Commentary: Creole and Garifuna race relations in Belize are getting better

BELIZE - Over the years, the race relations between the Creoles and the Garifunas were very strained in Belize due to the colonial policies instituted by the British Government against the Garinagu people in their native country St Vincent, and the Creoles in our country Belize.

The Garifuna people derived from a mixture of Africans, who were brought from Africa to the Caribbean to be slaves in the 1600s, and native Galinagu Indians from the island of St Vincent and other countries in the Lesser Antilles. The Creole people are Africans who were brought to Belize to be slaves and some who were not slaves but were children of the slave masters of European stock, mainly British, Scottish and Irish.

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Guyana to Host Upcoming COIP 2008 Meeting

Public Notice: The next meeting of the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples is set to take place 25-27 July 2008 in Georgetown, Guyana. The meeting will be hosted by the Guyanese Organization of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP). Contact Chief Ricardo B. Hernandez for details.

Fifth Summit of the Americas to take place in Trinidad & Tobago 2009

UCTP Taino News - In 2009, Trinidad and Tobago will be the first Caribbean, Small Island Developing State to host the Fifth Summit of the Americas. The Summits of the Americas are held every three to four years and bring together the 34 democratically elected Heads of State and Government in the Western Hemisphere to exchange ideas and opinions on the political, economic, social, and security challenges confronting the region.

From 1994, the Summits process has seen the implementation of several initiatives advancing improvements in healthcare, education, infrastructure and security, disaster mitigation and preparedness, environmental conservation, and democratic governance across the hemisphere - all for the benefit of the people of the Americas.

According to the Summit Secretariat “The goal of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in preparing for the Fifth Summit is to ensure that the focus remains on people - that it brings meaningful and tangible benefits to all the people of the Americas.”

Plans are already being discussed to host an “Indigenous Summit of the Americas” in conjunction with the Fifth Summit.

UCTPTN 05.15.2008

Dominica rejects legislating intermarriage to save tribe

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) - The leader of the last remaining pre-Columbian tribe in the eastern Caribbean says outlawing marriage to outsiders can save Dominica's dwindling indigenous population, but legislators are balking at deciding who can marry whom.

Chief Charles Williams has proposed a law requiring ethnic Kalinagos to marry only each other for self-preservation. He also requested that foreigners be barred from living on the tribe's 3,800-acre reserve.

"We would like as many Kalinago people to respond and pair off so that we can multiply and protect the race," Williams said during a recent news conference.

An estimated 1,000 Kalinagos of the roughly 4,000 who live on the reserve are considered full-blooded Indians. Carib women who marry non-Indians traditionally leave the reserve, while men who do the same are allowed to stay.

Several legislators said Friday that they refuse to entertain the marriage proposal.

Such a measure would be "legislating who a person can marry, and this cannot be so," Sen. Claduous Stanford told The Associated Press.

Kent Auguiste, a member of the Carib Indian council that oversees the reserve, said the culture should be preserved but not at the expense of personal freedom.

The impoverished Kalinago tribe relies mostly on banana and citrus farming.

Rodrigues new Minister of Foreign Affairs- - Pauline Sukhai to take over at Amerindian Affairs

GUYANA - President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday announced the appointment of Minister Carolyn Rodrigues as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and she will be sworn in to her new post today.

This follows the retirement of Minister Rudy Insanally from that position. Prior to her new appointment, Rodrigues was the Minister of Amerindian Affairs. Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Pauline Campbell-Sukhai has been handed the post of Minister of Amerindian Affairs.

A press release from the Office of the President in announcing the new appointments stated that Rodrigues is the first woman and the first Amerindian to be appointed to the Foreign Ministry post in the history of Guyana and brings to the position a wealth of experience. Noting Rodrigues’ academic qualifications in Social Work and Business Administra-tion, the release said her experience and highly respected leadership and management qualities as a Minister in the Ministry of Amerindian affairs over the last seven years “will add a new vibrancy to Guyana’s foreign image”.

Meanwhile, Campbell-Sukhai has been appointed to Rodrigues’ former post and the release in stating that she had been a community and political activist for women and Amerindian rights over the last 30 years also pointed out that Sukhai has a degree in economics and post-graduate development studies. “Her work experience in SIMAP as an economist and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Project as a socio-economist coupled with 15 years as a parliamentarian will serve her well in her new post”, the release asserted adding that she will now demit her position at the Tourism Ministry.

Both Ministers will be sworn in by President Bharrat Jagdeo in the Credentials Room, Office of the President today.

Source: http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=1019