />
is <strong>in</strong>clusive <strong>of</strong> the larger <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican population <strong>and</strong> is, <strong>in</strong>deed,<br />
made up <strong>of</strong> this group. It seems as though most <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro angst<br />
is directed aga<strong>in</strong>st the approximately 1 percent criollo or blanquito<br />
elite, who control the isl<strong>and</strong> under the American w<strong>in</strong>g. As a long-held<br />
colony, albeit with a degree <strong>of</strong> self-governance as a “Commonwealth”<br />
<strong>of</strong> the United States, there are no “quick fixes” to resolv<strong>in</strong>g the colonial<br />
dilemma for <strong>in</strong>dependence advocates. However, for many, <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong> undoubtedly has an <strong>in</strong>ternational right <strong>of</strong> self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation to<br />
be a free <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependent nation like any other on the planet.<br />
I see the plight <strong>of</strong> Jíbaro Indian communities <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> today<br />
along similar l<strong>in</strong>es as <strong>in</strong>digenous communities <strong>in</strong> other parts <strong>of</strong> Lat<strong>in</strong><br />
America. <strong>The</strong>se are <strong>of</strong>ten disempowered, impoverished, <strong>and</strong> unrecognized<br />
places. For example, centuries <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>justice <strong>and</strong> poverty <strong>in</strong> Mayan<br />
communities <strong>in</strong> Chiapas boiled over <strong>in</strong> 1994 when the North American<br />
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went <strong>in</strong>to effect. NAFTA <strong>and</strong> the<br />
thirst for pr<strong>of</strong>its by corporations <strong>in</strong> both the United States <strong>and</strong> México<br />
were at the heart <strong>of</strong> the Chiapas upris<strong>in</strong>g. It is widely believed that<br />
NAFTA was the impetus for the Mexican government to amend laws<br />
that now allow foreigners <strong>and</strong> foreign corporations to buy up communal<br />
l<strong>and</strong> hold<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> exploit resources where <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples<br />
live. 61 At the time Evo Morales became the first <strong>in</strong>digenous president<br />
<strong>of</strong> Bolivia <strong>in</strong> 2006, he referred to how the <strong>in</strong>digenous population <strong>of</strong><br />
his country had been subjugated <strong>and</strong> disrespected for hundreds <strong>of</strong><br />
years. He also said, at least for Bolivia, that five centuries <strong>of</strong> resistance<br />
had ended <strong>and</strong> Amer<strong>in</strong>dian people <strong>of</strong> the hemisphere ought to be<br />
ready to “take power for the next 500.” 62 In add<strong>in</strong>g to those words,<br />
he <strong>in</strong>sisted that <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples were “not rancorous,” imply<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
part that v<strong>in</strong>dictive “cut throat” politics would no longer be the norm.<br />
Interest<strong>in</strong>gly, as a majority <strong>of</strong> the population <strong>in</strong> Bolivia is made up<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples, this is also the case <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. Many eyes will<br />
widen by the audacity <strong>of</strong> such a statement, but this is only because the<br />
Jíbaro have never been considered as an <strong>in</strong>digenous group. To have
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 125<br />
admitted otherwise would have squashed the idea <strong>of</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction, <strong>and</strong><br />
exposed this history <strong>and</strong> its mean<strong>in</strong>g. But a majority <strong>of</strong> the population<br />
is mestizo Indian as elaborated on <strong>in</strong> this work, <strong>and</strong> many have<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed an <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural consciousness. Cuko noted that if<br />
the native people <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> were to unite, they would make up<br />
about 65 percent <strong>of</strong> the total population. When I asked him how<br />
many people on the isl<strong>and</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k like him, or are culturally conscious as<br />
he is, he replied, “thous<strong>and</strong>s,” even though he doesn’t know them. 63<br />
Pepe said a native consciousness has been transmitted from one generation<br />
to another. It has always been there, although people today<br />
are more positive about their identity. He expla<strong>in</strong>ed that when the<br />
Boricua <strong>and</strong> Jíbaro people speak, what they say has a deeper mean<strong>in</strong>g<br />
beyond the words they use. “When we say ‘<strong>in</strong>dio,’ immediately<br />
people th<strong>in</strong>k fight for resistance or <strong>in</strong>dependence, or a lifestyle <strong>of</strong> selfsufficiency,<br />
not ador<strong>in</strong>g foreign th<strong>in</strong>gs.” Every time the topic <strong>of</strong> the<br />
native or nativeness is brought up, people relate this to “liv<strong>in</strong>g a good<br />
life, <strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g good <strong>and</strong> shar<strong>in</strong>g with others, or <strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g self-sufficient,<br />
<strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g skilled . . . mak<strong>in</strong>g your cultivation, produc<strong>in</strong>g food, be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
happy <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependent.” 64<br />
Naniki po<strong>in</strong>ted out that many Boricua are “silently <strong>in</strong>dependent”<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>tense repression aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>dependentistas<br />
<strong>and</strong> nationalists <strong>in</strong> the past. Be<strong>in</strong>g vocal about <strong>in</strong>dependence can<br />
mean los<strong>in</strong>g employment or be<strong>in</strong>g jailed. 65 Isol<strong>in</strong>a Rondón, a former<br />
secretary <strong>of</strong> Albizu-Campos, said a number <strong>of</strong> years ago that<br />
she believed “seven-eights <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans are for <strong>in</strong>dependence,<br />
but are afraid to express themselves openly.” 66 With this<br />
k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> support, it is amaz<strong>in</strong>g that <strong>Borikén</strong> has not thrown <strong>of</strong>f<br />
the yoke. <strong>The</strong>se narratives certa<strong>in</strong>ly do not reflect the substantial<br />
“poll numbers” among Statehood <strong>and</strong> Commonwealth supporters<br />
<strong>in</strong> past elections, or the dim support <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the most prom<strong>in</strong>ent<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence organizations. In the early 1990s, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
Independence Party (PIP) ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed only 5 to 7 percent <strong>of</strong> electoral<br />
support on the isl<strong>and</strong>. 67 Dur<strong>in</strong>g the twentieth century, the<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence movement was strongest <strong>in</strong> the 1930s under nationalist<br />
leader Albizu-Campos <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the 1970s when nationalist <strong>and</strong><br />
socialist ideologies merged. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Pepe, the PIP does not<br />
represent the masses because they do not underst<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> take <strong>in</strong>to<br />
consideration the native aspect <strong>of</strong> the movement. <strong>The</strong> values <strong>of</strong> the<br />
PIP leadership, which he says are Eurocentric <strong>and</strong> based on pleas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the current system <strong>of</strong> power politics, are not the values <strong>of</strong> the<br />
native people, as he has referred to. 68 Pepe told me he does not<br />
belong to any political organization but strives to assist everyday
126<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
people struggl<strong>in</strong>g to make ends meet. Still, while politically wan<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
cultural nationalism rema<strong>in</strong>s strong <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. 69 J. Benjamín<br />
Torres is paraphrased as hav<strong>in</strong>g said, “Learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
cultural values will help develop a national consciousness necessary<br />
<strong>in</strong> the struggle for emancipation from colonial dom<strong>in</strong>ation.” 70 For<br />
many, this has been the belief for a long time as the Jíbaro culture<br />
is the heart <strong>and</strong> soul <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. <strong>The</strong> cultural importance <strong>of</strong><br />
the movement is looked at closer shortly.<br />
Now that the myth <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous ext<strong>in</strong>ction has been dismantled, it<br />
is clear that an <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural identity <strong>and</strong> the fight for <strong>in</strong>dependence<br />
have gone h<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> h<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>and</strong> cannot be separated. A<br />
similar impetus has driven the various social <strong>and</strong> liberation movements<br />
<strong>in</strong> Bolivia, México, Ecuador, Peru, <strong>and</strong> Colombia. In Bolivia, the battle<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st neoliberal economic policies is what brought Morales to<br />
power. Issues such as the privatization <strong>of</strong> resources, like water, <strong>and</strong><br />
l<strong>and</strong> redistribution are what sparked “the consciousness <strong>of</strong> the Bolivian<br />
people.” 71 This was the climax <strong>of</strong> a long struggle. I keep hear<strong>in</strong>g<br />
similar compla<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> about privatization, unsusta<strong>in</strong>able<br />
development projects, <strong>and</strong> l<strong>and</strong> claim issues. How do resolv<strong>in</strong>g these<br />
types <strong>of</strong> concerns relate to the <strong>Borikén</strong> movement? Berman-Santana is<br />
correct to po<strong>in</strong>t out how <strong>in</strong>digenous identity <strong>and</strong> culture “hold more<br />
than merely academic significance, for they may speak to ownership,<br />
not only <strong>of</strong> identity but also <strong>of</strong> legitimate control over l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> other<br />
resources—which are the material foundations <strong>of</strong> ‘sovereignty’ <strong>and</strong><br />
self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation.” 72 While Berman-Santana pretty much sees the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous movement or “revival” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> on the fr<strong>in</strong>ge <strong>of</strong> society,<br />
her article is significant because it is an academic piece written by a<br />
scholar that at least acknowledges <strong>and</strong> takes somewhat seriously the<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous presence as an entity or movement. She asks some important<br />
questions: “how might recovery <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous, non-Eurocentric<br />
perspectives <strong>and</strong> practices not only help break <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>’s colonial<br />
dependence upon the United States but also form a basis for a<br />
noncapitalist <strong>and</strong> susta<strong>in</strong>able <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>? More broadly, how might<br />
recover<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>digenous values help rescue a people from destructive<br />
Western values such as separation from nature, <strong>in</strong>dividualism,<br />
<strong>and</strong> pursuit <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>it? How might <strong>in</strong>digenous revival help reconnect<br />
people with nature <strong>and</strong> with one another <strong>and</strong> promote mean<strong>in</strong>gful<br />
self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation?” 73
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 127<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement<br />
Though not well documented, I was fortunate to have addressed these<br />
types <strong>of</strong> questions <strong>and</strong> issues <strong>in</strong> my dissertation. Many <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
groups <strong>and</strong> organizations have formed over the years <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
have attempted to build an awareness <strong>and</strong> sense <strong>of</strong> solidarity among<br />
the general population. One <strong>of</strong> the first <strong>and</strong> most important organizations<br />
<strong>in</strong>spir<strong>in</strong>g the more recent “formal” <strong>in</strong>digenous movement is the<br />
Consejo General de Ta<strong>in</strong>os Bor<strong>in</strong>canos, founded <strong>in</strong> 1979. Accord<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to Elba Anaca Lugo, one <strong>of</strong> the group’s founders <strong>and</strong> current director,<br />
the organization’s central purposes have been to recover <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
cultural values <strong>and</strong> to unify other groups <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> <strong>and</strong> the<br />
diaspora. 74 <strong>The</strong> organization comprises three circles. <strong>The</strong> nucleus <strong>of</strong><br />
the First Circle is the Council <strong>of</strong> Arocoels (Elders) <strong>and</strong> those who first<br />
started the movement. <strong>The</strong>y established the bylaws <strong>and</strong> fundamental<br />
pr<strong>in</strong>ciples <strong>of</strong> the organization, <strong>and</strong> provide spiritual <strong>and</strong> cultural guidance<br />
<strong>and</strong> knowledge to members. <strong>The</strong> Second Circle is made up <strong>of</strong><br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional resource people like writers, historians, anthropologists<br />
(“humanistic archeologists”), <strong>and</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>esspeople who work to promote<br />
the culture <strong>in</strong> areas such as research, economics, <strong>and</strong> resource<br />
management. This circle also comprises pr<strong>of</strong>essional artisans, poets,<br />
<strong>and</strong> musicians. <strong>The</strong> Third Circle primarily consists <strong>of</strong> the people, or<br />
those who are <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g about the culture <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> recover<strong>in</strong>g<br />
their <strong>in</strong>digenous heritage. <strong>The</strong> elder’s council oversees all three<br />
circles. “We have elders represent<strong>in</strong>g every part <strong>of</strong> the Antilles,” said<br />
Anaca Lugo, who “as gr<strong>and</strong>fathers [<strong>and</strong>] gr<strong>and</strong>mothers are the ones<br />
who through experience can give us the guidance <strong>and</strong> the orientation”<br />
to make the proper decisions <strong>in</strong> our future quest. 75 Another significant<br />
organization established <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> around 1993 is Caney Quito<br />
Mundo. Founded by Naniki, Nogueras-Vidal, <strong>and</strong> others, the Caney<br />
seeks to unify <strong>and</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural traditions through<br />
spiritual gather<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> community work. <strong>The</strong> recovery <strong>and</strong> re<strong>in</strong>terment<br />
<strong>of</strong> human ancestral rema<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong> cultural artifacts have been one<br />
<strong>of</strong> their most important tasks. 76 A more recent group to form is called<br />
Otu-kan. Founded <strong>in</strong> 2003 by Nogueras-Vidal, Christ<strong>in</strong>a Arce, <strong>and</strong><br />
Nelson Monge, Otu-kan is a nonpr<strong>of</strong>it organization dedicated to traditional,<br />
spiritual, <strong>and</strong> ancestral native education. Its purpose is to<br />
practice <strong>and</strong> teach spiritual <strong>and</strong> ancestral wisdom <strong>of</strong> the Native American<br />
people <strong>of</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Nogueras-Vidal, those who came<br />
together are artisans <strong>and</strong> people grounded <strong>in</strong> spiritual teach<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong><br />
dedicated to liv<strong>in</strong>g an Amer<strong>in</strong>dian way <strong>of</strong> life. 77
128<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
Nogueras-Vidal has also remarked to me that the <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
resurgence on the isl<strong>and</strong> is a political movement. She “see[s] this<br />
as an embodiment <strong>of</strong> a political force” that has to do with all facets<br />
<strong>of</strong> the movement whether it concerns identity, recognition, cultural<br />
protocol, or political activism. She says the movement is about the<br />
restoration <strong>of</strong> political <strong>in</strong>dependence, which means end<strong>in</strong>g colonialism<br />
<strong>and</strong> dependency on the United States. Nogueras-Vidal added,<br />
“It just so happens that one hundred years <strong>of</strong> colonization by the<br />
North American government is <strong>in</strong> alignment with the awaken<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
the people <strong>of</strong> this l<strong>and</strong> . . . <strong>The</strong> people who are grassroots <strong>and</strong> awakened<br />
<strong>and</strong> know that the North American government has exploited<br />
this l<strong>and</strong> know that this whole mentality that we cannot live if they<br />
are not here is totally untrue.” 78 She says the people have always<br />
been knowledgeable about their Indian identity <strong>and</strong> traditional<br />
ways. Yet, while the sense <strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g was always there, the past two or<br />
three generations did not openly express their identity <strong>and</strong> rema<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
very silent because societal forces <strong>of</strong> the time did not allow for it. 79<br />
<strong>The</strong> people “who are conscious <strong>of</strong> the fact that we are a people,<br />
we are a nation . . . are plant<strong>in</strong>g our seeds. We are plant<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
seeds for this generation <strong>and</strong> all generations to come.” <strong>The</strong> ma<strong>in</strong><br />
objectives <strong>of</strong> the artisans, for <strong>in</strong>stance, are to perpetuate the cultural<br />
traditions <strong>and</strong> to educate. Shar<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> teach<strong>in</strong>g the children are also<br />
an important part <strong>of</strong> the process. In keep<strong>in</strong>g with the m<strong>and</strong>ate that<br />
the “<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Indian” be honored on August 12, which was<br />
passed by the state legislature <strong>in</strong> 1970, cultural practitioners opened<br />
a batey <strong>in</strong> Jayuya <strong>in</strong> 1997 <strong>and</strong> performed a ceremony <strong>in</strong> honor <strong>of</strong> the<br />
ancestors. This is now an annual event. 80<br />
Nogueras-Vidal stressed that the movement is really about a change<br />
<strong>in</strong> lifestyle or consciousness—for example, by becom<strong>in</strong>g more selfsufficient<br />
as <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> imports 90 percent <strong>of</strong> its food products. 81<br />
One strategy then is an attempt to break the cycle <strong>of</strong> dependency<br />
on particularly the United States through more localized economic<br />
self-sufficiency models. Elaborat<strong>in</strong>g on the dependency model, Naniki<br />
noted how Boricua need to economically take matters <strong>in</strong>to their own<br />
h<strong>and</strong>s. She po<strong>in</strong>ts to the work <strong>of</strong> Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee) <strong>in</strong> help<strong>in</strong>g<br />
her people break the cycle <strong>of</strong> dependency on the United States.<br />
In construct<strong>in</strong>g a needed well system, for <strong>in</strong>stance, Mankiller hired<br />
outside expertise to tra<strong>in</strong> her people to acquire the skills needed to<br />
construct <strong>and</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> the system. This allowed them not to have to<br />
lease help from an outside entity after the system was completed. 82<br />
Naniki said,
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 129<br />
<strong>The</strong>y [the Unites States] have created for us so many dependencies that<br />
we as people feel that we can’t do it. We feel that we need to hire them,<br />
<strong>and</strong> we need to lease l<strong>and</strong> to them to do for us because we are unable<br />
to. Wilma decided somewhere along the l<strong>in</strong>e that she wanted to break<br />
with dependent models, <strong>and</strong> she wanted to create self-sufficient models<br />
so that her people could once aga<strong>in</strong> take pride <strong>in</strong> themselves, not just<br />
as human be<strong>in</strong>gs, but as be<strong>in</strong>g able to susta<strong>in</strong> themselves, be<strong>in</strong>g able to<br />
provide for their own people . . . <strong>The</strong> model must be that the arrogant<br />
North American technocrats need to let go. <strong>The</strong>y need to come <strong>in</strong>, provide<br />
our tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> go back home. And allow us to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> keep<br />
our own systems go<strong>in</strong>g. Often times what we see is that they come <strong>and</strong><br />
they want to do the tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, but then they want to stay as the teachers<br />
<strong>and</strong> the keepers. And so Wilma said “no way.” That’s just not go<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
be what happens here. 83<br />
For Naniki, economic self-reliance through the education <strong>and</strong><br />
tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>esspeople <strong>and</strong> technicians is a key to break<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
cycle <strong>of</strong> colonialism. One important area where Boricua can become<br />
more self-sufficient is through agriculture, she said. <strong>The</strong> ancestors,<br />
who passed down their knowledge, were expert agriculturalists highly<br />
knowledgeable <strong>of</strong> the symbiotic relationship among plants. But do<strong>in</strong>g<br />
agriculture alone is not enough <strong>in</strong> today’s world. Naniki po<strong>in</strong>ted out<br />
that <strong>in</strong> sell<strong>in</strong>g these products <strong>and</strong> meet<strong>in</strong>g consumer dem<strong>and</strong>s, you<br />
need to set up a system <strong>in</strong> order to market, transport, <strong>and</strong> eventually<br />
export these goods. Many Boricua are already knowledgeable <strong>and</strong><br />
skilled <strong>in</strong> these areas, so the question is how to pull the people <strong>and</strong><br />
resources together. A cha<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> self-reliance can be created “when we<br />
beg<strong>in</strong> to look with<strong>in</strong> to see the skills that each <strong>of</strong> us have that comprise<br />
the totality <strong>of</strong> that particular venture.” 84 This is a model <strong>of</strong> self-suffiency<br />
<strong>and</strong> a “stepp<strong>in</strong>gstone for <strong>in</strong>dependence . . . break<strong>in</strong>g colonialism<br />
must come from with<strong>in</strong> us. We must beg<strong>in</strong> to break <strong>and</strong> shatter that<br />
illusion <strong>of</strong> dependency <strong>and</strong> reliance upon others . . . <strong>and</strong> if we can do<br />
this we can break with that colonial mentality <strong>and</strong> therefore break<br />
with colonialism,” she expressed. 85 <strong>The</strong>refore, we can see from the<br />
discussion thus far that the <strong>in</strong>digenous movement <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> concerns<br />
cultural, spiritual, political, <strong>and</strong> economic dimensions.<br />
Cuko exp<strong>and</strong>ed on the “gr<strong>in</strong>go system” <strong>of</strong> dependency by say<strong>in</strong>g<br />
it is designed to keep the people “quiet.” He said the government<br />
gives poor people food stamps, subsidies, <strong>and</strong> leaves them watch<strong>in</strong>g<br />
television. If the food stamps <strong>and</strong> subsidies were removed <strong>and</strong> the<br />
people given l<strong>and</strong> to work on, they would become <strong>in</strong>dependent <strong>and</strong><br />
have their money. But this is what the government <strong>and</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
elite do not want because they would lose control. This is what they
130<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
are worried about, he noted. Everybody would be <strong>in</strong>dependent, not<br />
need<strong>in</strong>g to receive little bits <strong>of</strong> subsidies. 86 When I followed up later<br />
ask<strong>in</strong>g him what percentage <strong>of</strong> the population he th<strong>in</strong>ks falls with<strong>in</strong><br />
the aforementioned category, Cuko replied that 70 to 75 percent <strong>of</strong><br />
the overall population on the isl<strong>and</strong> are “poor” <strong>and</strong> dependent on<br />
“aid.” 87 This figure matches Liliana Cotto’s analysis <strong>of</strong> the results <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>in</strong>dustrialization process <strong>of</strong> the mid-twentieth century <strong>and</strong> “paternalistic<br />
political system based on social welfare <strong>and</strong> patron-client<br />
relations.” She wrote, “Around 70 percent <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong>’s families<br />
rema<strong>in</strong>ed under poverty level.” 88 Pepe added that the American government<br />
is set up to give the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican people subsidies so that<br />
U.S. bus<strong>in</strong>esses <strong>and</strong> corporations can export their products to the<br />
isl<strong>and</strong> at cheap prices. Local bus<strong>in</strong>esses suffer <strong>in</strong> the process. 89 This<br />
is a classic example <strong>of</strong> the function <strong>of</strong> globalization <strong>in</strong> relation to the<br />
dependency model, ak<strong>in</strong> to how <strong>in</strong>tergovernmental organizations like<br />
the International Monetary Fund <strong>and</strong> World Bank <strong>of</strong>ten function with<br />
their “structural adjustment policies” putt<strong>in</strong>g small or “develop<strong>in</strong>g”<br />
nations deeper <strong>in</strong>to debt <strong>and</strong> poverty.<br />
Regard<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>and</strong>, Cuko said the Department <strong>of</strong> Natural <strong>and</strong> Environmental<br />
Resources took his family’s l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> declared it a “wildlife<br />
zone.” He cannot build a home on his l<strong>and</strong>. He can farm there but<br />
if you do not have a home, how can you watch over your crops? He<br />
staunchly replied, “My l<strong>and</strong> is m<strong>in</strong>e, <strong>and</strong> I control my l<strong>and</strong>. That’s the<br />
way it should be.” 90 He po<strong>in</strong>ted out that only about 15 percent <strong>of</strong><br />
Jíbaros control their own l<strong>and</strong> today, though many live on l<strong>and</strong>s they<br />
consider to be theirs through <strong>in</strong>heritance. This harkens back to the<br />
n<strong>in</strong>eteenth-century theft <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>in</strong> that most Jíbaro do not have the<br />
“documents” “to prove” what they believe to be rightfully theirs as<br />
passed down over time. <strong>The</strong>y are thus sometimes called “squatters.”<br />
Cuko said that while Muñoz-Marín’s “l<strong>and</strong> reform” <strong>of</strong> the 1940s<br />
gave back “a little bit” <strong>of</strong> l<strong>and</strong> to the people, his overall reforms did<br />
“more damage” <strong>in</strong> the long run. He was referr<strong>in</strong>g to the <strong>in</strong>dustrialization<br />
process <strong>and</strong> subsequent urban migration for jobs that ended up<br />
remov<strong>in</strong>g people from their l<strong>and</strong>. 91 In support, Morris Morley writes<br />
that the abolition <strong>of</strong> the “corporate latifundio,” or large l<strong>and</strong> estates,<br />
“had not taken place, <strong>and</strong> was not about to occur.” He <strong>in</strong>dicated that<br />
as a result <strong>of</strong> the 1941 L<strong>and</strong> Law, “government aid to the agricultural<br />
sector was be<strong>in</strong>g directed toward the l<strong>and</strong>owner rather than toward<br />
the l<strong>and</strong>less agricultural laborer.” 92<br />
Cuko said his goal is to take back what belonged to “our ancestors.”<br />
He proposes a community-based <strong>in</strong>digenous model for the future not<br />
unlike the means <strong>of</strong> governance be<strong>in</strong>g proposed <strong>and</strong> implemented <strong>in</strong>
Cultural Survival <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> Movement 131<br />
places like Lat<strong>in</strong> America. This model <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous susta<strong>in</strong>ability is<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g resurrected <strong>and</strong> is partly <strong>in</strong> response to the negative effects <strong>of</strong><br />
neoliberal capitalist policies. He said the schools, hospitals, <strong>and</strong> justice<br />
system would be directed by the communities. Government leaders<br />
would be from their respected communities <strong>and</strong> selected by the<br />
people who live there. Foreigners or outsides who do not know the<br />
community <strong>and</strong> the oppression <strong>of</strong> the people would not be allowed<br />
to run for <strong>of</strong>fice. <strong>The</strong> leaders must be <strong>in</strong>timately tied to the life <strong>of</strong> the<br />
community. Regard<strong>in</strong>g agriculture, the people would produce what<br />
they consume <strong>and</strong> sell it right here <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. Ownership <strong>of</strong> the production<br />
system <strong>and</strong> control <strong>of</strong> factories would be by the community<br />
so they would directly benefit <strong>and</strong> improve their st<strong>and</strong>ard <strong>of</strong> liv<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
International trade would be done “product for product,” or at a fair<br />
exchange where one is not taken advantage <strong>of</strong>. When I asked Cuko<br />
how many people would support what he is say<strong>in</strong>g, he provided this<br />
explanation. He said if he, or someone who th<strong>in</strong>ks like him, went <strong>in</strong>to<br />
a store <strong>in</strong> a community <strong>and</strong> talked about these ideas, a good number<br />
<strong>of</strong> people would agree with him. He then magnified that number<br />
by say<strong>in</strong>g that this support would be the same <strong>in</strong> hundreds or thous<strong>and</strong>s<br />
<strong>of</strong> stores around the isl<strong>and</strong>. He therefore calculated that there<br />
would be a great amount <strong>of</strong> people who would support these ideas<br />
<strong>and</strong> model. This is not a hypothetical assessment as he concluded that<br />
these types <strong>of</strong> issues are <strong>of</strong>ten discussed <strong>in</strong> stores <strong>and</strong> that the leadership<br />
is already there. 93<br />
Pepe said the people need to unite because many communities are<br />
under assault <strong>and</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g destroyed by big costly development projects<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g promoted by the rich. <strong>The</strong> people <strong>in</strong> these communities are<br />
aware <strong>of</strong> this <strong>and</strong> very worried about their futures. Part <strong>of</strong> his work<br />
entails go<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to communities to talk to people, especially the elders,<br />
to f<strong>in</strong>d the native leadership that is <strong>in</strong> every community, or those who<br />
are the most conscious <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous plight. He said he f<strong>in</strong>ds that<br />
people <strong>in</strong> these communities are <strong>of</strong>ten wait<strong>in</strong>g for the help <strong>of</strong> activists<br />
like him. Pepe emphasized that the people have a right to choose the<br />
forms <strong>of</strong> development they feel is best for them, not foreigners. <strong>The</strong><br />
communities should be able to control their schools <strong>and</strong> what their<br />
children are taught <strong>and</strong> how to deal with the social problems that<br />
plague them, like high crime rates, drug use, <strong>and</strong> unemployment. His<br />
aim is to help the people take back control <strong>of</strong> their lives. 94<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, Cuko gave me an example <strong>of</strong> how “people power” can have<br />
a tremendous effect on the <strong>Borikén</strong> movement. He said there were<br />
some people under great oppression <strong>and</strong> when they got fed up, they<br />
rose up <strong>and</strong> expelled the most powerful military <strong>in</strong> the world. He was
132<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> course referr<strong>in</strong>g to Bieke. After the kill<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> civilian worker David<br />
Sanes by an errant bomb, he expressed that a few revolutionary leaders<br />
were soon after able to arouse thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> people from around<br />
<strong>Borikén</strong> to support the cause aga<strong>in</strong>st the U.S. Navy. Cuko noted that<br />
these thous<strong>and</strong>s were “quiet” beforeh<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong> community <strong>of</strong> Bieke<br />
is an analogy for communities across <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> that the Boricua<br />
are ready to rise up when the circumstances warrant it. 95 <strong>The</strong>re is also<br />
a strong <strong>and</strong> longtime native cultural attachment to the l<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Bieke<br />
by the people who live there. This connection comb<strong>in</strong>ed with its<br />
political activism, which for Viequenses has also been a five-hundredyear<br />
resistance, has <strong>in</strong>deed been seen as a model on a larger scale. As<br />
Berman-Santana writes, “In dozens <strong>of</strong> support groups throughout<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, people discussed how to use Vieques as a model for<br />
recover<strong>in</strong>g their sense <strong>of</strong> connection to their own home territories<br />
<strong>and</strong> communities <strong>and</strong> for throw<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong>f the yoke <strong>of</strong> dependence. <strong>The</strong><br />
realization is grow<strong>in</strong>g that the struggle aga<strong>in</strong>st navy occupation was<br />
only one chapter <strong>in</strong> the much longer story <strong>and</strong> greater challenge <strong>of</strong><br />
truly liberat<strong>in</strong>g Vieques—<strong>and</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.” 96<br />
Conclusion<br />
This chapter has shown a prevalent Jíbaro cultural cont<strong>in</strong>uum through<br />
customary, spiritual, medic<strong>in</strong>al, <strong>and</strong> l<strong>in</strong>guistic practices. <strong>The</strong>se practices<br />
<strong>and</strong> the stories surround<strong>in</strong>g them relate back to ancient times<br />
<strong>and</strong> traditions. Christian traditions were most prom<strong>in</strong>ently adopted<br />
or syncretized <strong>in</strong>to the <strong>in</strong>digenous belief structure <strong>and</strong> practices as<br />
survival strategies or <strong>in</strong> adapt<strong>in</strong>g to the times. <strong>The</strong> Indian cultural element<br />
has survived <strong>in</strong> Jíbaro families <strong>and</strong> the subconscious because this<br />
is what the people know <strong>and</strong> are most familiar with <strong>in</strong> grow<strong>in</strong>g up on<br />
the isl<strong>and</strong>. <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro-Boricua has also cont<strong>in</strong>ued to be the impetus<br />
<strong>in</strong> the political struggle for <strong>in</strong>dependence. S<strong>in</strong>ce the <strong>in</strong>itial upris<strong>in</strong>g<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st the Spaniards <strong>in</strong> 1511, they have consistently put their lives on<br />
the l<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> valiantly protect<strong>in</strong>g their freedom. <strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous voice<br />
speaks out today <strong>in</strong> everyday lives <strong>and</strong> through the contemporary<br />
movement <strong>of</strong> attempt<strong>in</strong>g to provide a more viable <strong>and</strong> just future for<br />
<strong>Borikén</strong>.
Chapter 7<br />
Conclusion<br />
I have attempted <strong>in</strong> this book to give voice to the voiceless by provid<strong>in</strong>g<br />
a platform for the Jíbaro to educate <strong>and</strong> tell their story. I have most<br />
importantly done this by draw<strong>in</strong>g on alternative sources <strong>of</strong> oral <strong>and</strong><br />
written <strong>in</strong>formation to shatter a deeply embedded illusion. <strong>The</strong> story<br />
told is largely unknown because it has been suppressed for centuries<br />
by dom<strong>in</strong>ant Spanish <strong>and</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican <strong>in</strong>stitutions. <strong>The</strong> most important<br />
th<strong>in</strong>gs to say <strong>in</strong> conclud<strong>in</strong>g are that the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong> are still there <strong>and</strong> still struggl<strong>in</strong>g under a two-tiered colonial<br />
<strong>and</strong> neocolonial system. <strong>The</strong> fact that <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> has not exercised<br />
its <strong>in</strong>ternational right <strong>of</strong> self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation speaks to this po<strong>in</strong>t. Thus,<br />
this narrative is not one <strong>of</strong> a “romanticized” past but <strong>of</strong> an immediate<br />
history <strong>and</strong> presence. <strong>The</strong> Jíbaro man pa<strong>in</strong>fully said that this nation<br />
does not have self-control. It is controlled by others who dom<strong>in</strong>ate<br />
<strong>and</strong> impose their will. In reference to the Jíbaro, he asked, “Where’s<br />
the power for us to challenge?” When the politicians speak out, they<br />
tend to be believed because they are the “pr<strong>of</strong>essionals.” But they do<br />
not believe “us,” the people. Whatever the Jíbaro do for themselves<br />
the rul<strong>in</strong>g class smashes because they have the power. 1<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>in</strong>tense resistance to Spanish imperialism is a testament to<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> cultural survival <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity today. This<br />
was not merely a political fight but a social, cultural, economic, <strong>and</strong><br />
spiritual clash <strong>of</strong> civilizations. <strong>The</strong> European consistently demonized<br />
<strong>and</strong> dehumanized Amer<strong>in</strong>dian people <strong>in</strong> order to justify their<br />
reprehensible <strong>and</strong> genocidal ways. <strong>The</strong> resistance began at the time<br />
the Roman Catholic Church promulgated a series <strong>of</strong> papal decrees <strong>in</strong><br />
1493 authoriz<strong>in</strong>g war aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>fidels. <strong>The</strong> 39 Spaniards at La Navidad<br />
were killed for their crimes. Both active <strong>and</strong> passive forms <strong>of</strong>
134<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
resistance were undertaken <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. <strong>The</strong> early war dealt the Spaniards<br />
a severe blow, <strong>and</strong>, besides a robust presence <strong>in</strong> the vic<strong>in</strong>ity <strong>of</strong><br />
San Juan, they had only established a few settlements on the isl<strong>and</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Carib attacked <strong>and</strong> harassed the colonizer throughout the sixteenth<br />
century, limit<strong>in</strong>g their ability to trade, <strong>and</strong> were a ma<strong>in</strong> reason<br />
for the issuance <strong>of</strong> the requerimiento. Many Indian people also fled<br />
the <strong>in</strong>itial Spanish <strong>in</strong>cursion <strong>and</strong> the encomienda system they had set<br />
up. Aside from the many already liv<strong>in</strong>g throughout the isl<strong>and</strong>, escape,<br />
hid<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> avoid<strong>in</strong>g census takers were among the most prom<strong>in</strong>ent<br />
forms <strong>of</strong> passive resistance exhibited <strong>in</strong> the post-European contact era.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are many many isolated places where one could live, especially<br />
on the “side side side” roads <strong>of</strong> the mounta<strong>in</strong> regions.<br />
While there is no deny<strong>in</strong>g that a significant number <strong>of</strong> native<br />
people perished through the colonial process <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, the dom<strong>in</strong>ant<br />
<strong>in</strong>stitutions keep say<strong>in</strong>g the people were “conquered” so they<br />
can keep their claim to the l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> history. 2 <strong>The</strong>y have done this<br />
by consistently deflat<strong>in</strong>g native population counts <strong>and</strong> then f<strong>in</strong>ally<br />
elim<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g the category “Indios” <strong>in</strong> the early n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century. At<br />
the time, however, tens <strong>of</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Jíbaro Indians were present<br />
on the isl<strong>and</strong> liv<strong>in</strong>g as free <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependent people. <strong>The</strong>y <strong>and</strong> those<br />
who came before them lived good lives, <strong>and</strong> their descendents are<br />
there today. <strong>The</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> m<strong>in</strong>imizes or does not<br />
tell <strong>of</strong> this history, <strong>in</strong>formation or events that would contradict the<br />
manufactured account <strong>of</strong> this people’s “ext<strong>in</strong>ction.” For example, the<br />
subject <strong>of</strong> the “año de las guácaras,” the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth-century period<br />
when many Jíbaro lived <strong>in</strong> caves to escape the advancement <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Spaniards, is not taught <strong>in</strong> the schools. It was only after the attempted<br />
revolution <strong>of</strong> 1868 when the Spaniards fully took over <strong>Borikén</strong>. <strong>The</strong><br />
Jíbaro were, <strong>in</strong> part, try<strong>in</strong>g to prevent the <strong>in</strong>truders from tak<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
native stronghold <strong>of</strong> Lares. Spanish success <strong>in</strong> the long run was not<br />
so strong because, as Cuko expla<strong>in</strong>ed, you f<strong>in</strong>d many native communities<br />
still practic<strong>in</strong>g their cultural traditions. 3 Resistance to the<br />
occupation cont<strong>in</strong>ued throughout the el componte torture era until<br />
Spa<strong>in</strong>’s control <strong>of</strong> the isl<strong>and</strong> ended <strong>in</strong> 1898. American rule has also<br />
been particularly harsh. Native resistance was strong <strong>in</strong> the first half <strong>of</strong><br />
the twentieth century <strong>and</strong> rema<strong>in</strong>s today as witnessed by the cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g<br />
struggle aga<strong>in</strong>st the U.S. military <strong>in</strong> Bieke to clean up their toxic<br />
mess <strong>and</strong> address the concerns <strong>of</strong> cancer victims.<br />
In terms <strong>of</strong> the myth <strong>of</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction, the idea <strong>of</strong> rationaliz<strong>in</strong>g “pure”<br />
identities as a basis <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous ext<strong>in</strong>ction came to be solidified <strong>and</strong><br />
used <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century <strong>in</strong> relation to Darw<strong>in</strong>ian social theory<br />
<strong>and</strong> the “survival <strong>of</strong> the fittest.” <strong>The</strong> fact that this idea <strong>in</strong> this day <strong>and</strong>
Conclusion 135<br />
age is still promoted <strong>and</strong> used as a primary basis <strong>of</strong> Indian ext<strong>in</strong>ction<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> seems <strong>in</strong>credible. Scholars cl<strong>in</strong>g to the biological or<br />
genetic notion <strong>of</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction despite DNA results reveal<strong>in</strong>g a strong<br />
contemporary Amer<strong>in</strong>dian presence on the isl<strong>and</strong>. In response to the<br />
f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs by Martínez-Cruzado <strong>and</strong> his researchers, one scholar has<br />
even written that “[<strong>in</strong>] order to make the case aga<strong>in</strong>st ext<strong>in</strong>ction,”<br />
they would now have “to locate <strong>in</strong>dividual <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans who are<br />
‘Amer<strong>in</strong>dian’ <strong>and</strong> demonstrably pure from a biological st<strong>and</strong>po<strong>in</strong>t.” 4<br />
First <strong>of</strong> all, the notion <strong>of</strong> “purity” is an abstraction. Who <strong>in</strong> the world<br />
is really racially “pure”? <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples were exogamous,<br />
so acceptance <strong>of</strong> outside groups was a norm that enhanced<br />
their culture <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>creased their chances <strong>of</strong> survival particularly <strong>in</strong><br />
the post-fifteenth century, as Indian women rout<strong>in</strong>ely <strong>in</strong>termixed<br />
with foreigners. This proposition would logically <strong>in</strong>fer that the large<br />
majority <strong>of</strong> American Indian people <strong>in</strong> the Americas today are also<br />
“ext<strong>in</strong>ct,” s<strong>in</strong>ce most are mestizo. This is absurd, <strong>and</strong> the type <strong>of</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous peoples have been attempt<strong>in</strong>g to counter for decades.<br />
This argument appears to be a desperate effort by the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
academy to fend <strong>of</strong>f the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g evidence <strong>of</strong> both <strong>in</strong>digenous physical<br />
<strong>and</strong> cultural survival <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>.<br />
As Hörmann has shown, “mixed blooded” native survival as a<br />
result <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>tercultural colonial contact is most viable <strong>and</strong> is frankly an<br />
understatement. This is the way most <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples today have<br />
been able to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> or recover their identities <strong>and</strong> traditions. This<br />
is the way people are mak<strong>in</strong>g sense <strong>of</strong> their lives! As the late Cherokee<br />
writer Louis Owens creatively summed it up, “the mixedblood is<br />
not a cultural broker but a cultural breaker, break-danc<strong>in</strong>g tricksterfashion<br />
through all signs, fractur<strong>in</strong>g the self-reflexive mirror <strong>of</strong> the<br />
dom<strong>in</strong>ant center, deconstruct<strong>in</strong>g rigid borders, slipp<strong>in</strong>g between the<br />
seams, embody<strong>in</strong>g contradictions, <strong>and</strong> contradanc<strong>in</strong>g across every<br />
boundary. <strong>The</strong> Indian has appropriated <strong>and</strong> occupied the frontier, reimag<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
it aga<strong>in</strong>st all odds.” 5 “Aga<strong>in</strong>st all odds” <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
Indian paradigm means tell<strong>in</strong>g the world we are still here. As biology is<br />
largely static, culture, or “cultural breaker” <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> transcendence,<br />
is mutable <strong>and</strong> vibrant <strong>and</strong> adapts over time <strong>in</strong> relation to human<br />
survival. It is the process <strong>of</strong> change <strong>and</strong> cultural adaptation that has<br />
transcended the antiquated biological concept <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous ext<strong>in</strong>ction,<br />
where the faces have <strong>of</strong>ten changed but the identity <strong>and</strong> spirit<br />
have cont<strong>in</strong>ued on.<br />
This book has debunked the deeply held belief <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>ction by primarily show<strong>in</strong>g that cultural survival <strong>and</strong><br />
affiliation are the bases <strong>of</strong> the contemporary <strong>in</strong>digenous presence <strong>in</strong>
136<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. This is what has really allowed for the Jíbaro or Boricua<br />
to cont<strong>in</strong>ue to speak, cry out to be heard, <strong>and</strong> move forward. <strong>The</strong><br />
synthesist <strong>and</strong> syncretist processes described <strong>in</strong> this work are similar to<br />
José Arguedas’s concept <strong>of</strong> “cultural mestizaje” <strong>in</strong> Peru, or the Inca<br />
capacity to change <strong>and</strong> assimilate foreign elements, yet rema<strong>in</strong> culturally<br />
dist<strong>in</strong>ct <strong>in</strong> the process. Outside cultural <strong>in</strong>fluences have been<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten synthesized <strong>in</strong>to modern ways <strong>of</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>. For<br />
<strong>in</strong>stance, <strong>in</strong> the mak<strong>in</strong>g or use <strong>of</strong> the fogón, bohío, cotona, <strong>and</strong> numerous<br />
musical <strong>in</strong>struments, Western <strong>and</strong> African <strong>in</strong>fluences <strong>and</strong> materials<br />
have been <strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong>to older <strong>in</strong>digenous customs <strong>and</strong> traditions.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Jíbaro music still played strongly exemplifies this. Likewise, the<br />
Indian words <strong>and</strong> accent still spoken produce a k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> mixed Spanish-Indian<br />
dialect, which carries l<strong>in</strong>guistic <strong>and</strong> cultural mean<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong><br />
mean<strong>in</strong>g is sometimes political as Pepe spoke <strong>of</strong> a flat h<strong>and</strong>held native<br />
drum called a p<strong>and</strong>ero that is <strong>of</strong>ten used to convey a message through<br />
plena music played at strikes, protests, <strong>and</strong> other social conflicts. 6<br />
<strong>The</strong> syncretism <strong>of</strong> primarily Christian traditional beliefs <strong>and</strong> representations<br />
<strong>in</strong>to the native belief structure is apparent contemporarily<br />
through the practices <strong>of</strong> espiritismo, the Rosario Cantar, <strong>and</strong> Noche<br />
de San Juan. Christian names, sa<strong>in</strong>ts, <strong>and</strong> statues have been symbolically<br />
utilized to re-represent <strong>and</strong> uphold <strong>in</strong>digenous traditions <strong>in</strong><br />
conform<strong>in</strong>g to the times <strong>and</strong> as a sort <strong>of</strong> camouflage to please the<br />
Catholic Church <strong>and</strong> authorities. Espiritismo has been passed down<br />
s<strong>in</strong>ce ancient times <strong>and</strong> still spiritually assists people <strong>in</strong> various ways.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are many espiritistas <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong>, <strong>and</strong>, accord<strong>in</strong>g to Uahtibili <strong>and</strong><br />
others, lots <strong>of</strong> people believe <strong>in</strong> the practice. <strong>The</strong> cultural root <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Rosario Cantar is <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>and</strong> apparently a way <strong>of</strong> perpetuat<strong>in</strong>g an<br />
areíto. While the ceremony may appear to be Catholic on the surface,<br />
the annual tradition <strong>of</strong> ask<strong>in</strong>g for “promises” carries a native mean<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong> reality. And Noche de San Juan is a pagan festival, whose deep<br />
mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> is to honor the first ancestor, or the one that came<br />
from the waters to the earth. 7<br />
Through teach<strong>in</strong>gs that have been passed down for generations,<br />
other cultural customs <strong>and</strong> traditions have essentially rema<strong>in</strong>ed unbroken<br />
over time such as Jíbaro plant<strong>in</strong>g by the moon, conuco <strong>and</strong> erone<br />
farm<strong>in</strong>g techniques, use <strong>of</strong> the same plants for herbal <strong>and</strong> medic<strong>in</strong>al<br />
purposes, use <strong>of</strong> stones <strong>and</strong> the cemí as means <strong>of</strong> communication,<br />
use <strong>of</strong> dita from the higüera tree, smell<strong>in</strong>g for water to know if it<br />
may ra<strong>in</strong>, the many foods the people still eat, <strong>and</strong> the native names<br />
people call themselves for various reasons. <strong>The</strong> character <strong>and</strong> values<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro are also uniquely theirs. <strong>The</strong>y have always been generous,<br />
humble, <strong>and</strong> wished to be left alone. <strong>The</strong>y work hard, strive to
Conclusion 137<br />
be self-sufficient, <strong>and</strong> love the l<strong>and</strong>; their attitude <strong>and</strong> love <strong>of</strong> freedom<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependence are legendary. And as Pepe added, their values provide<br />
them with a healthy spirit <strong>and</strong> make them happy. “<strong>The</strong> values that<br />
the people express constantly are more <strong>of</strong> a spiritual th<strong>in</strong>g . . . We have<br />
happ<strong>in</strong>ess.” 8 While there are whole communities <strong>of</strong> Indian people <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>Borikén</strong> who know who they are, what the elders always tell him they<br />
lost is the ancient system <strong>of</strong> “social respect,” or respect for the community<br />
as a whole. This is what the Jíbaro seeks to recapture <strong>and</strong> what<br />
would really make them happy.
This page <strong>in</strong>tentionally left blank
Notes<br />
Preface<br />
1. See Anthony Castanha, “Adventures <strong>in</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> Indigeneity<br />
Center<strong>in</strong>g on Resistance, Survival <strong>and</strong> Presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> (<strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>)” (PhD diss., University <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2004).<br />
2. L<strong>in</strong>da Tuhiwai Smith, Decoloniz<strong>in</strong>g Methodologies: Research <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Indigenous</strong> Peoples (London: Zed Books; <strong>and</strong> Duned<strong>in</strong>, New Zeal<strong>and</strong>:<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Otago Press, 1999), 35.<br />
3. Although most <strong>in</strong>digenous groups prefer to be called by their own<br />
names <strong>in</strong> their own languages, I th<strong>in</strong>k “<strong>in</strong>digenous,” “native,”<br />
“aborig<strong>in</strong>al,” or “first” peoples are succ<strong>in</strong>ctly def<strong>in</strong>ed collectively by<br />
Julian Burger <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> the right <strong>of</strong> self-identification, <strong>in</strong>clusivity,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the ability to adapt <strong>and</strong> survive, when he writes, “First peoples<br />
have a strong sense <strong>of</strong> their own identity as unique peoples, with<br />
their own l<strong>and</strong>s, languages, <strong>and</strong> cultures. <strong>The</strong>y claim the right to<br />
def<strong>in</strong>e what is meant by <strong>in</strong>digenous, <strong>and</strong> to be recognized as such by<br />
others. Some now live <strong>in</strong> cities, earn<strong>in</strong>g their liv<strong>in</strong>g as, for example,<br />
lawyers <strong>and</strong> community workers—or <strong>in</strong> many cases struggl<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
make ends meet; others reta<strong>in</strong> a traditional way <strong>of</strong> life. But they are<br />
united <strong>in</strong> their desire to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> their identity <strong>and</strong> yet be able to<br />
adapt <strong>and</strong> survive,” <strong>in</strong> Julian Burger, <strong>The</strong> Gaia Atlas <strong>of</strong> First Peoples:<br />
A Future for the <strong>Indigenous</strong> World (New York: Doubleday, 1990),<br />
16–17.<br />
4. <strong>The</strong> term “Indio,” or “Indian,” was <strong>of</strong> course an imag<strong>in</strong>ary creation<br />
<strong>of</strong> Christopher Columbus who believed, or refused to accept otherwise<br />
(Hulme 1986), that he had reached Asia or the Indies <strong>of</strong><br />
the east up until his death <strong>in</strong> 1506. In other words, Columbus was<br />
virtually lost throughout his four voyages to the Americas. It is with<br />
this underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> for the sake <strong>of</strong> clarity that I use the word<br />
<strong>in</strong> this book. I will also utilize <strong>in</strong>digenous words as appropriate as<br />
the Indian language <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> has survived <strong>in</strong> different forms <strong>and</strong><br />
efforts to revitalize <strong>and</strong> perpetuate the language are under way. For<br />
an extensive list<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> native words, see Luis Hernández Aqu<strong>in</strong>o,<br />
Diccionario De Voces Indígenas De <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (San Juan: Editorial<br />
Cultural, 1993).
140<br />
Notes<br />
5. Thomas K<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>The</strong> Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative (M<strong>in</strong>neapolis:<br />
University <strong>of</strong> M<strong>in</strong>nesota Press, 2003), 36–37.<br />
6. Ibid., 54.<br />
7. Ronald D. Arroyo, “Da Bor<strong>in</strong>kees: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>of</strong> Hawaii”<br />
(PhD diss., Union Graduate School, 1977), 2.<br />
8. Ibid., 2–3.<br />
9. Salvador Brau, Historia de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (1904; San Juan: Editorial<br />
Coquí, 1966), 181.<br />
10. Arroyo, “Da Bor<strong>in</strong>kees,” 3.<br />
11. Oscar Lamourt-Valentín, Cannibal Recipes, A sociol<strong>in</strong>guistic account<br />
<strong>of</strong> Carib-Jíbaro culture <strong>and</strong> response to the work <strong>of</strong> Ramón Pané,<br />
Unpublished manuscript (Ames: Iowa State University, 1979), 4.<br />
12. <strong>The</strong> name “Boricua” basically means “sacred place where the people<br />
come from,” referr<strong>in</strong>g to both place <strong>and</strong> people. Bo—“big” or<br />
“great”; Ri—“humanity” or “people”; <strong>and</strong> Cua—“sacred.” Interview<br />
with elder <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Naniki Reyes-<br />
Ocasio, July 12, 1999.<br />
13. María Teresa Babín, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans’ Spirit: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Life,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Culture, translated by Barry Luby (New York: Collier Books,<br />
1971), 1–2.<br />
14. Samuel M. Wilson, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> People <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
(Ga<strong>in</strong>esville: University Press <strong>of</strong> Florida, 1997), 177.<br />
15. José Barreiro, “Carib Gallery,” Northeast Indian Quarterly 7, no. 3<br />
(Fall 1990): 47.<br />
16. See Bartolomé de Las Casas, <strong>in</strong> Oliver Dunn <strong>and</strong> James E. Kelly,<br />
Jr., eds., trans., <strong>The</strong> Diario <strong>of</strong> Christopher Columbus’s First Voyage<br />
to America, 1492–1493, abstracted by Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas<br />
(Norman: University <strong>of</strong> Oklahoma Press, 1989), 284–87.<br />
17. See Jesse Walter Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 25th Annual Report, B. A. E. (Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Smithsonian<br />
Institution, 1907).<br />
18. Eugenio Fernández Méndez, Art <strong>and</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>ology <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>o Indians<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Greater West Indies (México City: Editorial Libros de México,<br />
1972), 17.<br />
19. See also Hernández-Aqu<strong>in</strong>o’s def<strong>in</strong>ition <strong>of</strong> “Carib” <strong>in</strong> relation to<br />
<strong>Borikén</strong>, <strong>in</strong> Aqu<strong>in</strong>o, Diccionario De Voces Indígenas De <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,<br />
124.<br />
20. Interview with Carib-Jíbaro l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>and</strong> scholar Oki Lamourt-<br />
Valentín, July 27, 1998; Uahtibili Báez Santiago <strong>and</strong> Huana Naboli<br />
Martínez Prieto, “<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>”: la gran mentira, Ilustraciones y arte<br />
gráfico por Luis Roberto Domínguez (Camuy, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Edición<br />
Revisada, 2008), 45.<br />
21. Lamourt-Valentín, Cannibal Recipes, 36.<br />
22. Luis O. Zayas Micheli, <strong>in</strong> Manuel A. Alonso, El Jibaro (Rio Piedras,<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Editorial Edil, Inc., 1992), 6.
Notes 141<br />
23. Interview with Lamourt-Valentín, July 27, 1998.<br />
24. Correspondence with artisan <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner<br />
Margarita Nogueras-Vidal.<br />
Chapter 1<br />
1. Peter Hulme, Colonial Encounters: Europe <strong>and</strong> the native <strong>Caribbean</strong>,<br />
1492–1797, (London: Methuen & Co., 1986), 8.<br />
2. George Lamm<strong>in</strong>g, “<strong>The</strong> Occasion for Speak<strong>in</strong>g,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> Post-Colonial<br />
Studies Reader, ed. Bill Ashcr<strong>of</strong>t, Gareth Griffiths, <strong>and</strong> Helen<br />
Tiff<strong>in</strong>s (New York: Routledge, 1995), 15.<br />
3. Interview with Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Cuko, August 22, 2008.<br />
4. Interview with the Jíbaro man, August 23, 2008.<br />
5. <strong>The</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the northern Antilles are known today as Cuba,<br />
Jamaica, Haití <strong>and</strong> the Dom<strong>in</strong>ican Republic, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.<br />
6. In a chapter titled “Columbus: Cannibal <strong>and</strong> Hero <strong>of</strong> Genocide,”<br />
Jack Forbes provides a poignant explanation <strong>of</strong> Columbus’s mission<br />
to the Americas. He writes, “Colón had had experience along the<br />
coasts <strong>of</strong> west Africa, help<strong>in</strong>g to carry Africans to Portugal. He was<br />
apparently very familiar with the slave trade <strong>and</strong> with the philosophy<br />
<strong>of</strong> imperialism. As we shall see, he implemented a process <strong>of</strong><br />
genocide probably without parallel until the days <strong>of</strong> Adolf Hitler.<br />
Moreover, it was his <strong>in</strong>tention to commit ethnocide <strong>and</strong> to ruthlessly<br />
exploit the people he found <strong>in</strong> America.” See Jack Forbes,<br />
Columbus <strong>and</strong> Other Cannibals: <strong>The</strong> Wétiko Disease <strong>of</strong> Exploitation,<br />
Imperialism <strong>and</strong> Terrorism (New York: Autonomedia, 1992),<br />
35–42. Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, Luis Rivera chides certa<strong>in</strong> scholars’ dismissal<br />
<strong>of</strong> genocide <strong>in</strong> favor <strong>of</strong> a “sanitary disaster” as the result <strong>of</strong> epidemics<br />
when not<strong>in</strong>g, “In this view, it was a matter <strong>of</strong> mosquitoes,<br />
lice, fleas, bacteria, viruses, <strong>and</strong> germs! Miss<strong>in</strong>g is a critical <strong>and</strong><br />
concrete analysis <strong>of</strong> the social context <strong>of</strong> the epidemics, their relation<br />
to the breakdown <strong>of</strong> the social order, the disaster <strong>in</strong> agricultural<br />
production, the degradation <strong>of</strong> autochthonous values, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
use <strong>of</strong> natives as <strong>in</strong>struments for the avaricious search for precious<br />
metals. <strong>The</strong> strange th<strong>in</strong>g is that such factors are overwhelm<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
present <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>numerable testimonies from contemporaries,” <strong>in</strong> Luis<br />
N. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism: <strong>The</strong> Political <strong>and</strong> Religious Conquest<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Americas, translated by Westm<strong>in</strong>ster/John Knox Press<br />
(Louisville: Westm<strong>in</strong>ster/John Knox Press, 1992), 178–79.<br />
7. Loida Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: From the Beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to 1892 (New York: L. A. Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1978), 74.<br />
8. Adalberto López, “Birth <strong>of</strong> a Nation: <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> the N<strong>in</strong>eteenth<br />
Century,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Culture, <strong>and</strong> Society,<br />
ed. Adalberto López (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publish<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Company, 1980), 40, 53.
142<br />
Notes<br />
9. Arlene Dávila, “Local/Diasporic Taínos: Towards a Cultural Politics<br />
<strong>of</strong> Memory, Reality <strong>and</strong> Imagery,” <strong>in</strong> Taíno Revival: Critical Perspectives<br />
on <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Identity <strong>and</strong> Cultural Politics, ed. Gabriel<br />
Haslip-Viera (New York: Centro de Estudios <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueños,<br />
Hunter College, City University <strong>of</strong> New York, 1999), 14.<br />
10. Johannes Fabian, Time <strong>and</strong> the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its<br />
Object (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), 11.<br />
11. Richard A. Grounds, “Yuchi Travels: Up <strong>and</strong> Down the Academic<br />
‘Road to Disappearance,’” <strong>in</strong> Native Voices: American Indian Identity<br />
<strong>and</strong> Resistance, ed. Richard A. Grounds, George E. T<strong>in</strong>ker, <strong>and</strong><br />
David E. Wilk<strong>in</strong>s (Lawrence: University Press <strong>of</strong> Kansas, 2003), 291.<br />
12. Ibid.<br />
13. Pierre Bourdieu, Practical Reason: On the <strong>The</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> Action (Stanford,<br />
CA: Stanford University Press, 1998), 40.<br />
14. Franke Wilmer, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Voice <strong>in</strong> World Politics: S<strong>in</strong>ce Time<br />
Immemorial (Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1993), 42.<br />
15. United Nations General Assembly, Report <strong>of</strong> the Human Rights<br />
Council, “United Nations Declaration on the Rights <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
Peoples,” September 7, 2007.<br />
16. Maximilian C. Forte, “Introduction: <strong>The</strong> Dual Absences <strong>of</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> Marg<strong>in</strong>ality—What Difference Does an <strong>Indigenous</strong> Presence<br />
Make?” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Resurgence <strong>in</strong> the Contemporary <strong>Caribbean</strong>:<br />
Amer<strong>in</strong>dian Survival <strong>and</strong> Revival, ed. Maximilian C. Forte (New<br />
York: Peter Lang Publish<strong>in</strong>g, 2006), 3.<br />
17. Ricardo Alegría, quoted <strong>in</strong> Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s: <strong>The</strong> Worlds <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 15.<br />
18. Grounds, “Yuchi Travels,” <strong>in</strong> Native Voices, ed. Grounds, T<strong>in</strong>ker,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Wilk<strong>in</strong>s, 302.<br />
19. Interview with Carib-Jíbaro l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>and</strong> scholar Oki Lamourt-<br />
Valentín, July 28, 1998.<br />
20. Samuel M. Wilson, “<strong>The</strong> Legacy <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Indigenous</strong> People <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> People <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, ed. Samuel<br />
M. Wilson (Ga<strong>in</strong>esville: University Press <strong>of</strong> Florida, 1997), 206.<br />
21. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
22. Ibid.<br />
23. Interview with Cuko, August 22, 2008.<br />
24. Ibid.<br />
25. Amaryll Chanady, “Identity, politics <strong>and</strong> mestizaje,” <strong>in</strong> Contemporary<br />
Lat<strong>in</strong> American Cultural Studies, ed. Stephen Hart <strong>and</strong> Richard<br />
Young (London: Arnold, 2003), 197.<br />
26. José María Arguedas, Formación de una Cultura National Indoamericana<br />
(México City: Siglo Ve<strong>in</strong>tiuno Editores, 1975), 2.<br />
27. For a more detailed description <strong>and</strong> illustration <strong>of</strong> a burén, see Nelsonrafael<br />
Collazo, Imágenes del Indio <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueño (Jayuya, <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>: Nelsonrafael Collazo Grau, 1999), 33.
Notes 143<br />
28. Interview with elder <strong>and</strong> espiritista Shachira, August 18, 2008.<br />
29. Interview with the Jíbaro man, August 23, 2008.<br />
30. Arguedas, Formación de Una Cultura National Indoamericana, 2.<br />
31. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
32. Chanady, “Identity, politics <strong>and</strong> mestizaje,” <strong>in</strong> Contemporary Lat<strong>in</strong><br />
American Cultural Studies, ed. Hart <strong>and</strong> Young, 197.<br />
33. Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa, Native L<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Foreign Desires: Pehea Lā E<br />
Pono Ai? (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1992), 3.<br />
34. V<strong>in</strong>e Deloria, Jr., Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans <strong>and</strong> the<br />
<strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> Scientific Fact (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publish<strong>in</strong>g, 1997),<br />
167.<br />
35. <strong>The</strong> storyteller, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 15.<br />
36. Francisco Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Development <strong>of</strong> Tribal Society <strong>and</strong> the Spanish Colonization to<br />
1530,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, ed. López, 14.<br />
37. Jan Vans<strong>in</strong>a, Oral Tradition as History (Madison: University <strong>of</strong> Wiscons<strong>in</strong><br />
Press, 1985), 27–28.<br />
38. Some <strong>of</strong> the stories were importantly recorded <strong>in</strong> script by the early<br />
Spanish chroniclers. For example, Ramón Pané notes how the people<br />
<strong>and</strong> particularly the leaders he associated with <strong>in</strong> Kiskeya believed <strong>in</strong><br />
ancient songs or areítos as an important form <strong>of</strong> communication:<br />
“In fact, just as the Moors, they have their laws gathered <strong>in</strong> ancient<br />
songs, by which they govern themselves, as do the Moors by their<br />
scripture,” <strong>in</strong> Fray Ramón Pané, An Account <strong>of</strong> the Antiquities <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Indians (c. 1498), trans. Susan C. Griswold (Durham, NC: Duke<br />
University Press, 1999), 20. Pietro Martire d’Anghiera (Peter Martyr)<br />
writes that when the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples were asked about the<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong> their traditions, “they answer[ed] that they have <strong>in</strong>herited<br />
them from their ancestors; they say those th<strong>in</strong>gs have been transmitted<br />
<strong>in</strong> that way <strong>in</strong> songs from time immemorial.” Quoted <strong>in</strong> Pané,<br />
An Account <strong>of</strong> the Antiquities <strong>of</strong> the Indians, 50.<br />
39. Vans<strong>in</strong>a, Oral Tradition as History, xi.<br />
40. Juan Manuel Delgado, “Sobrevivencia de los apellidos <strong>in</strong>dígenas<br />
según la historia oral de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” Revista de Genealogía <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueña<br />
2 no. 1 (April 2001): 41–80.<br />
41. Ibid., 53.<br />
42. Interview with activist <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Baracutey,<br />
July 24, 1998.<br />
43. Interview with activist <strong>and</strong> Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Pepe, August 24, 2008.<br />
44. Milton Takei, “Collective Memory as the Key to National <strong>and</strong> Ethnic<br />
Identity: <strong>The</strong> Case <strong>of</strong> Cambodia,” Nationalism <strong>and</strong> Ethnic Politics<br />
4, no. 3 (1998): 62.<br />
45. Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse, <strong>The</strong> Ta<strong>in</strong>os: Rise & Decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> the People Who Greeted<br />
Columbus (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992), 30.
144<br />
Notes<br />
46. Jesse Walter Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 25th Annual Report, B. A. E. (Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Smithsonian<br />
Institution, 1907), 20.<br />
47. Interview with artisan <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Margarita<br />
Nogueras-Vidal, July 30, 1998.<br />
48. Margarita Nogueras-Vidal, “Taíno Indian Symbolism . . . To Feel is<br />
to Perceive,” Pamphlet, Jayuya, Boriké, 1996, 1998, 1.<br />
49. Ibid., 2.<br />
50. Interview with elder <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Naniki<br />
Reyes-Ocasio, August 9, 2006.<br />
51. Jorge Duany, “Mak<strong>in</strong>g Indians Out <strong>of</strong> Blacks: <strong>The</strong> Revitalization <strong>of</strong><br />
Taíno Identity <strong>in</strong> Contemporary <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> Taíno Revival, ed.<br />
Haslip-Viera, 46.<br />
52. Ibid., 50–51.<br />
53. In a study funded by the National Science Foundation, Juan Martínez-Cruzado<br />
<strong>and</strong> colleagues at the University <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> at<br />
Mayagüez appear to once <strong>and</strong> for all disprove the biological ext<strong>in</strong>ction<br />
myth <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>digenous peoples <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y found<br />
that maternal ancestries (extracted mitochondrial DNA) revealed a<br />
“61.3% Amer<strong>in</strong>dian, 27.2% sub-Saharan African, <strong>and</strong> 11.5% West<br />
Eurasian” breakdown <strong>of</strong> the overall <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican population. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
write, “<strong>The</strong> comb<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> the high Amer<strong>in</strong>dian mtDNA frequency<br />
found <strong>and</strong> the representativeness <strong>of</strong> the sample set leaves no doubts<br />
that the mtDNA pool <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans is predom<strong>in</strong>antly Amer<strong>in</strong>dian,”<br />
<strong>in</strong> Juan C. Martínez-Cruzado et al., “Reconstruct<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
Population History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> by Means <strong>of</strong> mtDNA Phylogeographic<br />
Analysis,” American Journal <strong>of</strong> Physical Anthropology 128<br />
(2005): 131, 146. As mitochondrial DNA is <strong>in</strong>herited from the<br />
female l<strong>in</strong>e only, the significance <strong>of</strong> the study shows <strong>in</strong> part how<br />
Indian women survived the Spanish colonial process <strong>in</strong> large numbers,<br />
<strong>and</strong> how this relates to today. Ironically, there may be a cultural<br />
element to this type <strong>of</strong> test<strong>in</strong>g too, for there would seem to be a<br />
desire for it from ma<strong>in</strong>ly those who might be ethnically connected to<br />
the orig<strong>in</strong>al people <strong>and</strong> culture to beg<strong>in</strong> with.<br />
54. Dávila, “Local/Diasporic Taínos,” <strong>in</strong> Taíno Revival, ed. Haslip-<br />
Viera, 23–24.<br />
55. Duany, “Mak<strong>in</strong>g Indians Out <strong>of</strong> Blacks,” <strong>in</strong> Taíno Revival, ed.<br />
Haslip-Viera, 37.<br />
56. Kenneth Ramch<strong>and</strong>, <strong>The</strong> West Indian Novel <strong>and</strong> its Background<br />
(London: Faber <strong>and</strong> Faber, 1970), 4–5; emphasis added.<br />
57. Homi K. Bhabha, “Signs Taken for Wonders,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> Post-Colonial<br />
Studies Reader, ed. Ashcr<strong>of</strong>t, Griffiths, <strong>and</strong> Tiff<strong>in</strong>s, 34.<br />
58. S<strong>and</strong>ra J. Kuilan Torres, “No hallan foro los <strong>in</strong>dígenas?” El Nuevo<br />
Dia, July 30, 2005.
Notes 145<br />
59. Grounds, “Yuchi Travels,” <strong>in</strong> Native Voices, ed. Grounds, T<strong>in</strong>ker,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Wilk<strong>in</strong>s, 292.<br />
60. Oscar Lamourt-Valentín, Cannibal Recipes, A sociol<strong>in</strong>guistic<br />
account <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous Carib-Jíbaro culture <strong>and</strong> response to the work<br />
<strong>of</strong> Ramón Pané, unpublished manuscript (Ames: Iowa State University,<br />
1979), 8–10.<br />
61. Interview with Lamourt-Valentín, July 27, 1998.<br />
62. Bobby González, <strong>The</strong> Last <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Indian: A Collection <strong>of</strong><br />
Dangerous Poetry (New York: Cemi Press, 2006), 25.<br />
Chapter 2<br />
1. Jan Vans<strong>in</strong>a, Oral Tradition as History (Madison: University <strong>of</strong> Wiscons<strong>in</strong><br />
Press, 1985), 167.<br />
2. L<strong>in</strong>da Clarkson, Vern Morrissette, <strong>and</strong> Gabriela Regallet, “Our<br />
Responsibility to the Seventh Generation,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> Post-Development<br />
Reader, ed. Majid Rahnema with Victoria Bawtree (Dhaka: University<br />
Press Ltd; Cape Town: David Philip; Halifax: Fernwood Publish<strong>in</strong>g;<br />
<strong>and</strong> London <strong>and</strong> New Jersey: Zed Books, 1997), 41.<br />
3. Eugenio Fernández Méndez, Art <strong>and</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>ology <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>o Indians<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Greater West Indies (México City: Editorial Libros de México,<br />
1972), 19.<br />
4. Harry Lev<strong>in</strong>, “Some Mean<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
ed. Henry A. Murray (Boston: Beacon Press, 1968), 106.<br />
5. Ibid., 105.<br />
6. Julian Burger, <strong>in</strong> Cultural Survival, State <strong>of</strong> the Peoples: A Global<br />
Human Rights Report on Societies <strong>in</strong> Danger (Boston: Beacon Press,<br />
1993), 6.<br />
7. James Wilson, <strong>The</strong> Earth Shall Weep: A History <strong>of</strong> Native America<br />
(New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998), xxi.<br />
8. V<strong>in</strong>e Deloria, Jr., Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans <strong>and</strong> the<br />
<strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> Scientific Fact (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publish<strong>in</strong>g, 1997), 6.<br />
9. David Stannard po<strong>in</strong>ts out that among scholars today it is undoubtedly<br />
recognized that “numerous complex human communities<br />
existed <strong>in</strong> South America at least 13,000 years ago <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> North<br />
America at least 6,000 years before that. <strong>The</strong>se are absolute m<strong>in</strong>imums.<br />
Very recent <strong>and</strong> compell<strong>in</strong>g archaeological evidence puts the<br />
date for earliest human habitation <strong>in</strong> Chile at 32,000 B.C. or earlier<br />
<strong>and</strong> North American habitation at around 40,000 B.C., while some<br />
highly respected scholars contend that the actual first date <strong>of</strong> human<br />
entry <strong>in</strong>to the hemisphere may have been closer to 70,000 B.C.,”<br />
<strong>in</strong> David E. Stannard, American Holocaust: <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> the New<br />
World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 10.<br />
10. Deloria, Jr., Red Earth, White Lies, 81.<br />
11. Ibid., 31.
146<br />
Notes<br />
12. Gananath Obeyesekere, <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook: European<br />
<strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Pacific (Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton, NJ: Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton University<br />
Press, 1992), 8.<br />
13. Ibid., 10.<br />
14. Ibid., 8.<br />
15. Ibid., 123.<br />
16. Christopher Columbus, <strong>in</strong> “<strong>The</strong> Letter <strong>of</strong> Columbus (1493),” Wild<br />
Majesty: Encounters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day,<br />
ed. Peter Hulme <strong>and</strong> Neil L. Whitehead (New York: Oxford University<br />
Press, 1992), 13.<br />
17. Christopher Columbus, quoted <strong>in</strong> Oliver Dunn <strong>and</strong> James E. Kelly,<br />
Jr., eds., trans., <strong>The</strong> Diario <strong>of</strong> Christopher Columbus’s First Voyage<br />
to America, 1492–1493, abstracted by Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas<br />
(Norman: University <strong>of</strong> Oklahoma Press, 1989), 112–13.<br />
18. Ronald D. Arroyo, “Da Bor<strong>in</strong>kees: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>of</strong> Hawaii”<br />
(PhD diss., Union Graduate School, 1977), 7.<br />
19. For example, see Fray Ramón Pané, An Account <strong>of</strong> the Antiquities <strong>of</strong><br />
the Indians (c. 1498), trans. Susan C. Griswold (Durham, NC: Duke<br />
University Press, 1999), 31; <strong>and</strong> Jesse Walter Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es<br />
<strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 25th Annual Report, B. A. E.<br />
(Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1907), 65–66.<br />
20. Hulme <strong>and</strong> Whitehead, eds., “<strong>The</strong> Letter <strong>of</strong> Columbus (1493),”<br />
Wild Majesty, 9.<br />
21. Obeyesekere, <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook, 124.<br />
22. Ibid., 177.<br />
23. Ibid., 10.<br />
24. Ibid., 15.<br />
25. Tzvetan Todorov, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> America: <strong>The</strong> Question <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Other, trans. Richard Howard (New York: Harper & Row, 1984),<br />
97.<br />
26. Obeyesekere, <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook, 16.<br />
27. Ibid.<br />
28. Todorov, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> America, 111.<br />
29. Obeyesekere, <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook, 18.<br />
30. Ibid.<br />
31. Ibid.<br />
32. See Todorov, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> America, 4.<br />
33. Obeyesekere, <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook, 17.<br />
34. Todorov, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> America, 117.<br />
35. Ibid., 117–18.<br />
36. Ibid., 117.<br />
37. Gordon Brotherston, Book <strong>of</strong> the Fourth World: Read<strong>in</strong>g the Native<br />
Americas through <strong>The</strong>ir Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University<br />
Press, 1992), 45.<br />
38. Ibid., 49.
Notes 147<br />
39. Vicente L. Rafael, Contract<strong>in</strong>g Colonialism: Translation <strong>and</strong> Christian<br />
Conversion <strong>in</strong> Tagalog Society Under Early Spanish Rule (Ithaca,<br />
NY: Cornell University Press, 1988), 27.<br />
40. Walter D. Mignolo, <strong>The</strong> Darker Side <strong>of</strong> the Renaissance: Literacy,<br />
Territoriality, & Colonization (Ann Arbor: University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Press, 1995), 199.<br />
41. Todorov, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> America, 223.<br />
42. Mignolo, <strong>The</strong> Darker Side <strong>of</strong> the Renaissance, 195–96; emphasis<br />
added.<br />
43. Ibid., 194–95.<br />
44. Ibid., 194.<br />
45. Ibid., 199.<br />
46. Ibid.<br />
47. Todorov, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> America, 5.<br />
48. Deloria, Jr., Red Earth, White Lies, 167.<br />
49. Amos Kidder Fiske, <strong>The</strong> West Indies: A History <strong>of</strong> the Isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the<br />
West Indian Archipelago, Together with an Account <strong>of</strong> <strong>The</strong>ir Physical<br />
Characteristics, Natural Resources <strong>and</strong> Present Condition (New York:<br />
G. P. Putnam’s Sons; <strong>and</strong> London: T. Fisher Unw<strong>in</strong>, 1899), 24.<br />
50. “<strong>The</strong> Bull Inter Caetera (Alex<strong>and</strong>er VI), May 4, 1493,” <strong>in</strong> European<br />
Treaties bear<strong>in</strong>g on the History <strong>of</strong> the United States <strong>and</strong> its Dependencies<br />
to 1648, ed. Frances Gard<strong>in</strong>er Davenport (Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC:<br />
Carnegie Institution <strong>of</strong> Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, 1917), 75–78.<br />
51. Luis N. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism: <strong>The</strong> Political <strong>and</strong> Religious<br />
Conquest <strong>of</strong> the Americas, trans. by Westm<strong>in</strong>ster/John Knox Press<br />
(Louisville: Westm<strong>in</strong>ster/John Knox Press, 1992), 38.<br />
52. Ibid.<br />
53. Lewis Hanke, Aristotle <strong>and</strong> the American Indians: A Study <strong>in</strong> Race<br />
Prejudice <strong>in</strong> the Modern World (London: Hollis & Carter, 1959), x.<br />
54. Ibid., 72–73.<br />
55. Ibid., 40.<br />
56. Paul Gottschalk, ed., <strong>The</strong> Earliest Diplomatic Documents on America:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Papal Bulls <strong>of</strong> 1493 <strong>and</strong> the Treaty <strong>of</strong> Tordesillas Reproduced<br />
<strong>and</strong> Translated (Berl<strong>in</strong>: Paul Gottschalk, 1927), 15.<br />
57. Robert A. Williams, Jr., <strong>The</strong> American Indian <strong>in</strong> Western Legal<br />
Thought: <strong>The</strong> Discourses <strong>of</strong> Conquest (New York: Oxford University<br />
Press, 1990), 106–7.<br />
58. Lewis Hanke, <strong>The</strong> Spanish Struggle for Justice <strong>in</strong> the Conquest <strong>of</strong><br />
America (Philadelphia: University <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania Press, 1949),<br />
151.<br />
59. Indian comment quoted <strong>in</strong> A. Garcia, History <strong>of</strong> the West Indies<br />
(London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1965), 23.<br />
60. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism, 281.<br />
61. Mart<strong>in</strong> Fernández de Enciso, quoted <strong>in</strong> Rivera, A Violent Evangelism,<br />
36.
148<br />
Notes<br />
62. Williams, Jr., <strong>The</strong> American Indian <strong>in</strong> Western Legal Thought, 7.<br />
63. For an explanation <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous settlement <strong>in</strong> the Americas, see<br />
Stannard, American Holocaust, 261–66.<br />
64. Kirkpatrick Sale, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> Paradise: Christopher Columbus<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Columbian Legacy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990), 69.<br />
65. Interview with elder Juan Antonio Castillo, August 20, 2008.<br />
66. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism, 4.<br />
67. Edmundo O’Gorman, <strong>The</strong> Invention <strong>of</strong> America: An Inquiry <strong>in</strong>to the<br />
Historical Nature <strong>of</strong> the New World <strong>and</strong> the Mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Its History<br />
(Bloom<strong>in</strong>gton: Indiana University Press, 1961), 17.<br />
68. Ibid., 9–10.<br />
69. Ibid., 4.<br />
70. Garcia, History <strong>of</strong> the West Indies, 15.<br />
71. Ibid.<br />
72. O’Gorman, <strong>The</strong> Invention <strong>of</strong> America, 165.<br />
73. Ibid., 111–12.<br />
74. Ibid., 18–19.<br />
75. Ibid., 26.<br />
76. Ibid., 35.<br />
77. Ibid.<br />
78. Edmundo O’Gorman, quoted <strong>in</strong> Rivera, A Violent Evangelism, 5.<br />
79. Sale, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> Paradise, 69.<br />
80. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Manuel Giménez-Fernández, dur<strong>in</strong>g “the whole<br />
unfold<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the political dom<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> the Indies by Spa<strong>in</strong>, there<br />
is not one s<strong>in</strong>gle ideological movement <strong>in</strong>tended to reform Spa<strong>in</strong>’s<br />
established legitimacy, nor the direction <strong>of</strong> the governance <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Indies by the State, that <strong>in</strong> various ways does not allege the historical<br />
fact <strong>of</strong> Alex<strong>and</strong>er’s letters <strong>in</strong> respect to the Indies to support its<br />
thesis, <strong>in</strong>terpret<strong>in</strong>g them <strong>in</strong> the light <strong>of</strong> its own conceptions,” Nuevas<br />
consideraciones sobre la historia, sentido y valor de las bulas alej<strong>and</strong>r<strong>in</strong>as<br />
de 1493 referentes a las Indias (1944), quoted <strong>in</strong> Rivera, A<br />
Violent Evangelism, 31.<br />
81. Hanke, Aristotle <strong>and</strong> the American Indians, 60.<br />
82. Loida Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: From the Beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to 1892 (New York: L. A. Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1978), 59–60.<br />
83. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism, 65–66.<br />
84. Sale, <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> Paradise, 134.<br />
85. Glenn T. Morris, “V<strong>in</strong>e Deloria, Jr., <strong>and</strong> the Development <strong>of</strong> a Decoloniz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Critique <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Peoples <strong>and</strong> International Relations,”<br />
<strong>in</strong> Native Voices: American Indian Identity <strong>and</strong> Resistance, ed. Richard<br />
A. Grounds, George E. T<strong>in</strong>ker, <strong>and</strong> David E. Wilk<strong>in</strong>s (Lawrence:<br />
University Press <strong>of</strong> Kansas, 2003), 108.<br />
86. Peter Hulme, Colonial Encounters: Europe <strong>and</strong> the native <strong>Caribbean</strong>,<br />
1492–1797 (London: Methuen, 1986), 47.<br />
87. Ibid., 22.
Notes 149<br />
88. Ibid., 26.<br />
89. Ibid., 31.<br />
90. W. Arens, <strong>The</strong> Man-Eat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Myth</strong>: Anthropology & Anthropophagy<br />
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 51.<br />
91. Bartolomé de Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, <strong>in</strong> S. Lyman Tyler,<br />
Two Worlds: <strong>The</strong> Indian Encounter with the European, 1492–1509<br />
(Salt Lake City: University <strong>of</strong> Utah Press, 1988), 124–25.<br />
92. José Barreiro, <strong>The</strong> Indian Chronicles (Houston: Arte Público Press,<br />
1993), 36.<br />
93. Interview with Carib-Jíbaro l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>and</strong> scholar Oki Lamourt-<br />
Valentín, July 27, 1998.<br />
94. Bernal Diaz, <strong>in</strong> Obeyesekere, <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook, 17.<br />
95. Obeyesekere, <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook, 262.<br />
96. Bartolomé de Las Casas, “Historia de las Indias,” <strong>in</strong> Two Worlds: <strong>The</strong><br />
Indian Encounter with the European, 1492–1509, ed. S. Lyman Tyler<br />
(Salt Lake City: University <strong>of</strong> Utah Press, 1988), 124–25.<br />
97. Interview with Lamourt-Valentín, June 28, 1999; see also Las Casas,<br />
Historia de las Indias, <strong>in</strong> Tyler, Two Worlds, 124.<br />
98. Interview with Lamourt-Valentín, June 28, 1999.<br />
99. Barreiro, <strong>The</strong> Indian Chronicles, 24.<br />
100. Ibid., 11.<br />
101. Interview with artesian <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Margarita<br />
Nogueras-Vidal, July 30, 1998.<br />
102. Comment by Peter Hulme <strong>and</strong> Neil L. Whitehead, eds., “<strong>The</strong><br />
Report <strong>of</strong> Dr Chanca (1494),” Wild Majesty, 29.<br />
103. Diego Álvarez Chanca, “<strong>The</strong> Report <strong>of</strong> Dr Chanca (1494),” <strong>in</strong> Wild<br />
Majesty, ed. Hulme <strong>and</strong> Whitehead, 32–34.<br />
104. See engrav<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> captions <strong>in</strong> Hulme <strong>and</strong> Whitehead, eds., Wild<br />
Majesty, 31.<br />
105. Irv<strong>in</strong>ce Auguiste, quoted <strong>in</strong> José Barreiro, “Carib Gallery,” Northeast<br />
Indian Quarterly 7, no. 3 (Fall 1990): 50–51.<br />
106. Arens, <strong>The</strong> Man-Eat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Myth</strong>, 54.<br />
107. Roberto Fernández Retamar, Caliban <strong>and</strong> Other Essays, trans.<br />
Edward Baker (M<strong>in</strong>neapolis: University <strong>of</strong> M<strong>in</strong>nesota Press,<br />
1989), 7.<br />
108. Ibid.<br />
109. Wilson, <strong>The</strong> Earth Shall Weep, xxi–xxii.<br />
110. Bernhard Lothar Hörmann, “<strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong> <strong>and</strong> Survival: A Study <strong>of</strong><br />
the Reaction <strong>of</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>al Populations to European Expansion”<br />
(PhD diss., University <strong>of</strong> Chicago, 1949), 2–3.<br />
111. Ibid., 4.<br />
112. Ibid.<br />
113. Ibid., 8.<br />
114. Ibid., 55.
150<br />
Notes<br />
115. Carl Ortw<strong>in</strong> Sauer, <strong>The</strong> Early Spanish Ma<strong>in</strong> (Berkeley: University <strong>of</strong><br />
California Press, 1966), 39.<br />
116. Bartolomé de Las Casas, <strong>The</strong> Devastation <strong>of</strong> the Indies: A Brief<br />
Account (1552), trans. Herma Biffault (Baltimore: <strong>The</strong> John Hopk<strong>in</strong>s<br />
University Press, 1992), 43.<br />
117. Ibid., 29.<br />
118. Sven Lovén, Orig<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>an Culture, West Indies (Göteborg,<br />
Sweden: El<strong>and</strong>ers Bokfryckeri Akfiebolag, 1935), 657.<br />
119. Manuel Maldonado-Denis, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: A Socio-Historic Interpretation,<br />
trans. Elena Vialo (New York: R<strong>and</strong>om House, 1972), 15.<br />
120. Federico Ribes Tovar, A Chronological History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (New<br />
York: Plus Ultra Educational Publishers, 1973), 16.<br />
121. Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse, <strong>The</strong> Ta<strong>in</strong>os: Rise & Decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> the People Who Greeted<br />
Columbus (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992), 30.<br />
122. Lynne Guitar, Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate, <strong>and</strong> Jorge Estevez, “Ocama-<br />
Daca Taíno (Hear Me, I Am Taíno): Taíno Survival on Hispaniola,<br />
Focus<strong>in</strong>g on the Dom<strong>in</strong>ican Republic,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Resurgence <strong>in</strong><br />
the Contemporary <strong>Caribbean</strong>: Amer<strong>in</strong>dian Survival <strong>and</strong> Revival, ed.<br />
Maximilian C. Forte (New York: Peter Lang Publish<strong>in</strong>g, 2006), 60.<br />
123. Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 31.<br />
124. Lynne A. Guitar, “Cultural Genesis: Relationships among Indians,<br />
Africans <strong>and</strong> Spaniards <strong>in</strong> Rural Hispaniola, First Half <strong>of</strong> the Sixteenth<br />
Century” (PhD diss., V<strong>and</strong>erbilt University, 1998), xv.<br />
125. Ibid.<br />
126. Ibid., 411.<br />
127. Juan González de Mendoza, Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos<br />
y costumbres del gran Reyno de la Ch<strong>in</strong>a (1586), quoted <strong>in</strong> Guitar,<br />
Cultural Genesis, 411.<br />
128. Panchito Ramirez, quoted <strong>in</strong> Valerie Taliman, “Defy<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong>,” American Indian 2, no. 2 (Spr<strong>in</strong>g 2001): 19.<br />
129. José Barreiro, “Taíno Survivals: Cacique Panchito, Caridad de los<br />
Indios, Cuba,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Resurgence <strong>in</strong> the Contemporary <strong>Caribbean</strong>,<br />
ed. Forte, 25.<br />
130. Panchito Ramirez, quoted <strong>in</strong> Barreiro, “Taíno Survivals,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
Resurgence <strong>in</strong> the Contemporary <strong>Caribbean</strong>, ed. Forte, 29.<br />
131. Sauer, <strong>The</strong> Early Spanish Ma<strong>in</strong>, 202.<br />
132. Ibid., 204.<br />
133. Ibid.<br />
134. Thomas K<strong>in</strong>g noted this comment that was once made to him <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative (M<strong>in</strong>neapolis: University <strong>of</strong><br />
M<strong>in</strong>nesota Press, 2003), 48.<br />
135. See Charles Darw<strong>in</strong>, “On the <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Races <strong>of</strong> Man,”<br />
<strong>The</strong> Descent <strong>of</strong> Man <strong>and</strong> Selection <strong>in</strong> Relation to Sex (New York:<br />
D. Appleton <strong>and</strong> Co., 1897), 181–92.
Notes 151<br />
136. George Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, <strong>The</strong> Clash <strong>of</strong> Culture <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Contact <strong>of</strong> Races (1927), (New York: Negro Universities Press,<br />
1969), 18.<br />
137. Woodrow Borah, “<strong>The</strong> Historical Demography <strong>of</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>al <strong>and</strong><br />
Colonial America: An Attempt at Perspective,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> Native Population<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong> 1492, ed. William M. Denevan (Madison:<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Wiscons<strong>in</strong> Press, 1976), 16.<br />
138. Rouse, <strong>The</strong> Ta<strong>in</strong>os, 161.<br />
139. Hörmann, “<strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong> <strong>and</strong> Survival,” 244.<br />
140. H. J. Sp<strong>in</strong>den, “<strong>The</strong> Population <strong>of</strong> Ancient America,” <strong>The</strong> Geographical<br />
Review 18 (1928): 642–43.<br />
141. Stephen Cornell <strong>and</strong> Douglas Hartman, Ethnicity <strong>and</strong> Race: Mak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Identities <strong>in</strong> a Chang<strong>in</strong>g World (Thous<strong>and</strong> Oaks, CA: P<strong>in</strong>e Forge<br />
Press, 2007), 46–47.<br />
142. Ibid., 45.<br />
143. <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> Reconstruction Adm<strong>in</strong>istration <strong>in</strong> Co-operation with<br />
the Writers’ Program <strong>of</strong> the Work Projects Adm<strong>in</strong>istration, <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>: A Guide to the Isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Boriquén (New York: <strong>The</strong> University<br />
Society, Inc., 1940), 102.<br />
144. Bishop Diego de Salamanca, <strong>in</strong> Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s: <strong>The</strong> Worlds<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 16.<br />
145. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 31.<br />
146. Census data <strong>in</strong> Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 74.<br />
147. Williams, Jr., <strong>The</strong> American Indian <strong>in</strong> Western Legal Thought, 8.<br />
Chapter 3<br />
1. <strong>The</strong> storyteller, quoted <strong>in</strong> Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s: <strong>The</strong> Worlds <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1974), 19.<br />
2. Interview with Carib-Jíbaro l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>and</strong> scholar Oki Lamourt-<br />
Valentín, July 28, 1998.<br />
3. Loida Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: From the Beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to 1892 (New York: L. A. Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1978), 41.<br />
4. Interview with Lamourt-Valentín, July 28, 1998.<br />
5.Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 18.<br />
6. <strong>The</strong> storyteller, quoted <strong>in</strong> ibid., 11.<br />
7. Ronald D. Arroyo, “Da Bor<strong>in</strong>kees: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>of</strong> Hawaii”<br />
(PhD diss., Union Graduate School, 1977), 9.<br />
8. Sherburne F. Cook <strong>and</strong> Woodrow Borah, “<strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>al Population<br />
<strong>of</strong> Hispaniola,” <strong>in</strong> Essays <strong>in</strong> Population History: Mexico <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>,<br />
vol. 1 (Berkeley: University <strong>of</strong> California Press, 1971), 376.<br />
9. Lynne A. Guitar, “Cultural Genesis: Relationships Among Indians,<br />
Africans <strong>and</strong> Spaniards <strong>in</strong> Rural Hispaniola, First Half <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Sixteenth Century” (PhD diss., V<strong>and</strong>erbilt University, 1998),<br />
264–65.
152<br />
Notes<br />
10. Ibid., 271.<br />
11. Selwyn R. Cudjoe, Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> Literature (Athens:<br />
Ohio University Press, 1980), 19.<br />
12. Ibid.<br />
13. Ibid., 7.<br />
14. James C. Scott, Weapons <strong>of</strong> the Weak: Everyday Forms <strong>of</strong> Peasant<br />
Resistance (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985), xvii.<br />
15. Federico Ribes Tovar, A Chronological History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (New<br />
York: Plus Ultra Educational Publishers, 1973), 20.<br />
16. Matthew Dennis, Cultivat<strong>in</strong>g a L<strong>and</strong>scape <strong>of</strong> Peace: Iroquois-European<br />
Encounters <strong>in</strong> Seventeenth-Century America (Ithaca, NY: Cornell<br />
University Press, 1993), 8.<br />
17. Interview with artisan <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Margarita<br />
Nogueras-Vidal, July 30, 1998.<br />
18. Guitar, “Cultural Genesis,” 335.<br />
19. Francisco Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Development <strong>of</strong> Tribal Society <strong>and</strong> the Spanish Colonization<br />
to 1530,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Culture, <strong>and</strong> Society,<br />
ed. Adalberto López (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publish<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Company, 1980), 18.<br />
20. Ibid.<br />
21. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 13.<br />
22. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 57.<br />
23. Interview with Lamourt-Valentín, July 27, 1998.<br />
24. Ibid.<br />
25. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 59.<br />
26. Ibid., 59–60.<br />
27. Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> López,<br />
ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, 21.<br />
28. Juan Angel Silén, We, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican People: A Story <strong>of</strong> Oppression<br />
<strong>and</strong> Resistance, trans. Cedric Belfrage (New York: Monthly Review<br />
Press, 1971), 22–23.<br />
29. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 14.<br />
30. Interview with human rights advocate Nilda Aponte-Lebron, July<br />
26, 1998.<br />
31. Juan Manuel Delgado Colón, “¿Dónde están nuestros <strong>in</strong>dios?” El<br />
Nuevo Dia, November 19, 1977.<br />
32. Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> López,<br />
ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, 22.<br />
33. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 65.<br />
34. Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> López,<br />
ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, 22.<br />
35. Ibid.
Notes 153<br />
36. Luis N. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism: <strong>The</strong> Political <strong>and</strong> Religious<br />
Conquest <strong>of</strong> the Americas, trans. Westm<strong>in</strong>ster/John Knox Press<br />
(Louisville: Westm<strong>in</strong>ster/John Knox Press, 1992), 32–33.<br />
37. Ibid., 33.<br />
38. Ibid.<br />
39. Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Historia general y natural<br />
de las Indias, islas y tierra firme del mar Océano (1851), quoted <strong>in</strong><br />
Rivera, A Violent Evangelism, 34.<br />
40. Mark Davis <strong>and</strong> Robert Zannis, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ward Churchill, From a<br />
Native Son: Selected Essays <strong>in</strong> Indigenism, 1985–1995 (Boston: South<br />
End Press, 1996), 321.<br />
41. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism, 280.<br />
42. Silén, We, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican People, 19.<br />
43. Ibid; emphasis added.<br />
44. Pedro Albizu Campos, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 238.<br />
45. Silén, We, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican People, 19–20.<br />
46. Oscar Lamourt-Valentín, Cannibal Recipes, A sociol<strong>in</strong>guistic<br />
account <strong>of</strong> Carib-Jíbaro culture <strong>and</strong> response to the work <strong>of</strong> Ramón<br />
Pané, unpublished manuscript (Ames: Iowa State University, 1979),<br />
13.<br />
47. Pietro Martire d’Anghiera, quoted <strong>in</strong> Fray Ramón Pané, An Account<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Antiquities <strong>of</strong> the Indians (c. 1498), trans. Susan C. Griswold<br />
(Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999), 50.<br />
48. For <strong>in</strong>stance, see Samuel M. Wilson, “Introduction to the Study <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Indigenous</strong> People <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> People <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, ed. Samuel M. Wilson (Ga<strong>in</strong>esville: University Press<br />
<strong>of</strong> Florida, 1997), 4.<br />
49. For an <strong>in</strong>-depth critique <strong>of</strong> Rouse’s first “repeoply<strong>in</strong>g” theory, see<br />
Anthony Castanha, “Adventures <strong>in</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> Indigeneity Center<strong>in</strong>g<br />
on Resistance, Survival <strong>and</strong> Presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> (<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>)”<br />
(PhD diss., University <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2004), 94–104.<br />
50. <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican archeologist Roberto Martínez-Torres confirmed<br />
to me <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>terview the similarity between Alegría <strong>and</strong> Rouse’s<br />
theories, July 14, 1999. Also, Eugenio Fernández-Méndez refers<br />
to Alegría’s refusal to acknowledge that the ceremonial grounds<br />
<strong>and</strong> ball game played among <strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>Caribbean</strong> peoples was<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluenced <strong>and</strong> primarily found <strong>in</strong> Mesoamerica: he “cl<strong>in</strong>gs to the<br />
traditional but now discredited position that the possible route <strong>of</strong><br />
diffusion was by way <strong>of</strong> the northern coast <strong>of</strong> South America,” <strong>in</strong><br />
Eugenio Fernández Méndez, Art <strong>and</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>ology <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>o Indians<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Greater West Indies (México City: Editorial Libros de México,<br />
1972), 49. One implication here may be that the “Archaics,” as a<br />
so-called “primitive” people, could not have developed such a game<br />
or ceremonial practice. However, as Fernández-Méndez po<strong>in</strong>ts out,
154<br />
Notes<br />
the game was apparently played <strong>in</strong> “very remote times” <strong>and</strong> among<br />
the “ancient peoples” <strong>of</strong> México <strong>and</strong> Mesoamerica (61).<br />
51. Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse, <strong>The</strong> Ta<strong>in</strong>os: Rise & Decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> the People Who Greeted<br />
Columbus (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992), 73.<br />
52. Jalil Sued-Badillo, review <strong>of</strong> Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse’s <strong>The</strong> Ta<strong>in</strong>os, <strong>The</strong> American<br />
Historical Review 99, no. 1 (February 1994): 333.<br />
53. Betty J. Meggers <strong>and</strong> Clifford Evans, “Lowl<strong>and</strong> South America <strong>and</strong><br />
the Antilles,” <strong>in</strong> Ancient South Americans, ed. Jesse D. Jenn<strong>in</strong>gs (San<br />
Francisco: W. H. Freeman <strong>and</strong> Company, 1978), 308.<br />
54. See Castanha, “Adventures <strong>in</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> Indigeneity,” 105–16.<br />
55. Fernández-Méndez makes numerous references to the l<strong>in</strong>guistic l<strong>in</strong>k<br />
to Mesoamerica <strong>and</strong> notes that “the arawak adscription <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>o<br />
language rests on rather flimsy l<strong>in</strong>guistic comparisons,” 16. See<br />
Fernández Méndez, Art <strong>and</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>ology <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>o Indians <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Greater West Indies. Lamourt-Valentín has most <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>gly used<br />
the Mayan language to <strong>in</strong>terpret the Pané text. He told me that<br />
through his Jíbaro background <strong>and</strong> knowledge <strong>of</strong> the many myths<br />
passed down to him through oral tradition, he was able to relate the<br />
myths back to the Indian language, subsequently break<strong>in</strong>g down the<br />
language from the transliteration to reveal the poetics <strong>of</strong> the narrative.<br />
By return<strong>in</strong>g to the orig<strong>in</strong>al Mayan language, he figured out<br />
that what the cacike Guarionex was tell<strong>in</strong>g Pané concerned “moral<br />
production,” social relations <strong>of</strong> exchange, expla<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g “exogamy,”<br />
<strong>and</strong> relationships <strong>of</strong> trade, distance, time, <strong>and</strong> economic productivity.<br />
Interviews with Lamourt-Valentín, July 27, 1998 <strong>and</strong> June 28,<br />
1999. A breakdown <strong>of</strong> some important elements <strong>of</strong> the language are<br />
conta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> Lamourt-Valentín’s Cannibal Recipes.<br />
56. Fernández Méndez, Art <strong>and</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>ology <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>o Indians <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Greater West Indies, 19.<br />
57. Elder Doña Herm<strong>in</strong>ia (Monsita) Vargas, quoted <strong>in</strong> Kukuya, <strong>The</strong> Ku<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Cemi, Codex I (Jayuya, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 2008), 8.<br />
58. Kukuya, <strong>The</strong> Ku <strong>of</strong> the Cemi, 5.<br />
59. Miguel Rodríguez, “Osamenta de 5 mil años de edad,” El Expresso,<br />
January 18, 1996, 24; <strong>in</strong>terview with Martínez-Torres, July 14,<br />
1999.<br />
60. See Roberto Martínez-Torres, “El Yacimiento Aracaico De La Tembladera,”<br />
Tesis Presentada Como Uno De Los Requisitos Para El<br />
Grado De Maestro En Artes En Historia Con Concentacíon En<br />
Arqueología, Centro De Estudios Avanzados De <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> Y El<br />
Caribe, San Juan, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, March 1994.<br />
61. Interview with Martínez-Torres, July 14, 1999.<br />
62. Rouse, <strong>The</strong> Ta<strong>in</strong>os, 70.<br />
63. Fern<strong>and</strong>o Picó, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: A Panorama <strong>of</strong> Its People<br />
(Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006), 38.
Notes 155<br />
64. Jesse Walter Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 25th Annual Report, B. A. E. (Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Smithsonian<br />
Institution, 1907), 23.<br />
65. María Teresa Babín, “Introduction: <strong>The</strong> Path <strong>and</strong> the Voice,” <strong>in</strong><br />
Bor<strong>in</strong>quen: An Anthology <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Literature, ed. María Teresa<br />
Babín <strong>and</strong> Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974), xv.<br />
66. Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 84.<br />
67. Ibid., 82.<br />
68. Ibid., 79–82.<br />
69. <strong>The</strong> storyteller, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 10.<br />
70. Jesse Walter Fewkes, <strong>in</strong> ibid.<br />
71. Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 83.<br />
72. Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> López,<br />
ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, 22.<br />
73. Adalberto López, “<strong>The</strong> Evolution <strong>of</strong> a Colony: <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> the<br />
16th, 17th, <strong>and</strong> 18th Centuries,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans,<br />
25.<br />
74. Delgado Colón, “¿Dónde están nuestros <strong>in</strong>dios?”<br />
75. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 14.<br />
76. Regard<strong>in</strong>g the partial abolition <strong>of</strong> slavery, Federico Ribes-Tovar writes,<br />
“On July 12, 1520, the K<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Spa<strong>in</strong>, <strong>in</strong> a letter to Lic. Antonio de la<br />
Gama, Governor <strong>and</strong> Resident Judge <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, stated categorically:<br />
‘After much study <strong>and</strong> discussion, it was agreed <strong>and</strong> decided that<br />
the said Indians (encomendados) are free men <strong>and</strong> should be considered<br />
<strong>and</strong> treated as such, that they should be granted full liberty, <strong>and</strong><br />
that we cannot <strong>and</strong> should not impose forced labor on anyone,’” <strong>in</strong><br />
Ribes Tovar, A Chronological History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 60.<br />
77. Adolfo Pérez-Comas, “Censo de L<strong>and</strong>o de 1530–1531,” Hereditas:<br />
Revista De Genealogía <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueña 5, no. 2 (2004): 66.<br />
78. Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> López,<br />
ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, 22.<br />
79. Salvador Brau, Historia de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (1904; San Juan de <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>: Editorial Coquí, 1966), 70–71.<br />
80. See Pérez-Comas, “Censo de L<strong>and</strong>o de 1530–1531,” Hereditas,<br />
66–87.<br />
81. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 73.<br />
82. Guitar, “Cultural Genesis,” 271.<br />
83. Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> López,<br />
ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, 22.<br />
84. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 75.<br />
85. Brau, Historia de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 80.<br />
86. Pérez-Comas, “Censo de L<strong>and</strong>o de 1530–1531,” Hereditas, 66.<br />
87. Census data <strong>in</strong> Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 83;<br />
emphasis added.<br />
88. Delgado Colón, “¿Dónde están nuestros <strong>in</strong>dios?”
156<br />
Notes<br />
89. Pérez-Comas, “Censo de L<strong>and</strong>o de 1530–1531,” Hereditas, 66.<br />
90. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 16.<br />
91. Jerónimo de Aguero, quoted <strong>in</strong> Guitar, “Cultural Genesis,” 336–37.<br />
92. Guitar, “Cultural Genesis,” 337.<br />
93. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 73.<br />
94. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 17.<br />
95. Marianna Morris, <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 17.<br />
96. Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 24.<br />
97. For a highly speculative article that relies on the same types <strong>of</strong><br />
sources <strong>and</strong> census analyses critiqued <strong>in</strong> this book, <strong>and</strong> which presents<br />
contradictory evidence that unwitt<strong>in</strong>gly supports a substantial<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous population, specifically the census category “pardos<br />
libres” as predom<strong>in</strong>antly mestizo Indian as shown <strong>in</strong> the next chapter,<br />
see Gabriel Haslip-Viera, “<strong>The</strong> Politics <strong>of</strong> Taíno Revivalism: <strong>The</strong><br />
Insignificance <strong>of</strong> Amer<strong>in</strong>dian mtDNA <strong>in</strong> the Population History <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans. A Comment on Recent Research,” Centro Journal<br />
18 no. 1 (Spr<strong>in</strong>g 2006): 261–75. <strong>The</strong> author’s trump card reverts<br />
back, as so many do, to the racist <strong>and</strong> outdated Darw<strong>in</strong>ian notion <strong>of</strong><br />
“pure” identities as a basis <strong>of</strong> “ext<strong>in</strong>ction.”<br />
98. Juan Martínez-Cruzado, et al., “Reconstruct<strong>in</strong>g the Population History<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> by Means <strong>of</strong> mtDNA Phylogeographic Analysis,”<br />
American Journal <strong>of</strong> Physical Anthropology 128 (2005): 131.<br />
99. Ibid., 147.<br />
Chapter 4<br />
1. James C. Scott, Weapons <strong>of</strong> the Weak: Everyday Forms <strong>of</strong> Peasant<br />
Resistance (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985), 36.<br />
2. Maria Teresa Babín <strong>and</strong> Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er, eds., Bor<strong>in</strong>quen: An Anthology<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Literature (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974), 38.<br />
3. Ronald D. Arroyo, “Da Bor<strong>in</strong>kees: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>of</strong> Hawaii”<br />
(PhD diss., Union Graduate School, 1977), 9.<br />
4. Francisco Moscoso, “Chiefdom <strong>and</strong> Encomienda <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Development <strong>of</strong> Tribal Society <strong>and</strong> the Spanish Colonization<br />
to 1530,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Culture, <strong>and</strong> Society,<br />
ed. Adalberto López (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publish<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Company, 1980), 23.<br />
5. Loida Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: From the Beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to 1892 (New York: L. A. Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1978), 83.<br />
6. Census data <strong>in</strong> Salvador Brau, Historia de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (1904), San<br />
Juan de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Editorial Coquí, (1966), 70–71.<br />
7. Michael L. Conniff <strong>and</strong> Thomas J. Davis, Africans <strong>in</strong> the Americas:<br />
A History <strong>of</strong> the Black Diaspora (New York: St. Mart<strong>in</strong>’s Press,<br />
1994), 76.
Notes 157<br />
8. Adalberto López, “<strong>The</strong> Evolution <strong>of</strong> a Colony: <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
the 16th, 17th, <strong>and</strong> 18th Centuries,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Ricans, 25.<br />
9. Ibid., 25–26.<br />
10. Ibid., 26.<br />
11. Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s: <strong>The</strong> Worlds <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans (New York:<br />
Harper & Row, 1974), 60.<br />
12. Conniff <strong>and</strong> Davis, Africans <strong>in</strong> the Americas, 76.<br />
13. Census data <strong>in</strong> Brau, Historia de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 70–71.<br />
14. Conniff <strong>and</strong> Davis, Africans <strong>in</strong> the Americas, 76.<br />
15. Selwyn R. Cudjoe, Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> Literature (Athens:<br />
Ohio University Press, 1980), 14.<br />
16. Ibid., 22.<br />
17. Arturo Santana <strong>and</strong> Rafael A. Torrech, Atlas De La Historia De<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Desde sus orígenes hasta f<strong>in</strong>ales del Siglo XIX (San Juan<br />
de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Editorial Cordillera, 1988), 34.<br />
18. Census data <strong>in</strong> Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 74.<br />
19. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 84.<br />
20. Interview with <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican human rights advocate Nilda Aponte-<br />
Lebron, July 26, 1998.<br />
21. Ibid.<br />
22. Interview with elder <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Naniki<br />
Reyes-Ocasio, August 9, 2006.<br />
23. Ibid.<br />
24. For a breakdown <strong>of</strong> ancestral frequencies per municipality, see Juan<br />
C. Martínez-Cruzado et al., “Reconstruct<strong>in</strong>g the Population History<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> by Means <strong>of</strong> mtDNA Phylogeographic Analysis,”<br />
American Journal <strong>of</strong> Physical Anthropology 128 (2005): 141.<br />
25. Interview with elder Juan Antonio Castillo, August 20, 2008.<br />
26. López, “<strong>The</strong> Evolution <strong>of</strong> a Colony,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Ricans, 27.<br />
27. Lynne A. Guitar, “Cultural Genesis: Relationships Among Indians,<br />
Africans <strong>and</strong> Spaniards <strong>in</strong> Rural Hispaniola, First Half <strong>of</strong> the Sixteenth<br />
Century” (PhD diss., V<strong>and</strong>erbilt University, 1998), 359.<br />
28. Ibid.<br />
29. Jíbaro Don Pedro Matos-Matos, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 94.<br />
30. Ibid., 90–91.<br />
31. Interview with <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Niña Raffaele-<br />
Aponte, July 26, 1998.<br />
32. Interview with Raffaele-Aponte, Aponte-Lebron, <strong>and</strong> Baracutey,<br />
July 26, 1998.<br />
33. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 103.<br />
34. Juan Angel Silén, We, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican People: A Story <strong>of</strong> Oppression<br />
<strong>and</strong> Resistance, trans. Cedric Belfrage (New York: Monthly Review<br />
Press, 1971), 18.
158<br />
Notes<br />
35. Fray Iñigo Abbad y Lasierra, <strong>in</strong> Silén, We, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican People,<br />
17.<br />
36. Matos-Matos, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 94.<br />
37. López, “<strong>The</strong> Evolution <strong>of</strong> a Colony,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Ricans, 33.<br />
38. Ibid.<br />
39. Ibid., 44.<br />
40. Ibid., 27.<br />
41. Epeli Hau‘<strong>of</strong>a, “Our Sea <strong>of</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s,” <strong>The</strong> Contemporary Pacific 6,<br />
no. 1 (Spr<strong>in</strong>g 1994): 148.<br />
42. López, “<strong>The</strong> Evolution <strong>of</strong> a Colony,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Ricans, 28.<br />
43. Ibid., 34.<br />
44. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 93.<br />
45. Interview with Carib-Jíbaro l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>and</strong> scholar Oki Lamourt-<br />
Valentín, July 27, 1998.<br />
46. López, “<strong>The</strong> Evolution <strong>of</strong> a Colony,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Ricans, 38.<br />
47. Ibid., 38–39.<br />
48. Interview with Lamourt-Valentín, July 27, 1998.<br />
49. Ibid.<br />
50. López, “<strong>The</strong> Evolution <strong>of</strong> a Colony,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Ricans, 44.<br />
51. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 74.<br />
52. Brau, Historia de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 199–200.<br />
53. Ibid., 200.<br />
54. Juan Manuel Delgado Colón, “¿Dónde están nuestros <strong>in</strong>dios?” El<br />
Nuevo Dia, November 19, 1977.<br />
55. Ibid.<br />
56. Brau, Historia de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 199.<br />
57. Census data <strong>in</strong> Santana <strong>and</strong> Torrech, Atlas De La Historia De <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>, 37.<br />
58. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 74.<br />
59. Interview with <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican historian Juan Manuel Delgado, July<br />
15, 1999.<br />
60. Juan Manual Delgado, “Sobrevivencia de los apellidos <strong>in</strong>dígenas<br />
según la historia oral de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” Revista de Genealogía <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueña<br />
2, no. 1 (April 2001): 42–43.<br />
61. Ibid., 46.<br />
62. Ibid., 53.<br />
63. Census data <strong>in</strong> Santana <strong>and</strong> Torrech, Atlas De La Historia De <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>, 37.<br />
64. Ibid., 37, 55.<br />
65. Ibid.<br />
66. Interview with Naniki, August 9, 2006.
Notes 159<br />
67. Interview with <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican archeologist Roberto Martínez-Torres,<br />
July 14, 1999.<br />
68. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 74.<br />
69. Delgado Colón, “¿Dónde están nuestros <strong>in</strong>dios?”; Manuel Álvarez-<br />
Nazario confirms that <strong>in</strong> 1802 Governor Montes ordered all mestizos,<br />
mulattoes who were not slaves, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dios to be <strong>in</strong>cluded as<br />
pardos libres, <strong>in</strong> Manuel Alvarez Nazario, El Elemento Afronegroide<br />
en el Español de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Contribución al estudio del negro en<br />
América (San Juan de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Instituto de Cultura <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueña,<br />
1974), 353.<br />
70. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 74.<br />
71. Federico Ribes Tovar, A Chronological History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (New<br />
York: Plus Ultra Educational Publishers, 1973), 171.<br />
72. Fern<strong>and</strong>o Picó, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: A Panorama <strong>of</strong> Its People<br />
(Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006), 50.<br />
73. Alvarez Nazario, El Elemento Afronegroide en el Español de <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>, 353.<br />
74. Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra, Historia Geográfica, Civil y Natural de<br />
la Isla de San Juan Bautista de <strong>Puerto</strong>-<strong>Rico</strong> (1788), (Ediciones Doce<br />
Calles e Historiador Oficial de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 2002), 495.<br />
75. See Pablo Morales Cabrera, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> Indigena: Prehistoria y Protohistoria<br />
de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (San Juan, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Imprenta Venezuela,<br />
1932), 23–27.<br />
76. Interview with Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Cuko, August 22, 2008.<br />
77. Ibid.<br />
78. Picó, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 166.<br />
79. Interview with artisan <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Margarita<br />
Nogueras-Vidal, August 12, 2008.<br />
80. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 74.<br />
81. L<strong>in</strong>da Tuhiwai Smith, Decoloniz<strong>in</strong>g Methodologies: Research, Writ<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Peoples (London <strong>and</strong> New York: Zed Books; <strong>and</strong><br />
Duned<strong>in</strong>, New Zeal<strong>and</strong>: University <strong>of</strong> Otago Press, 1999), 72–73.<br />
82. For an excellent account refut<strong>in</strong>g the ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> the Yuchi, see<br />
Richard A. Grounds, “Yuchi Travels: Up <strong>and</strong> Down the Academic<br />
‘Road to Disappearance,’” <strong>in</strong> Native Voices: American Indian Identity<br />
<strong>and</strong> Resistance, ed. Richard A. Grounds, George E. T<strong>in</strong>ker, <strong>and</strong><br />
David E. Wilk<strong>in</strong>s (Lawrence: University Press <strong>of</strong> Kansas, 2003),<br />
290–317.<br />
83. Lenore A. Stiffarm with Phil Lane Jr., “<strong>The</strong> Demography <strong>of</strong> Native<br />
North America: A Question <strong>of</strong> American Indian Survival,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
State <strong>of</strong> Native America: Genocide, Colonization, <strong>and</strong> Resistance, ed.<br />
M. Annette Jaimes (Boston: South End Press, 1992), 37.<br />
84. Henry F. Dobyns, “Estimat<strong>in</strong>g Aborig<strong>in</strong>al American Population: An<br />
Appraisal <strong>of</strong> Techniques with a New Hemispheric Estimate,” Current<br />
Anthropology 7, no. 4 (October 1966): 395.
160<br />
Notes<br />
85. William M. Denevan, “Estimat<strong>in</strong>g the Unknown,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> Native<br />
Population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong> 1492, ed. William M. Denevan (Madison:<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Wiscons<strong>in</strong> Press, 1976), 1.<br />
86. Denevan, ed., “Epilogue,” <strong>The</strong> Native Population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong><br />
1492, 291.<br />
87. See Sherburne F. Cook <strong>and</strong> Woodrow Borah, “<strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>al Population<br />
<strong>of</strong> Hispaniola,” Essays <strong>in</strong> Population History: Mexico <strong>and</strong> the<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong>, vol. 1 (Berkeley: University <strong>of</strong> California Press, 1971),<br />
376–410.<br />
88. Denevan, “Estimat<strong>in</strong>g the Unknown,” <strong>in</strong> Denevan, ed., <strong>The</strong> Native<br />
Population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong> 1492, 5–6.<br />
89. David E. Stannard, Before the Horror: <strong>The</strong> Population <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i on<br />
the Eve <strong>of</strong> Western Contact (Honolulu: Social Science Research Institute,<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i, 1989), xv.<br />
90. Woodrow Borah, “<strong>The</strong> Historical Demography <strong>of</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>al <strong>and</strong><br />
Colonial America: An Attempt at Perspective,” <strong>in</strong> Denevan, ed., <strong>The</strong><br />
Native Population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong> 1492, 20.<br />
91. Stiffarm with Lane, Jr., “<strong>The</strong> Demography <strong>of</strong> Native North America,”<br />
<strong>in</strong> Jaimes, ed., <strong>The</strong> State <strong>of</strong> Native America, 23.<br />
92. Borah, “<strong>The</strong> Historical Demography <strong>of</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>al <strong>and</strong> Colonial<br />
America,” <strong>in</strong> Denevan, ed., <strong>The</strong> Native Population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong><br />
1492, 19.<br />
93. Ibid.<br />
94. Lewis Hanke, <strong>The</strong> Spanish Struggle for Justice <strong>in</strong> the Conquest <strong>of</strong><br />
America (Philadelphia: University <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania Press, 1949), 4.<br />
95. Borah, “<strong>The</strong> Historical Demography <strong>of</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>al <strong>and</strong> Colonial<br />
America,” <strong>in</strong> Denevan, ed., <strong>The</strong> Native Population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong><br />
1492, 19.<br />
96. Thomas Biolsi, “<strong>The</strong> Anthropological Construction <strong>of</strong> ‘Indians’:<br />
Havil<strong>and</strong> Scudder Mekeel <strong>and</strong> the Search for the Primitive <strong>in</strong> Lakota<br />
Country,” <strong>in</strong> Indians <strong>and</strong> Anthropologists: V<strong>in</strong>e Deloria, Jr., <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Critique <strong>of</strong> Anthropology, ed. Thomas Biolsi <strong>and</strong> Larry J. Zimmerman<br />
(Tucson: University <strong>of</strong> Arizona Press, 1997), 135.<br />
97. Ashley Montagu, “Preface,” <strong>in</strong> Ashley Montagu, ed., <strong>The</strong> Concept<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Primitive (New York: <strong>The</strong> Free Press; <strong>and</strong> London: Collier-<br />
Macmillan Limited, 1968), vii–viii.<br />
98. Ashley Montagu, “<strong>The</strong> Fallacy <strong>of</strong> the ‘Primitive,’” <strong>in</strong> Montagu, ed.,<br />
<strong>The</strong> Concept <strong>of</strong> the Primitive, 2.<br />
99. E. De Vattel, <strong>The</strong> Law <strong>of</strong> Nations or the Pr<strong>in</strong>ciples <strong>of</strong> Natural Law:<br />
Applied to the Conduct <strong>and</strong> to the Affairs <strong>of</strong> Nations <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Sovereigns,<br />
vol. 3, trans. Charles G. Fenwick (1758), (Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Carnegie<br />
Institution <strong>of</strong> Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, 1916), 84–85.<br />
100. Ibid., 85.
Notes 161<br />
101. M. Annette Jaimes, “<strong>The</strong> Stone Age Revisited: An Indigenist View<br />
<strong>of</strong> Primitivism, Industrialism <strong>and</strong> the Labor Process,” New Studies on<br />
the Left 14, no. 3 (W<strong>in</strong>ter 1990–1991): 59.<br />
102. Vattel, <strong>The</strong> Law <strong>of</strong> Nations or the Pr<strong>in</strong>ciples <strong>of</strong> Natural Law, 84.<br />
103. See Johnson v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. (98 Wheat), 543, 1823.<br />
104. Stiffarm with Lane Jr., “<strong>The</strong> Demography <strong>of</strong> Native North America,”<br />
<strong>in</strong> Jaimes, ed., <strong>The</strong> State <strong>of</strong> Native America, 28; emphasis added.<br />
105. See Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.), 1, 1831.<br />
106. Jesse Walter Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 25th Annual Report, B. A. E. (Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Smithsonian<br />
Institution, 1907), 23.<br />
107. Bartolomé de Las Casas, <strong>The</strong> Devastation <strong>of</strong> the Indies: A Brief<br />
Account, trans. Herma Biffault (1552; Baltimore: <strong>The</strong> John Hopk<strong>in</strong>s<br />
University Press, 1992), 43.<br />
108. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 73–74.<br />
109. Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 23.<br />
110. Ricardo E. Alegría, “An Introduction to Taíno Culture <strong>and</strong> History,”<br />
<strong>in</strong> Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art <strong>and</strong> Culture from the <strong>Caribbean</strong>,<br />
ed. Fatima Bercht, Estrellita Brodsky, John Alan Farmer <strong>and</strong> Dicey<br />
Taylor (New York: <strong>The</strong> Monacelli Press, Inc., <strong>and</strong> El Museo del Barrio,<br />
1997), 18.<br />
111. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 74.<br />
112. Alegría, “An Introduction to Taíno Culture <strong>and</strong> History,” <strong>in</strong> Bercht<br />
et al., eds., Taíno, 18.<br />
113. Ibid., 20; emphasis added.<br />
114. Denevan, “Estimat<strong>in</strong>g the Unknown,” <strong>in</strong> Denevan, ed., <strong>The</strong> Native<br />
Population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong> 1492, 6.<br />
115. Cook <strong>and</strong> Borah, Essays <strong>in</strong> Population History, viii.<br />
116. Ibid., xiii.<br />
117. Sherburne F. Cook <strong>and</strong> Woodrow Borah, “<strong>The</strong> Historical Demography<br />
<strong>of</strong> Interior Tribes <strong>of</strong> Columbia <strong>in</strong> the Studies <strong>of</strong> Juan Friede <strong>and</strong><br />
German Colmenares,” <strong>in</strong> Essays <strong>in</strong> Population History, 429.<br />
118. Ibid.<br />
Chapter 5<br />
1. María Teresa Babín, “Introduction: <strong>The</strong> Path <strong>and</strong> the Voice,” <strong>in</strong><br />
María Teresa Babín <strong>and</strong> Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er, eds., Bor<strong>in</strong>quen: An Anthology<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Literature, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974),<br />
xii–xiii.<br />
2. Interview with the Jíbaro man, August 23, 2008.<br />
3. Interview with the wife <strong>of</strong> Cuko, August 22, 2008.<br />
4. Franke Wilmer, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Voice <strong>in</strong> World Politics: S<strong>in</strong>ce Time<br />
Immemorial (Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1993), 7.
162<br />
Notes<br />
5. Adalberto López, “Birth <strong>of</strong> a Nation: <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> the N<strong>in</strong>eteenth<br />
Century,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Culture, <strong>and</strong> Society,<br />
ed. Adalberto López (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publish<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Company, 1980), 59.<br />
6. José C. Rosario, <strong>The</strong> Development <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Jibaro <strong>and</strong> His<br />
Present Attitude towards Society (San Juan: <strong>The</strong> University <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>, 1935), 17.<br />
7. Ibid.<br />
8. Interview with the Jíbaro man, August 23, 2008.<br />
9. Interview with elder William Feliciano, August 25, 2008.<br />
10. Interview with espiritista <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner<br />
Uahtibili Báez-Santiago, August 26, 2008.<br />
11. Ibid.<br />
12. Interview with activist <strong>and</strong> Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Pepe, August 24, 2008.<br />
13. Ibid.<br />
14. Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s: <strong>The</strong> Worlds <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans (New York:<br />
Harper & Row, 1974), 97.<br />
15. Rosario, <strong>The</strong> Development <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Jibaro <strong>and</strong> His Present<br />
Attitude towards Society, 8.<br />
16. Ibid., 9.<br />
17. Ibid., 18.<br />
18. Ibid., 17–18.<br />
19. Interview with Carib-Jíbaro l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>and</strong> scholar Oki Lamourt-<br />
Valentín, July 27, 1998.<br />
20. Ibid.<br />
21. Fern<strong>and</strong>o Picó, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: A Panorama <strong>of</strong> Its People<br />
(Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006), 118–19.<br />
22. Interview with elder Feliciano, August 25, 2008.<br />
23. Ronald D. Arroyo, “Da Bor<strong>in</strong>kees: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>of</strong> Hawaii”<br />
(PhD diss., Union Graduate School, 1977), 3.<br />
24. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 95.<br />
25. Interview with Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
26. Interview with elder Lipio, August 21, 2008.<br />
27. Interview with the Jíbaro man, August 23, 2008.<br />
28. López, “Birth <strong>of</strong> a Nation,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, 62.<br />
29. Rosario, <strong>The</strong> Development <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Jibaro <strong>and</strong> His Present<br />
Attitude towards Society, 63.<br />
30. Interview with Cuko, August 22, 2008.<br />
31. Déborah Berman Santana, “<strong>Indigenous</strong> Identity <strong>and</strong> the Struggle<br />
for Independence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> Sovereignty Matters: Locations<br />
<strong>of</strong> Contestation <strong>and</strong> Possibility <strong>in</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Struggles for Self-Determ<strong>in</strong>ation,<br />
ed. Joanne Barker (L<strong>in</strong>coln: University <strong>of</strong> Nebraska Press,<br />
2005), 213.<br />
32. Ibid.<br />
33. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 90.
Notes 163<br />
34. Ibid., 238.<br />
35. López, “Birth <strong>of</strong> a Nation,” <strong>in</strong> López, ed., <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans, 70.<br />
36. Ibid.<br />
37. Ibid., 72.<br />
38. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
39. Picó, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 186.<br />
40. Ibid., 184–85.<br />
41. Loida Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: From the Beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to 1892 (New York: L. A. Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1978), 281.<br />
42. Juan Angel Silén, We, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican People: A Story <strong>of</strong> Oppression<br />
<strong>and</strong> Resistance, trans. Cedric Belfrage (New York <strong>and</strong> London:<br />
Monthly Review Press, 1971), 31.<br />
43. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
44. Interview with artisan <strong>and</strong> Jíbara cultural practitioner Pluma, December<br />
22, 2009.<br />
45. Manuel Maldonado-Denis, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: A Socio-Historic Interpretation,<br />
trans. Elena Vialo (New York: R<strong>and</strong>om House, 1972), 46.<br />
46. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 213.<br />
47. Ibid., 216.<br />
48. Silén, We, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican People, 32.<br />
49. “Compontes,” accord<strong>in</strong>g to Figueroa-Mercado, is a word <strong>of</strong> Cuban<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>. “It means the act <strong>of</strong> submitt<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>dividual to a third degree<br />
test to extract confessions,” <strong>in</strong> Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>, 379.<br />
50. Interview with elder Lipio, August 21, 2008.<br />
51. Interview with elder Dom<strong>in</strong>go Guzman, August 21, 2008.<br />
52. Interview with the Jíbaro man, August 23, 2008.<br />
53. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
54. Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 408.<br />
55. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 238.<br />
56. Picó, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 239.<br />
57. Interview with elder Lipio, August 21, 2008.<br />
58. Interview with Pepe, April 5, 2010.<br />
59. Daniel B. Schirmer <strong>and</strong> Stephen Rosskamm Shalom, eds., <strong>The</strong> Philipp<strong>in</strong>es<br />
Reader: A History <strong>of</strong> Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Resistance (Boston: South End Press, 1987), 16.<br />
60. Earl P. Hanson, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 232.<br />
61. Interview with Uahtibili, August 26, 2008.<br />
62. Interview with Pepe, August 24, 2008.<br />
63. Carlos Feliciano, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 238.<br />
64. Ibid., 241–42.<br />
65. Ibid., 239.<br />
66. Luis Muñoz-Marín, quoted <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 241.<br />
67. Feliciano, <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 239–40.<br />
68. Bolívar Marquez, <strong>in</strong> Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 226.
164<br />
Notes<br />
69. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 11.<br />
70. Ibid., 10–11; emphasis added.<br />
71. Jesse Walter Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 25th Annual Report, B. A. E. (Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Smithsonian<br />
Institution, 1907), 24–26.<br />
72. Ibid., 41.<br />
73. Interview with <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican archeologist Roberto Martínez-Torres,<br />
July 14, 1999.<br />
74. Photos pr<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong> Roberto Martínez Torres, “Nuestros Primeros<br />
Artistas,” <strong>in</strong> Revista Catey, ed. Roberto Martínez Torres (Morovis,<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Revista Arqueologica, Antropologica e Historica,<br />
1994), 11–14.<br />
75. Interview with Martínez-Torres, July 14, 1999.<br />
76. Ibid; emphasis added.<br />
77. Interview with elder Doña Varín Chéverez, August 2, 1998.<br />
78. Juan Manual Delgado, “Sobrevivencia de los apellidos <strong>in</strong>dígenas<br />
según la historia oral de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” Revista de Genealogía <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueña,<br />
2, no. 1 (April 2001): 77.<br />
79. Ibid.<br />
80. Interview with Boricua <strong>and</strong> president <strong>of</strong> the United <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican<br />
Association <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i (UPRAH), Angel Santiago-Cruz, September<br />
19, 2004.<br />
81. Interview with Santiago-Cruz, November 11, 2004.<br />
82. Ste<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 18.<br />
Chapter 6<br />
1. See Ronald D. Arroyo, “Da Bor<strong>in</strong>kees: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>of</strong> Hawaii”<br />
(PhD diss. Union Graduate School, 1977), 101–11, 139–40.<br />
2. Loida Figueroa Mercado, History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: From the Beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to 1892 (New York: L. A. Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1978), 46.<br />
3. Fray Bartolomé Las Casas, <strong>in</strong> Fray Ramón Pané, An Account <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Antiquities <strong>of</strong> the Indians, trans. Susan C. Griswold (c. 1498; Durham,<br />
NC: Duke University Press, 1999), 62.<br />
4. Interview with Güiya, August 25, 2008.<br />
5. Exp<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g on the etymology <strong>of</strong> the word “dita,” Lamourt-Valentín<br />
writes, “<strong>The</strong> conta<strong>in</strong>er made from the fruit <strong>of</strong> the calabash-tree<br />
(‘higüero’) is called a ‘dita’ from ‘ti’ (to, <strong>in</strong>, with) <strong>and</strong> ‘taab’ (to<br />
hang, to suspend) or = ti’-taab . . . <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> some places people apply<br />
this native term to metal cook<strong>in</strong>g pots.” <strong>in</strong> Oscar Lamourt-Valentín,<br />
Cannibal Recipes, A sociol<strong>in</strong>guistic account <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous Carib-<br />
Jíbaro culture <strong>and</strong> response to the work <strong>of</strong> Ramón Pané, unpublished<br />
manuscript (Ames: Iowa State University, 1979), 6.<br />
6. Interview with Güiya <strong>and</strong> Migui, August 25, 2008.<br />
7. Interview with Migui, August 25, 2008.
Notes 165<br />
8. Interview with activist <strong>and</strong> Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Pepe, August 24, 2008.<br />
9. Interview with Isabel Serrano, August 25, 2008.<br />
10. Interview with elder Celia Gonzales, August 25, 2008.<br />
11. Ibid.<br />
12. Interview with Isabel, August 25, 2008.<br />
13. Interview with espiritista <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner<br />
Uahtibili Báez-Santiago, March 24, 2010.<br />
14. Ibid.<br />
15. Interview with elder William Feliciano, August 25, 2008.<br />
16. See Pané, An Account <strong>of</strong> the Antiquities <strong>of</strong> the Indians, 19–23.<br />
17. Interview with Isabel <strong>and</strong> elder Feliciano, August 25, 2008.<br />
18. Adalberto López, “Birth <strong>of</strong> a Nation: <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>in</strong> the N<strong>in</strong>eteenth<br />
Century,” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Culture, <strong>and</strong> Society,<br />
ed. Adalberto López (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publish<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Company, 1980), 61.<br />
19. See María Dolores Hajosy Benedetti, Earth & Spirit: Heal<strong>in</strong>g Lore<br />
<strong>and</strong> More from <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> (Maplewood, NJ: Waterfront Press,<br />
1989).<br />
20. Hajosy Benedetti, Earth & Spirit, xi.<br />
21. Bárbara Rodríguez, <strong>in</strong> Hajosy Benedetti, Earth & Spirit, 117.<br />
22. Hajosy Benedetti, Earth & Spirit, xv.<br />
23. Interview with elder <strong>and</strong> espiritista Shachira, August 21, 2008.<br />
24. Ibid.<br />
25. Uahtibili Báez Santiago <strong>and</strong> Huana Naboli Martínez Prieto, “<strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>”: la gran mentira (Camuy, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Edición Revisada,<br />
2008), 26.<br />
26. Interview with Shachira, August 21, 2008.<br />
27. Ibid.<br />
28. Doña Bol<strong>in</strong>a, <strong>in</strong> Hajosy Benedetti, Earth & Spirit, 58.<br />
29. Hajosy Benedetti, Earth & Spirit, 58.<br />
30. Interview with elder Shachira, August 21, 2008.<br />
31. Ibid.<br />
32. Frances Robles, “<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> Archaeological F<strong>in</strong>d Mired <strong>in</strong> Politics,”<br />
Miami Herald, July 1, 2008.<br />
33. Interview with elder Shachira, August 21, 2008.<br />
34. Interview with Uahtibili, August 26, 2008.<br />
35. Ibid.<br />
36. Interview with Uahtibili, March 24, 2010.<br />
37. Lamourt-Valentín, Cannibal Recipes, 19–20.<br />
38. Ibid., 21.<br />
39. Ibid., 20.<br />
40. Interview with Huana Naboli Martínez-Prieto, August 26, 2008.<br />
41. Interview with Uahtibili, August 26, 2008.<br />
42. Interview with Uahtibili <strong>and</strong> Huana, August 26, 2008.
166<br />
Notes<br />
43. Walter D. Mignolo, <strong>The</strong> Darker Side <strong>of</strong> the Renaissance: Literacy,<br />
Territoriality, & Colonization (Ann Arbor: University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Press, 1995), 30.<br />
44. Ibid.<br />
45. Ibid., 33.<br />
46. Ibid.<br />
47. Ibid., 30.<br />
48. Interview with Uahtibili, March 24, 2010.<br />
49. Interview with Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Cuko, August 22, 2008.<br />
50. Lamourt-Valentín, Cannibal Recipes, 6–7.<br />
51. Interview with Carib-Jíbaro l<strong>in</strong>guist <strong>and</strong> scholar Oki Lamourt-<br />
Valentín, July 27, 1998.<br />
52. Quoted <strong>in</strong> Norma Carr, “<strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>in</strong> Hawaii: 1900–1958”<br />
(PhD diss., University <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 1989), 47.<br />
53. See Webster’s II New College Dictionary (Boston: Houghton Miffl<strong>in</strong><br />
Company, 1995, 1999), 806.<br />
54. Jesse Walter Fewkes, <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 25th Annual Report, B. A. E. (Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Smithsonian<br />
Institution, 1907), 20.<br />
55. Interview with Pepe, August 24, 2008.<br />
56. Interview with Migui, August 25, 2008.<br />
57. See Nelsonrafael Collazo, Imágenes del Indio <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueño (Jayuya,<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Nelsonrafael Collazo Grau, 1999), 184–86.<br />
58. Interview with activist <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Baracutey,<br />
August 19, 2008.<br />
59. Interview with artisan <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Pluma,<br />
August 22, 2008.<br />
60. Interview with Baracutey, August 19, 2008; Interview with Pluma,<br />
August 22, 2008.<br />
61. José Luis Morín, “Chiapas Upris<strong>in</strong>g: An <strong>Indigenous</strong> Peoples’ Struggle<br />
for Justice,” Covert Action Quarterly, no. 48 (Spr<strong>in</strong>g 1994): 39.<br />
62. Luis A. Gómez, “Evo Morales Turns the Tide <strong>of</strong> History,” <strong>in</strong> Dispatches<br />
from Lat<strong>in</strong> America: On the Frontl<strong>in</strong>es aga<strong>in</strong>st Neoliberalism,<br />
ed. Teo Ballvé <strong>and</strong> Vijay Prashad (Cambridge, MA: South End Press,<br />
2006), 141.<br />
63. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
64. Interview with Pepe, August 27, 2008.<br />
65. Interview with elder <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Naniki,<br />
July 31, 2003.<br />
66. Isol<strong>in</strong>a Rondón, quoted <strong>in</strong> Jean Wiley Zwickel, Voices for Independence:<br />
In the Spirit <strong>of</strong> Valor <strong>and</strong> Sacrifice (Pittsburg, CA: White Star<br />
Press, 1988, 1993), 24.<br />
67. Edw<strong>in</strong> Meléndez <strong>and</strong> Edgardo Meléndez, eds., “Introduction,”<br />
Colonial Dilemma: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong> (Boston: South End Press, 1993), 5.
Notes 167<br />
68. Interview with Pepe, April 5, 2010.<br />
69. Juan Manuel Carrión, “<strong>The</strong> National Question <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong><br />
Meléndez <strong>and</strong> Meléndez, eds., Colonial Dilemma, 71.<br />
70. J. Benjamín Torres, <strong>in</strong> Zwickel, Voices for Independence, 10.<br />
71. Gómez, “Evo Morales Turns the Tide <strong>of</strong> History,” <strong>in</strong> Ballvé <strong>and</strong><br />
Prashad, eds., Dispatches from Lat<strong>in</strong> America, 143.<br />
72. Déborah Berman Santana, “<strong>Indigenous</strong> Identity <strong>and</strong> the Struggle<br />
for Independence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> Sovereignty Matters: Locations<br />
<strong>of</strong> Contestation <strong>and</strong> Possibility <strong>in</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Struggles for Self-Determ<strong>in</strong>ation,<br />
ed. Joanne Barker (L<strong>in</strong>coln: University <strong>of</strong> Nebraska Press,<br />
2005), 211.<br />
73. Ibid.<br />
74. Interview with activist <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Elba<br />
Anaca Lugo, July 17, 1999.<br />
75. Ibid.<br />
76. Interview with Anaca Lugo, November 2, 2004.<br />
77. Interview with artisan <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner Margarita<br />
Nogueras-Vidal, September 2, 2004.<br />
78. Interview with Nogueras-Vidal, July 30, 1998.<br />
79. Ibid., July 10, 1999.<br />
80. Ibid.<br />
81. Ibid., July 14, 2004.<br />
82. Interview with Naniki, July 12, 1999.<br />
83. Ibid.<br />
84. Ibid.<br />
85. Ibid.<br />
86. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
87. Ibid., April 13, 2010.<br />
88. Liliana Cotto, “<strong>The</strong> Rescate Movement: An Alternative Way <strong>of</strong> Do<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Politics,” <strong>in</strong> Meléndez <strong>and</strong> Meléndez, eds., Colonial Dilemma, 120.<br />
89. Interview with Pepe, April 5, 2010.<br />
90. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
91. Ibid., April 13, 2010.<br />
92. Morris Morley, “Dependence <strong>and</strong> Development <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Culture, <strong>and</strong> Society, ed. Adalberto<br />
López (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1980),<br />
179.<br />
93. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
94. Interview with Pepe, April 5, 2010.<br />
95. Interview with Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
96. Berman Santana, “<strong>Indigenous</strong> Identity <strong>and</strong> the Struggle for Independence<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>,” <strong>in</strong> Barker, ed., Sovereignty Matters, 220.
168<br />
Notes<br />
Chapter 7<br />
1. Interview with the Jíbaro man, August 23, 2008.<br />
2. Interview with activist <strong>and</strong> Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Pepe, April 5, 2010.<br />
3. Interview with Jíbaro campes<strong>in</strong>o Cuko, August 21, 2008.<br />
4. Gabriel Haslip-Viera, “<strong>The</strong> Politics <strong>of</strong> Taíno Revivalism: <strong>The</strong> Insignificance<br />
<strong>of</strong> Amer<strong>in</strong>dian mtDNA <strong>in</strong> the Population History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Ricans. A Comment on Recent Research,” Centro Journal 18, no. 1<br />
(Spr<strong>in</strong>g 2006): 267.<br />
5. Louis Owens, Mixedblood Messages: Literature, Film, Family, Place<br />
(Norman: University <strong>of</strong> Oklahoma Press, 1998), 40–41.<br />
6. Interview with Pepe, April 5, 2010.<br />
7. Interview with espiritista <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>digenous cultural practitioner<br />
Uahtibili Báez-Santiago, August 26, 2008.<br />
8. Interview with Pepe, August 24, 2008.
Glossary<br />
(Selected Indian <strong>and</strong> Spanish Words)<br />
año de las guácaras : <strong>The</strong> “time we lived <strong>in</strong> caves.”<br />
areíto: A traditional ceremonial dance, recitation, or song.<br />
apodo: A nickname.<br />
batey: A ceremonial ground or ball court.<br />
behike: Similar to a shaman.<br />
bohío: An traditional Indian house.<br />
burén: Traditional Indian plate used for cook<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
cacike/a: A regional leader or chiefta<strong>in</strong>.<br />
campes<strong>in</strong>o: A Jíbaro farmer <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.<br />
cemí: Personal or familial guardians represent<strong>in</strong>g various spiritual entities<br />
<strong>and</strong> a l<strong>in</strong>k between the physical <strong>and</strong> ancestral worlds.<br />
coca: A cup made from coconut that is African <strong>in</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>.<br />
comadrona: A midwife.<br />
el componte: Documented period <strong>of</strong> torture <strong>in</strong> n<strong>in</strong>eteenth-century<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.<br />
conuco: Multicropp<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> subsistence farm<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
cotona: A dress like a tunic.<br />
criollo (or “blanquito”) elite: In <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, ma<strong>in</strong>ly locally born descendants<br />
<strong>of</strong> Spaniards.<br />
cu<strong>and</strong>ero/a: A medic<strong>in</strong>al healer.<br />
dita: A bowl-shaped calabash made from the native higüera tree.<br />
encomendado: Indian people held under the encomienda said to be<br />
“free persons.”<br />
encomendero: A l<strong>and</strong>lord <strong>and</strong> slaveholder.<br />
encomienda: Institutionalized system <strong>of</strong> forced labor, ak<strong>in</strong> to slavery,<br />
where native l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> people were apportioned to encomenderos.<br />
erone: Mound cultivation.<br />
espiritismo: Spiritualism.<br />
espiritista: Similar to a shaman, or one who works with spirits.<br />
fogón: Jíbaro way <strong>of</strong> cook<strong>in</strong>g us<strong>in</strong>g a table with stones.<br />
guajiro: Cuban Indian, equivalent to Jíbaro <strong>in</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.
170<br />
Glossary<br />
guatiao: A greet<strong>in</strong>g, exchang<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> names or “blood mix<strong>in</strong>g” <strong>in</strong> order<br />
to establish k<strong>in</strong>ship relations, peace, <strong>and</strong> friendship.<br />
Indios esclavos: Indian slaves.<br />
Kiskeya: Also Quisqueya; today Haití <strong>and</strong> the Dom<strong>in</strong>ican Republic.<br />
mestizo/a: “Mixed blooded” Indian as is commonly known <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Spanish Americas.<br />
“pardos libres ”: “Free Colored” people.<br />
repartimiento: Distribution <strong>of</strong> native people.<br />
requerimiento: Utilization <strong>of</strong> Spanish “just war” theory as a way <strong>of</strong><br />
requir<strong>in</strong>g native people to convert to Christianity.<br />
tiznado: A native warrior.<br />
yagua: <strong>The</strong> “boards” or tabla de palma from the native yagua palm<br />
tree.<br />
yucayeke: A village or prov<strong>in</strong>ce.
Bibliography<br />
Abbad y Lasierra, Fray Íñigo. Historia Geográfica, Civil y Natural de la Isla<br />
de San Juan Bautista de <strong>Puerto</strong>-<strong>Rico</strong>. Ediciones Doce Calles e Historiador<br />
Oficial de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 2002.<br />
Alonso, Manuel A. El Jíbaro. Rio Piedras, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Editorial Edil, 1992.<br />
Alvarez Nazario, Manuel. El Elemento Afronegroide en el Español de <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>: Contribución al estudio del negro en América. San Juan, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>:<br />
Instituto de Cultura <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueña, 1974.<br />
Arens, W. <strong>The</strong> Man-Eat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Myth</strong>: Anthropology & Anthropophagy. New York:<br />
Oxford University Press, 1979.<br />
Arguedas, José María. Formación de Una Cultura National Indoamericana.<br />
México City: Siglo Ve<strong>in</strong>tiuno Editores, 1975.<br />
Arroyo, Ronald D. “Da Bor<strong>in</strong>kees: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>of</strong> Hawaii.” PhD diss.,<br />
Union Graduate School, 1977.<br />
Ashcr<strong>of</strong>t, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, <strong>and</strong> Helen Tiff<strong>in</strong>s, eds. <strong>The</strong> Post-Colonial<br />
Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1995.<br />
Babín, María Teresa. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans’ Spirit: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Life, <strong>and</strong> Culture.<br />
Translated by Barry Luby. New York: Collier Books, 1971.<br />
Babín, María Teresa, <strong>and</strong> Stan Ste<strong>in</strong>er, eds. Bor<strong>in</strong>quen: An Anthology <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
Rican Literature. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.<br />
Báez Santiago, Uahtibili, <strong>and</strong> Huana Naboli Martínez Prieto. “<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>”:<br />
la gran mentira. Ilustraciones y arte gráfico por Luis Roberto Domínguez.<br />
Camuy, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Edición Revisada, 2008.<br />
Ballvé, Teo, <strong>and</strong> Vijay Prashad, eds. Dispatches from Lat<strong>in</strong> America: On the<br />
Frontl<strong>in</strong>es aga<strong>in</strong>st Neoliberalism. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2006.<br />
Barker, Joanne, ed. Sovereignty Matters: Locations <strong>of</strong> Contestation <strong>and</strong> Possibility<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Struggles for Self-Determ<strong>in</strong>ation. L<strong>in</strong>coln: University <strong>of</strong><br />
Nebraska Press, 2005.<br />
Barreiro, José. “Carib Gallery.” Northeast Indian Quarterly 7, no. 3 (Fall<br />
1990), 47–55.<br />
———. <strong>The</strong> Indian Chronicles. Houston: Arte Público Press, 1993.<br />
Bercht, Fatima, Estrellita Brodsky, John Alan Farmer, <strong>and</strong> Dicey Taylor, eds.<br />
Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art <strong>and</strong> Culture from the <strong>Caribbean</strong>. New York:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Monacelli Press <strong>and</strong> El Museo del Barrio, 1997.<br />
Biolsi, Thomas, <strong>and</strong> Larry J. Zimmerman, eds. Indians <strong>and</strong> Anthropologists:<br />
V<strong>in</strong>e Deloria, Jr., <strong>and</strong> the Critique <strong>of</strong> Anthropology. Tucson: University <strong>of</strong><br />
Arizona Press, 1997.
172<br />
Bibliography<br />
Bourdieu, Pierre. Practical Reason: On the <strong>The</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> Action. Stanford, CA:<br />
Stanford University Press, 1998.<br />
Brau, Salvador. Historia de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. San Juan, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Editorial<br />
Coquí, 1966.<br />
Brotherston, Gordon. Book <strong>of</strong> the Fourth World: Read<strong>in</strong>g the Native Americas<br />
through <strong>The</strong>ir Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.<br />
Burger, Julian. <strong>The</strong> Gaia Atlas <strong>of</strong> First Peoples: A Future for the <strong>Indigenous</strong><br />
World. New York: Anchor Books Doubleday, 1990.<br />
Carr, Norma. “<strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans <strong>in</strong> Hawaii: 1900–1958.” PhD diss., University<br />
<strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 1989.<br />
Castanha, Anthony. “Adventures <strong>in</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> Indigeneity Center<strong>in</strong>g on<br />
Resistance, Survival <strong>and</strong> Presence <strong>in</strong> <strong>Borikén</strong> (<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>).” PhD diss.,<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2004.<br />
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia. 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1, 1831.<br />
Churchill, Ward. From a Native Son: Selected Essays <strong>in</strong> Indigenism, 1985–1995.<br />
Boston: South End Press, 1996.<br />
Collazo, Nelsonrafael. Imágenes del Indio <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueño. Jayuya, <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong>: Nelsonrafael Collazo Grau, 1999.<br />
Conniff, Michael L., <strong>and</strong> Thomas J. Davis. Africans <strong>in</strong> the Americas: A History<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Black Diaspora. New York: St. Mart<strong>in</strong>’s Press, 1994.<br />
Cook, Sherburne F., <strong>and</strong> Woodrow Borah. Essays <strong>in</strong> Population History: Mexico<br />
<strong>and</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, Vol. 1. Berkeley: University <strong>of</strong> California Press, 1971.<br />
Cornell, Stephen, <strong>and</strong> Douglas Hartman. Ethnicity <strong>and</strong> Race: Mak<strong>in</strong>g Identities<br />
<strong>in</strong> a Chang<strong>in</strong>g World. Thous<strong>and</strong> Oaks, CA: P<strong>in</strong>e Forge Press, 2007.<br />
Cudjoe, Selwyn R. Resistance <strong>and</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> Literature. Athens: Ohio University<br />
Press, 1980.<br />
Cultural Survival. State <strong>of</strong> the Peoples: A Global Human Rights Report on Societies<br />
<strong>in</strong> Danger. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993.<br />
Darw<strong>in</strong>, Charles. “On the <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Races <strong>of</strong> Man.” <strong>The</strong> Descent <strong>of</strong><br />
Man <strong>and</strong> Selection <strong>in</strong> Relation to Sex. New York: D. Appleton, 1897.<br />
Davenport, Frances Gard<strong>in</strong>er, ed. European Treaties bear<strong>in</strong>g on the History <strong>of</strong><br />
the United States <strong>and</strong> its Dependencies to 1648. Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Carnegie<br />
Institution <strong>of</strong> Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, 1917.<br />
Delgado, Juan Manuel. “Sobrevivencia de los apellidos <strong>in</strong>dígenas según la<br />
historia oral de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>.” Revista de Genealogía <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueña 2, no.<br />
1 (April 2001), 41–80.<br />
Delgado Colón, Juan Manuel. “¿Dónde están nuestros <strong>in</strong>dios?” El Nuevo<br />
Dia. November 19, 1977.<br />
Deloria, V<strong>in</strong>e, Jr. Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans <strong>and</strong> the <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
Scientific Fact. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publish<strong>in</strong>g, 1997.<br />
Denevan, William M., ed. <strong>The</strong> Native Population <strong>of</strong> the Americas <strong>in</strong> 1492.<br />
Madison: University <strong>of</strong> Wiscons<strong>in</strong> Press, 1976.<br />
Dennis, Matthew. Cultivat<strong>in</strong>g a L<strong>and</strong>scape <strong>of</strong> Peace: Iroquois-European<br />
Encounters <strong>in</strong> Seventeenth-Century America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University<br />
Press, 1993.
Bibliography 173<br />
De Vattel, E. <strong>The</strong> Law <strong>of</strong> Nations or the Pr<strong>in</strong>ciples <strong>of</strong> Natural Law: Applied to<br />
the Conduct <strong>and</strong> to the Affairs <strong>of</strong> Nations <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Sovereigns, Vol. 3. Translated<br />
by Charles G. Fenwick. Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Carnegie Institution <strong>of</strong><br />
Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, 1916.<br />
Dobyns, Henry F. “Estimat<strong>in</strong>g Aborig<strong>in</strong>al American Population: An Appraisal<br />
<strong>of</strong> Techniques with a New Hemispheric Estimate.” Current Anthropology<br />
7, no. 4 (October 1966), 395–416.<br />
Dunn, Oliver, <strong>and</strong> James E. Kelly, Jr., eds., trans. <strong>The</strong> Diario <strong>of</strong> Christopher<br />
Columbus’s First Voyage to America, 1492–1493. Abstracted by Fray Bartolomé<br />
de Las Casas. Norman: University <strong>of</strong> Oklahoma Press, 1989.<br />
Fabian, Johannes. Time <strong>and</strong> the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object.<br />
New York: Columbia University Press, 1983.<br />
Fernández Méndez, Eugenio. Art <strong>and</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>ology <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>o Indians <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Greater West Indies. México City: Editorial Libros de México, 1972.<br />
Fernández Retamar, Roberto. Caliban <strong>and</strong> Other Essays. Translated by<br />
Edward Baker. M<strong>in</strong>neapolis: University <strong>of</strong> M<strong>in</strong>nesota, 1989.<br />
Fewkes, Jesse Walter. <strong>The</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> Porto <strong>Rico</strong> <strong>and</strong> Neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 25th<br />
Annual Report, B. A. E. Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1907.<br />
Figueroa Mercado, Loida. History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: From the Beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g to 1892.<br />
New York: L. A. Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1978.<br />
Fiske, Amos Kidder. <strong>The</strong> West Indies: A History <strong>of</strong> the Isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the West Indian<br />
Archipelago, Together with an Account <strong>of</strong> their Physical Characteristics, Natural<br />
Resources <strong>and</strong> Present Condition. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons; <strong>and</strong><br />
London: T. Fisher Unw<strong>in</strong>, 1899.<br />
Forbes, Jack D. Columbus <strong>and</strong> Other Cannibals: <strong>The</strong> Wétiko Disease <strong>of</strong> Exploitation,<br />
Imperialism <strong>and</strong> Terrorism. New York: Autonomedia, 1992.<br />
Forte, Maximilian C., ed. <strong>Indigenous</strong> Resurgence <strong>in</strong> the Contemporary <strong>Caribbean</strong>:<br />
Amer<strong>in</strong>dian Survival <strong>and</strong> Revival. New York: Peter Lang Publish<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
2006.<br />
Garcia, A. History <strong>of</strong> the West Indies. London: George G. Harrap, 1965.<br />
González, Bobby. <strong>The</strong> Last <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Indian: A Collection <strong>of</strong> Dangerous<br />
Poetry. New York: Cemi Press, 2006.<br />
Gottschalk, Paul, ed. <strong>The</strong> Earliest Diplomatic Documents on America: <strong>The</strong><br />
Papal Bulls <strong>of</strong> 1493 <strong>and</strong> the Treaty <strong>of</strong> Tordesillas Reproduced <strong>and</strong> Translated.<br />
Berl<strong>in</strong>: Paul Gottschalk, 1927.<br />
Grounds, Richard A., George E. T<strong>in</strong>ker, <strong>and</strong> David E. Wilk<strong>in</strong>s, eds. Native<br />
Voices: American Indian Identity <strong>and</strong> Resistance. Lawrence: University<br />
Press <strong>of</strong> Kansas, 2003.<br />
Guitar, Lynne A. “Cultural Genesis: Relationships among Indians, Africans<br />
<strong>and</strong> Spaniards <strong>in</strong> Rural Hispaniola, First Half <strong>of</strong> the Sixteenth Century.”<br />
PhD diss., V<strong>and</strong>erbilt University, 1998.<br />
Hajosy Benedetti, María Dolores. Earth & Spirit: Heal<strong>in</strong>g Lore <strong>and</strong> More<br />
from <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. Maplewood, NJ: Waterfront Press, 1989.<br />
Hanke, Lewis. Aristotle <strong>and</strong> the American Indians: A Study <strong>in</strong> Race Prejudice<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Modern World. London: Hollis & Carter, 1959.
174<br />
Bibliography<br />
———. <strong>The</strong> Spanish Struggle for Justice <strong>in</strong> the Conquest <strong>of</strong> America. Philadelphia:<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania Press, 1949.<br />
Hart, Stephen, <strong>and</strong> Richard Young, eds. Contemporary Lat<strong>in</strong> American Cultural<br />
Studies, London: Arnold, 2003.<br />
Haslip-Viera, Gabriel. “<strong>The</strong> Politics <strong>of</strong> Taíno Revivalism: <strong>The</strong> Insignificance<br />
<strong>of</strong> Amer<strong>in</strong>dian mtDNA <strong>in</strong> the Population History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans. A<br />
Comment on Recent Research.” Centro Journal 18, no. 1 (Spr<strong>in</strong>g 2006),<br />
260–75.<br />
———, ed. Taíno Revival: Critical Perspectives on <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Identity <strong>and</strong><br />
Cultural Politics. New York: Centro de Estudios <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueños, College,<br />
City University <strong>of</strong> New York, 1999.<br />
Hau‘<strong>of</strong>a, Epeli. “Our Sea <strong>of</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s.” <strong>The</strong> Contemporary Pacific 6, no. 1<br />
(Spr<strong>in</strong>g 1994), 147–61.<br />
Hernández Aqu<strong>in</strong>o, Luis. Diccionario de Voces Indígenas de <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. San<br />
Juan: Editorial Cultural, 1993.<br />
Hörmann, Bernhard Lothar. “<strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong> <strong>and</strong> Survival: A Study <strong>of</strong> the Reaction<br />
<strong>of</strong> Aborig<strong>in</strong>al Populations to European Expansion.” PhD diss., Chicago:<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Chicago, 1949.<br />
Hulme, Peter. Colonial Encounters: Europe <strong>and</strong> the Native <strong>Caribbean</strong>, 1492–<br />
1797. London: Methuen, 1986.<br />
Hulme, Peter, <strong>and</strong> Neil L. Whitehead, eds. Wild Majesty: Encounters with<br />
Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day. New York: Oxford University<br />
Press, 1992.<br />
Jaimes, M. Annette, ed. <strong>The</strong> State <strong>of</strong> Native America: Genocide, Colonization,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Resistance. Boston: South End Press, 1992.<br />
———. “<strong>The</strong> Stone Age Revisited: An Indigenist View <strong>of</strong> Primitivism, Industrialism<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Labor Process.” New Studies on the Left 14, no. 3 (W<strong>in</strong>ter<br />
1990–1991), 57–70.<br />
Jenn<strong>in</strong>gs, Jesse D., ed. Ancient South Americans. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman<br />
<strong>and</strong> Company, 1978, 1983.<br />
Johnson v. McIntosh. 21 U.S. (98 Wheat) 543, 1823.<br />
Kame‘eleihiwa, Lilikalā. Native L<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Foreign Desires: Pehea Lā E Pono<br />
Ai ā. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1992.<br />
K<strong>in</strong>g, Thomas. <strong>The</strong> Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. M<strong>in</strong>neapolis:<br />
University <strong>of</strong> M<strong>in</strong>nesota Press, 2003.<br />
Kuilan Torres, S<strong>and</strong>ra J. “No hallan foro los <strong>in</strong>dígenas?” El Nuevo Dia. July<br />
30, 2005.<br />
Kukuya. <strong>The</strong> Ku <strong>of</strong> the Cemi, Codex I. Jayuya, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 2008.<br />
Lamourt-Valentín, Oscar. Cannibal Recipes, unpublished manuscript. Ames:<br />
Iowa State University, 1979.<br />
Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, George Henry. <strong>The</strong> Clash <strong>of</strong> Culture <strong>and</strong> the Contact <strong>of</strong><br />
Races. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969.<br />
Las Casas, Bartolomé de. <strong>The</strong> Devastation <strong>of</strong> the Indies: A Brief Account.<br />
Translated by Herma Briffault. Baltimore: <strong>The</strong> John Hopk<strong>in</strong>s University<br />
Press, 1992.
Bibliography 175<br />
———. Historia de las Indias, vol. 1. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura<br />
Económica, 1951.<br />
López, Adalberto, ed. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans: <strong>The</strong>ir History, Culture, <strong>and</strong> Society.<br />
Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publish<strong>in</strong>g Company, 1980.<br />
Lovén, Sven. Orig<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Ta<strong>in</strong>an Culture, West Indies. Göteborg, Sweden:<br />
El<strong>and</strong>ers Bokfryckeri Akfiebolag, 1935.<br />
Maldonado-Denis, Manuel. <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: A Socio-Historic Interpretation.<br />
Translated by Elena Vialo. New York: R<strong>and</strong>om House, 1972.<br />
Martínez-Cruzado, Juan, et al. “Reconstruct<strong>in</strong>g the Population History <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> by Means <strong>of</strong> mtDNA Phylogeographic Analysis.” American<br />
Journal <strong>of</strong> Physical Anthropology 128 (2005), 131–55.<br />
Martínez Torres, Roberto. “Nuestros Primeros Artistas,” Revista Catey,<br />
Revista Arqueologica, Anthropologica e Historica. Morovis, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>:<br />
January–March 1994, 1–24.<br />
———. “El Yacimiento Aracaico De La Tembladera,” Tesis Presentada Como<br />
Uno de los Requisitos para el Grado de Maestro en Artes en Historia con<br />
Concentacíon en Arqueología, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de <strong>Puerto</strong><br />
<strong>Rico</strong> y el Caribe. San Juan, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: March 1994.<br />
Meléndez, Edw<strong>in</strong>, <strong>and</strong> Edgardo Meléndez, eds. Colonial Dilemma: Critical<br />
Perspectives on Contemporary <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. Boston: South End Press, 1993.<br />
Mignolo, Walter D. <strong>The</strong> Darker Side <strong>of</strong> the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality,<br />
& Colonization. Ann Arbor: University <strong>of</strong> Michigan Press, 1995.<br />
Montagu, Ashley, ed. <strong>The</strong> Concept <strong>of</strong> the Primitive. New York: <strong>The</strong> Free Press;<br />
<strong>and</strong> London: Collier-Macmillan Limited, 1968.<br />
Morales Cabrera, Pablo. <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> Indigena: Prehistoria y Protohistoria de<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. San Juan: Imprenta Venezuela, 1932.<br />
Morín, José Luis. “An <strong>Indigenous</strong> Peoples’ Struggle for Justice.” Covert<br />
Action Quarterly, no. 48 (Spr<strong>in</strong>g 1994), 38–43.<br />
Murray, Henry A., ed. <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g. Boston: Beacon Press, 1968.<br />
Nogueras-Vidal, Margarita. “Taíno Indian Symbolism . . . To Feel Is to Perceive.”<br />
Pamphlet. Jayuya, Boriké (<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>): 1996, 1998.<br />
Obeyesekere, Gananath. <strong>The</strong> Apotheosis <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Cook: European <strong>Myth</strong>mak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Pacific. Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton, NJ: Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton University Press, 1992.<br />
O’Gorman, Edmundo. <strong>The</strong> Invention <strong>of</strong> America: An Inquiry <strong>in</strong>to the Historical<br />
Nature <strong>of</strong> the New World <strong>and</strong> the Mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Its History. Bloom<strong>in</strong>gton:<br />
Indiana University Press, 1961.<br />
Oviedo y Valdes, Gonzalo Fern<strong>and</strong>ez de. <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>and</strong> Settlement <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Boriquen or <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. Translated <strong>and</strong> Edited by Daymond<br />
Turner. Avon, CT: <strong>The</strong> Cardavon Press, 1975.<br />
Owens, Louis. Mixedblood Messages: Literature, Film, Family, Place. Norman:<br />
University <strong>of</strong> Oklahoma Press, 1998.<br />
Pané, Fray Ramón. An Account <strong>of</strong> the Antiquities <strong>of</strong> the Indians. Trans. Susan<br />
C. Griswold. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999.<br />
Pérez-Comas, Adolfo. “Censo de L<strong>and</strong>o de 1530–1531.” Hereditas: Revista<br />
De Genealogía <strong>Puerto</strong>rriqueña 5, no. 2 (2004), 66–87.
176<br />
Bibliography<br />
Picó, Fern<strong>and</strong>o. History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: A Panorama <strong>of</strong> Its People. Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton,<br />
NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006.<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> Reconstruction Adm<strong>in</strong>istration <strong>in</strong> co-operation with the Writers’<br />
Program <strong>of</strong> the Work Projects Adm<strong>in</strong>istration. <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: A Guide to the<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Boriquén. New York: <strong>The</strong> University Society, 1940.<br />
Rafael, Vicente L. Contract<strong>in</strong>g Colonialism: Translation <strong>and</strong> Christian Conversion<br />
<strong>in</strong> Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule. Ithaca, NY: Cornell<br />
University Press, 1988.<br />
Rahnema, Majid, <strong>and</strong> Victoria Bawtree, eds. <strong>The</strong> Post-Development Reader.<br />
Dhaka: University Press Ltd; Cape Town: David Philip; Halifax: Fernwood<br />
Publish<strong>in</strong>g; <strong>and</strong> London <strong>and</strong> New Jersey: Zed Books, 1997.<br />
Ramch<strong>and</strong>, Kenneth. <strong>The</strong> West Indian Novel <strong>and</strong> Its Background. London:<br />
Faber <strong>and</strong> Faber, 1970.<br />
Ribes Tovar, Federico. A Chronological History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>. New York:<br />
Plus Ultra Educational Publishers, 1973.<br />
Rivera, Luis N. A Violent Evangelism: <strong>The</strong> Political <strong>and</strong> Religious Conquest<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Americas. Translated by Westm<strong>in</strong>ster/John Knox Press. Louisville:<br />
Westm<strong>in</strong>ster/John Knox Press, 1992.<br />
Robles, Frances. “<strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong> Archaeological F<strong>in</strong>d Mired <strong>in</strong> Politics.” Miami<br />
Herald. July 1, 2008.<br />
Rodríguez, Miguel. “Osamenta de 5 mil años de edad.” El Expresso, January<br />
18, 1996.<br />
Rosario, José C. <strong>The</strong> Development <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Jibaro <strong>and</strong> His Present<br />
Attitude towards Society. San Juan: <strong>The</strong> University <strong>of</strong> <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>, 1935.<br />
Rouse, Irv<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong> Taínos: Rise & Decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> the People Who Greeted Columbus.<br />
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.<br />
Sale, Kirkpatrick. <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> Paradise: Christopher Columbus <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Columbian Legacy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.<br />
Santana, Arturo, <strong>and</strong> Rafael A. Torrech. Atlas De La Historia De <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>:<br />
Desde sus orígenes hasta f<strong>in</strong>ales del Siglo XIX. San Juan, <strong>Puerto</strong> <strong>Rico</strong>: Editorial<br />
Cordillera, 1988.<br />
Sauer, Carl Ortw<strong>in</strong>. <strong>The</strong> Early Spanish Ma<strong>in</strong>. Berkeley: University <strong>of</strong> California<br />
Press, 1966.<br />
Schirmer, Daniel B., <strong>and</strong> Stephen Rosskamm Shalom, eds. <strong>The</strong> Philipp<strong>in</strong>es<br />
Reader: A History <strong>of</strong> Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship, <strong>and</strong> Resistance.<br />
Boston: South End Press, 1987.<br />
Scott, James C. Weapons <strong>of</strong> the Weak: Everyday Forms <strong>of</strong> Peasant Resistance.<br />
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985.<br />
Silén, Juan Angel. We, the <strong>Puerto</strong> Rican People: A Story <strong>of</strong> Oppression <strong>and</strong><br />
Resistance. Translated by Cedric Belfrage. New York: Monthly Review<br />
Press, 1971.<br />
Smith, L<strong>in</strong>da Tuhiwai. Decoloniz<strong>in</strong>g Methodologies: Research, Writ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Indigenous</strong> Peoples. London <strong>and</strong> New York: Zed Books; <strong>and</strong> Duned<strong>in</strong>,<br />
New Zeal<strong>and</strong>: University <strong>of</strong> Otago Press, 1999.
Bibliography 177<br />
Sp<strong>in</strong>den, H. J. “<strong>The</strong> Population <strong>of</strong> Ancient America.” <strong>The</strong> Geographical<br />
Review 18 (1928), 641–60.<br />
Stannard, David E. American Holocaust: <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> the New World. New<br />
York: Oxford University Press, 1992.<br />
———. Before the Horror: <strong>The</strong> Population <strong>of</strong> Hawai‘i on the Eve <strong>of</strong> Western<br />
Contact. Honolulu: Social Science Research Institute, University <strong>of</strong><br />
Hawai‘i, 1989.<br />
Ste<strong>in</strong>er, Stan. <strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s: <strong>The</strong> Worlds <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Puerto</strong> Ricans. New York: Harper<br />
& Row, 1974.<br />
Sued-Badillo, Jalil. Review <strong>of</strong> Irv<strong>in</strong>g Rouse’s <strong>The</strong> Ta<strong>in</strong>os. <strong>The</strong> American Historical<br />
Review 99, no. 1 (February 1994), 332–33.<br />
Takei, Milton. “Collective Memory as the Key to National <strong>and</strong> Ethnic Identity:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Case <strong>of</strong> Cambodia.” Nationalism <strong>and</strong> Ethnic Politics 4, no. 3<br />
(1998), 59–78.<br />
Taliman, Valerie. “Defy<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>Myth</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Ext<strong>in</strong>ction</strong>.” American Indian 2, no.<br />
2 (Spr<strong>in</strong>g 2001).<br />
Todorov, Tzvetan. <strong>The</strong> Conquest <strong>of</strong> America: <strong>The</strong> Question <strong>of</strong> the Other. New<br />
York: Harper & Row, 1984.<br />
Tyler, S. Lyman. Two Worlds: <strong>The</strong> Indian Encounter with the European, 1492–<br />
1509. Salt Lake City: University <strong>of</strong> Utah Press, 1988.<br />
United Nations General Assembly. Report <strong>of</strong> the Human Rights Council.<br />
“United Nations Declaration on the Rights <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Peoples.” September<br />
7, 2007.<br />
Vans<strong>in</strong>a, Jan. Oral Tradition as History. Madison: University <strong>of</strong> Wiscons<strong>in</strong><br />
Press, 1985.<br />
Williams, Robert A., Jr. <strong>The</strong> American Indian <strong>in</strong> Western Legal Thought: <strong>The</strong><br />
Discourses <strong>of</strong> Conquest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.<br />
Wilmer, Franke. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Voice <strong>in</strong> World Politics: S<strong>in</strong>ce Time Immemorial.<br />
Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1993.<br />
Wilson, James. <strong>The</strong> Earth Shall Weep: A History <strong>of</strong> Native America. New York:<br />
Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998.<br />
Wilson, Samuel M., ed. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> People <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Caribbean</strong>. Ga<strong>in</strong>esville:<br />
University Press <strong>of</strong> Florida, 1997.<br />
Zwickel, Jean Wiley. Voices for Independence: In the Spirit <strong>of</strong> Valor <strong>and</strong> Sacrifice.<br />
Pittsburg, CA: White Star Press, 1988.
This page <strong>in</strong>tentionally left blank
Index<br />
Abbad y Lasierra, Fray Íñigo, 75, 79<br />
African Americans, 112<br />
Afro-Boricua, 112<br />
Agüeybana, cacike, 39, 51, 54–56,<br />
67, 118<br />
Albizu-Campos, Pedro, 59; <strong>and</strong><br />
nationalist movement, 103–4,<br />
125<br />
Aldrete, Bernardo de, 119–20<br />
Alegría, Ricardo, xv, 60, 69, 86,<br />
153; on cultural ext<strong>in</strong>ction, 6<br />
Alex<strong>and</strong>er VI, Pope, 30–31;<br />
Alex<strong>and</strong>rian bulls or letters, 31,<br />
148<br />
Alonso, Manuel, xvi<br />
Álvarez-Chanca, Diego, 39<br />
Álvarez-Nazario, Manuel, 79<br />
American westward expansion,<br />
85–86; atrocities, 102–3<br />
American Indian Movement, 5<br />
año de las guácaras, 106, 134<br />
“Archaics” <strong>and</strong> “Archaic sites,”<br />
60–61, 153<br />
areíto, the, 12, 54, 62, 118, 136,<br />
143<br />
Arens, W., 41<br />
Arguedas, José María, 8–10, 136<br />
Arroyo, Ronald, xiv, 12–13, 52,<br />
67–68, 94, 109<br />
Asociación Liberal Separatista de<br />
Utuado, 97, 101<br />
Atabei, 12, 21<br />
Atzantiha (Atlantis), 60<br />
Auguiste, Irv<strong>in</strong>ce, 41<br />
Aura Surey (Morn<strong>in</strong>g Star), 14<br />
autonomists, 100, 102<br />
Babín, María Teresa, 62<br />
Baneke, 51<br />
Barreiro, José, 37, 46<br />
Bayamo, cacike, 37<br />
behike, 110, 116<br />
Ber<strong>in</strong>g Strait theory, 23–24, 49<br />
Berman-Santana, Déborah, 96, 126,<br />
132<br />
Betances, Ramón Emeterio, 98, 102<br />
Bieke (Vieques), 57, 97, 124, 132<br />
biological ext<strong>in</strong>ction, 16, 47–48,<br />
134–35, 156<br />
Black Legend, 16, 83<br />
Boas, Franz, 48<br />
Borah, Woodrow, 52, 81–82, 86–87<br />
Boricua, mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong>, 140<br />
Bourdieu, Pierre, 5<br />
Braceti, Mariana, 98<br />
Brau, Salvador, 63, 75, 86<br />
Brotherston, Gordon, 28<br />
Burger, Julian, 139<br />
Caguana ceremonial grounds, 15,<br />
62, 92, 104, 116<br />
campes<strong>in</strong>os, xiv, 1–2, 7, 12–13, 67,<br />
72, 76, 95, 98<br />
Caniba, xvi, 51<br />
Canibaro (Kanjibaro), xvi<br />
cannibalism, xvi, 16, 22, 36–41, 50
180<br />
Index<br />
Caonabó, cacike, 38<br />
Caparra, 55, 57<br />
Carib, xiv–xvi, 2, 7, 14, 17–18, 22,<br />
35, 37–38, 41, 50–51, 57, 63,<br />
69, 80, 112, 134<br />
Carlos, K<strong>in</strong>g Juan, 101<br />
“Casimiroids,” 60–61<br />
Catholic Church: <strong>and</strong> baptism<br />
records, 76–79, 96; chang<strong>in</strong>g<br />
m<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>and</strong>, 79<br />
Catholicism, ideology <strong>of</strong>, 95–96<br />
“Caverns <strong>of</strong> Creation,” 60<br />
cemí, 110, 112, 115, 136<br />
census data <strong>and</strong> studies, 53, 63–65,<br />
68–69, 74–82, 87–88, 96–97,<br />
156<br />
Chanady, Amaryll, 10<br />
Charles V, K<strong>in</strong>g, 39<br />
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 85<br />
Chiapas upris<strong>in</strong>g, 124<br />
Christian conversion <strong>and</strong><br />
evangelization, 30–32, 35, 40,<br />
57–58<br />
Club Bor<strong>in</strong>quen, 101<br />
cohoba, 110<br />
Collazo, Nelsonrafael, ix, 142<br />
collective memory, 13<br />
Coloma, General Don Francisco, 65<br />
Colón, Diego, 57<br />
Columbus, Bartolomé, 34;<br />
Ferd<strong>in</strong><strong>and</strong>, 34<br />
Columbus, Christopher, xv–<br />
xvi; apotheosis <strong>of</strong>, 24–25;<br />
cannibalism <strong>and</strong>, 36–41;<br />
genocide <strong>and</strong> ethnocide, 2,<br />
141; the heathen <strong>and</strong>, 30; lies,<br />
33, 41; reach<strong>in</strong>g Asia <strong>and</strong>,<br />
33–35, 139; resistance to, 54,<br />
104<br />
componte, el, xii, 100–101, 107, 134<br />
conuco (subsistence) farm<strong>in</strong>g: <strong>and</strong><br />
diversified agriculture, 8, 72,<br />
84–85, 95, 97, 136; erone<br />
technique, 8, 136<br />
Cook, Capta<strong>in</strong> James, apotheosis <strong>of</strong>,<br />
24–25<br />
Cook, Sherburne, 52, 81, 86–87<br />
Cordilleras, 77, 79<br />
corporate latifundio, 130<br />
Corretjer, Juan Antonio, xiv<br />
Cortés, Hernán, 26, 38; apotheosis<br />
<strong>of</strong>, 24, 27–28<br />
cotona, 114, 136<br />
Cotto, Liliana, 130<br />
Council <strong>of</strong> the Indies, 29<br />
criollo (<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican) elite, xii, 3,<br />
59, 90–93, 97, 99, 103, 124,<br />
129<br />
cu<strong>and</strong>eros, xi, 109, 113–14, 116<br />
Cuba, 34, 37, 46–47, 102<br />
Cudjoe, Selwyn, 53, 69<br />
cultural mestizaje, 8–10, 136<br />
cultural nationalist, 14–15<br />
cultural survival <strong>and</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity, xi,<br />
xiii, 2, 6–10, 19, 46–50, 53,<br />
66, 70–72, 80, 88, 90, 93–94,<br />
105–7, 109, 112–19, 132–36<br />
Darw<strong>in</strong>ism, social, 6, 134–35; <strong>and</strong><br />
species ext<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>of</strong> native<br />
peoples, 48, 156<br />
Dávila, Arlene, 15<br />
Delgado, Juan Manuel, 12, 63,<br />
75–77, 79, 106, 122<br />
Deloria, V<strong>in</strong>e, Jr., 23–24, 29, 49<br />
Denevan, William, 81<br />
dependency, 126, 128–30, 132;<br />
cycle <strong>of</strong>, 110, 128–29<br />
diaspora, xiv, 81<br />
Diaz, Bernal, <strong>and</strong> Mexica<br />
“cannibalism,” 37–38<br />
Diego, José de, 97<br />
“discovery” <strong>and</strong> Christian<br />
dom<strong>in</strong>ion, 30–31, 35–36,<br />
84–86<br />
DNA test<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> results, 15, 66, 70,<br />
92, 135, 144, 156<br />
Duany, Jorge, 14–15
Index 181<br />
encomendados, 63, 155<br />
encomienda system, 10, 19, 55–56,<br />
58, 63–66, 69, 88, 134<br />
epidemics, 16, 53, 56, 81, 87–88,<br />
141<br />
espiritismo, 109–117, 136<br />
Estevez, Jorge, 45, 49<br />
Evans, Clifford, 17, 60<br />
exogamy, 7, 135, 154<br />
ext<strong>in</strong>ction, explanation <strong>of</strong>, 4, 6, 43<br />
Fabian, Johannes, 4<br />
Feliciano, Carlos, 104<br />
Fernández de Navarrete, Martín,<br />
34–35<br />
Fernández-Méndez, Eugenio, xvi,<br />
60–61, 153<br />
Fernández-Retamar, Roberto, 41<br />
Fewkes, Jesse Walter, xv, 13, 45–46,<br />
62–64, 66, 86, 121<br />
Figueroa-Mercado, Loida, 51, 64,<br />
68–69, 73, 75–76, 79–80, 86,<br />
98<br />
“Flight <strong>of</strong> the Jíbaro, <strong>The</strong>,” 63, 65,<br />
88<br />
fogón (<strong>and</strong> burén), use <strong>of</strong>, 9, 111,<br />
136<br />
folklore, 13, 23, 29<br />
Forbes, Jack, 141<br />
Garcia, A., 32<br />
Garifuna (Black Caribs), 70<br />
genocide, 2, 29, 32, 58, 85, 133,<br />
141; cultural genocide, xiii, 58;<br />
ethnocide, 2, 90, 141<br />
Giménez-Fernández, Manuel, 148<br />
González de Mendoza, Fray Juan,<br />
46<br />
Gottschalk, Paul, 31<br />
gran lagarto, 119<br />
Grito de Lares, 8, 19, 79, 94,<br />
97–99, 121, 134<br />
Grotius, Hugo, 31<br />
Grounds, Richard, 4, 6, 16<br />
Guajiro, xvi, 46–47<br />
Guarionex, cacike, 17, 56, 154<br />
Guarocuya (Enriquillo), cacike, 39,<br />
45<br />
guatiao, the, 39, 54–55, 67<br />
Guitar, Lynne, 46, 52–53, 64, 70<br />
hacienda system, 7, 98, 120<br />
Haití, 73, 91<br />
Hajosy-Benedetti, María Delores,<br />
113–15<br />
Hanke, Lewis, 31, 83<br />
Harr<strong>in</strong>gton, M. R., xv<br />
Haslip-Viera, Gabriel, 156<br />
Hatuey, cacike, 46<br />
Hau‘<strong>of</strong>a, Epeli, 73<br />
Hawai‘i, xii, xiv, 7, 11, 28, 72, 81,<br />
94–95, 102, 109<br />
Hernández-Aqu<strong>in</strong>o, Luis, 139<br />
Herodotian tradition <strong>of</strong> savagery,<br />
36–37, 41<br />
Hörmann, Bernard, 43–44; on<br />
“mixed blood” survival, 43,<br />
48, 135<br />
Hulme, Peter, 36–37<br />
Inca, 8, 35<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence movement, 19, 109,<br />
123–25, 128, 132<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous movement, <strong>Borikén</strong>,<br />
126–32<br />
<strong>in</strong>digenous susta<strong>in</strong>ability, model <strong>of</strong>,<br />
131<br />
Insulae canibalium (<strong>The</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong><br />
the Cannibals), 39–40<br />
Inter Caetera papal bull or grant,<br />
30–32, 35, 133; native<br />
resistance to, 32, 57<br />
Iroquois, 54<br />
Isabella, Queen, 34; <strong>and</strong> subjugation<br />
<strong>and</strong> enslavement, 57<br />
Jacana Indian site, excavation <strong>of</strong>, 116<br />
Jaimes, M. Annette, 84–85, 87
182<br />
Index<br />
Jamaica, 44, 47, 69, 86<br />
Jayuya, cacike, 14<br />
Jíbaro, orig<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong>, xiv–xvi, 91–92<br />
Jíbaro music, xiv, 71–72<br />
Johnson v. McIntosh, 85<br />
“just war” theory, 30–32, 85<br />
Kame‘eleihiwa, Lilikalā, 11<br />
Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian),<br />
xiv, 7, 24–25, 28, 48, 81<br />
Kiskeya (Española or Hispañola),<br />
37–40, 44–47, 52–55, 57, 61,<br />
64, 69–70, 73, 86–87, 143<br />
Lamourt-Valentín, Oscar (Oki),<br />
xiv–xvi, 12, 17–18, 37–38,<br />
51–52, 55, 73–74, 94, 117–18,<br />
121–22<br />
L<strong>and</strong>o, Francisco Manuel de, 18,<br />
63–65, 68–69<br />
Las Casas, Fray Bartolomé de, 16,<br />
31, 38, 44, 47, 82, 86, 100,<br />
110<br />
Law <strong>of</strong> Nations, 31, 85–86<br />
Ledru, André Pierre, 74<br />
l<strong>in</strong>guistic survival, 109, 119–23<br />
López, Adalberto, 3, 68, 72, 74, 80,<br />
91, 96–97<br />
Lovén, Sven, xv, 44<br />
Lugo, Elba (Anaca), 127<br />
Macheteros, Los, 94, 97<br />
Maldonado-Denis, Manuel, 44, 99<br />
Mankiller, Wilma, 128<br />
Marquez, Bolívar, 104<br />
Marshall, Chief Justice John, 85<br />
Martí, José, 101<br />
Martínez-Cruzado, Juan, <strong>and</strong><br />
mitochondrial DNA, 66, 135,<br />
144<br />
Martínez-Torres, Roberto, 12, 61,<br />
78, 105, 153<br />
Martire d’Anghiera, Pietro (Peter<br />
Martyr), 110, 143<br />
Matos-Matos, Don Pedro, 71–72<br />
matriarchal society, <strong>Caribbean</strong>, 21,<br />
66<br />
Maya <strong>and</strong> Mayan, 35, 60–61, 124;<br />
Mesoamerican orig<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence, 21, 60–61, 153–54<br />
medic<strong>in</strong>al plants, 8, 106, 129; <strong>and</strong><br />
heal<strong>in</strong>g, 109, 113–14<br />
Meggers, Betty, 60<br />
mestizo Indian (or “mixed<br />
blooded”), 6, 8–10, 15, 22,<br />
46, 48–49, 67–68, 70, 75, 80,<br />
92–93, 125, 135, 156<br />
Mexica (Aztec), 26–29, 37–38<br />
Mignolo, Walter, 28–29, 120<br />
Montagu, Ashley, 83–84<br />
Montes, Governor Toribio, 78–79<br />
Moors, the, 120, 143<br />
Morales, Evo, 124, 126<br />
Morales-Cabrera, Pablo, 79<br />
More, Thomas, 41<br />
Morison, Samuel, 35<br />
Morris, Marianna, 65<br />
Morris, Morley, 130<br />
Moscoso, Francisco, 56–57, 63–65,<br />
68<br />
Muñoz-Marín, Luis, 104, 130<br />
Muñoz-Rivera, Luis, 102<br />
myth models, 18, 24–27, 29<br />
myths <strong>and</strong> mythmak<strong>in</strong>g, 18, 21–25,<br />
29–30, 36, 41–42, 49–50, 80<br />
Nahuatl, 28–29<br />
names (nam<strong>in</strong>g): apodos, xvi, 12, 76,<br />
110, 122; survival <strong>of</strong>, 12; use<br />
<strong>of</strong>, xv–xvi, 38–39, 76, 101<br />
Napoleonic wars, 94<br />
Navidad, La, 38<br />
Nebrija, Antonio de, 119<br />
Noche de San Juan, 119, 136<br />
Nogueras-Vidal, Margarita, 14, 39,<br />
54, 127–28<br />
North American Free Trade<br />
Agreement (NAFTA), 124
Index 183<br />
Obeyesekere, Gananath, 24–27, 38<br />
O’Gorman, Edmundo, 33–35<br />
oral tradition <strong>and</strong> history, 11–14,<br />
51–52, 61–62, 66, 76, 89,<br />
98–99, 102, 107, 122–23,<br />
132–33, 154<br />
Orbis Terrarum (Isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Earth), 21<br />
O’Reilly, Alej<strong>and</strong>ro, 69<br />
Ov<strong>and</strong>o, Fray Juan de, 29<br />
Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo<br />
Fernández, 55, 57<br />
Owens, Louis, 135<br />
palo monte-palo mayombe tradition,<br />
115<br />
Pané, Fray Ramón, 17, 110, 112,<br />
143, 154<br />
Papacy, 30, 32<br />
“pardos libres” (“Free Colored”<br />
people), 49, 74–76, 78–79, 90,<br />
94, 156<br />
“people power,” 131<br />
Pérez-Comas, Adolfo, 63–64<br />
Philipp<strong>in</strong>e-American War, 103<br />
Picó, Fern<strong>and</strong>o, 62, 78, 80, 94, 98<br />
Pitt-Rivers, George, 48<br />
Polo, Marco, 34; <strong>and</strong> the Gr<strong>and</strong><br />
Khan, 36–37<br />
Ponce de Leon, Juan, 39, 54–56, 67<br />
Ponce Massacre, 104<br />
“primitivism,” 83, 86, 88<br />
proletariat, the, 74<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Independence Party<br />
(PIP), 125<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican Institute <strong>of</strong> Culture,<br />
15, 105<br />
Quetzalcoatl <strong>and</strong> Montezuma, 27–28<br />
Raf<strong>in</strong>esque, Cornelius, xv<br />
Ramirez, Panchito, cacike, 46–47, 71<br />
rape, 8, 100, 102; <strong>and</strong> forced<br />
marriages, 70<br />
religious rites, survival <strong>of</strong>, 104–5<br />
repartimiento, 62, 66<br />
requerimiento, 30–32, 57–58, 134<br />
resistance, active <strong>and</strong> passive forms<br />
<strong>of</strong>, xvi, 10, 18, 36–39, 41, 46,<br />
53–59, 63–65, 67–73, 76,<br />
90, 94, 97, 99, 109, 115–16,<br />
120–26, 131–34<br />
“revisionist,” 17, 30<br />
Reyes-Ocasio, Naniki, 14, 70, 78,<br />
125, 127–29, 140<br />
Ribes-Tovar, Federico, 44, 78, 155<br />
Rivera, Luis, 33, 36, 58, 141<br />
Rondón, Isol<strong>in</strong>a, 125<br />
Rosario Cantar, 117–18, 136<br />
Rosario, José, 91–93<br />
Rosenblat, Ángel, 48<br />
Rouse, Irv<strong>in</strong>g, xv, 13, 44–45, 153;<br />
on ext<strong>in</strong>ction, 48; <strong>and</strong> first<br />
“repeoply<strong>in</strong>g” theory, 60–61<br />
Ruiz-Belvis, Segundo, 98<br />
Sahagún, Bernard<strong>in</strong>o de, 27–29;<br />
<strong>and</strong> Florent<strong>in</strong>e Codex, 28–29<br />
Sahl<strong>in</strong>s, Marshall, 24<br />
“Saladoid,” 60<br />
Sale, Kirkpatrick, 35–36<br />
San Ciriaco, hurricane, xiv<br />
Sanes, David, 132<br />
San Juan Bautista, 54, 57<br />
Santana, Arturo, 75<br />
santo de palo statue, 118<br />
Sauer, Carl, 44, 47<br />
Scott, James, 67<br />
self-determ<strong>in</strong>ation, right <strong>of</strong>, 35–36,<br />
124, 126, 133<br />
self-identification, right to, 5, 48<br />
self-sufficiency, 128; break<strong>in</strong>g<br />
colonialism <strong>and</strong>, 129; model<br />
<strong>of</strong>, 129<br />
separatist societies, 100–101<br />
Sepúlveda, Juan G<strong>in</strong>és de, 35; <strong>and</strong><br />
Aristotelian doctr<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> natural<br />
slavery, 31
184<br />
Index<br />
Sierra de Luquillo, 77–78<br />
Silén, Juan Angel, 56, 98, 100; on<br />
<strong>Puerto</strong> Rican “docility,” 59<br />
slaves <strong>and</strong> slavery, xiii, 7, 10, 18,<br />
36–37, 41, 52, 58, 63–64,<br />
66–70, 91, 94, 155<br />
“social respect,” 137<br />
Spanish American war, 101<br />
Spanish Crown, 25, 30, 32, 37, 39,<br />
53–54, 63–64, 69, 83, 155<br />
Spanish exodus, 68<br />
Spanish foreign policy, resistance to,<br />
57–59<br />
Sp<strong>in</strong>den, H. J., on “mixed bloods,” 48<br />
Stannard, David, 145, 148, 160<br />
Ste<strong>in</strong>er, Stan, 11–13, 51–52, 56, 63,<br />
69, 93, 95, 97, 99, 104–5<br />
syncretized traditions, 114–15,<br />
118–19, 136<br />
terra nullius (“vacant l<strong>and</strong>s”), 16,<br />
32, 84–85<br />
Thomas, K<strong>in</strong>g, xiii<br />
tiznado, 98–99, 102, 120<br />
Todorov, Tzvetan, 26–29, 38<br />
Torrech, Rafael, 75<br />
Torres, J. Benjamín, 126<br />
Toscanelli, Paolo dal Pozzo, 34<br />
treaties, broken, 39<br />
United Nations Declaration on the<br />
Rights <strong>of</strong> <strong>Indigenous</strong> Peoples, 5<br />
Urayoan, cacike, 56<br />
U.S. Army Corps <strong>of</strong> Eng<strong>in</strong>eers, 116<br />
U.S. Navy, 132<br />
Vans<strong>in</strong>a, Jan, 12<br />
Vattel, Emmerich de, 84–85<br />
Vespucci, Amerigo, 33<br />
Vitoria, Francisco de, 31<br />
voodoo, 109<br />
Weissk<strong>of</strong>f, Richard, 17<br />
West Indian, history <strong>of</strong> the, 1; novel,<br />
15<br />
Williams, Robert, Jr., 32, 50<br />
Wilmer, Franke, 90<br />
Wilson, James, 42<br />
“work books” (libretas<br />
reglamentarias), 98<br />
Yaya <strong>and</strong> Yayahel, creation myth <strong>of</strong><br />
the sea <strong>and</strong>, 110<br />
Yúcahu Bagua Maórocoti, 21