"We Are NOT Extinct": Indians in Cuba
Dr. José Barreiro,
American Indian Program
Cornell University,
Ithaca
In these eastern mountains of Cuba, region of Baracoa, Guatanamo Province, there are
several enclaves of indigenious comunity culture that have survived 500 years of coloni-
zation. This remote and yet culturally important area of Cuba has been characterized by
its historically rural quality and its major historical import to Cuban movements of autho-
cthonous liberation.
While the continued existence of several Native populations appears in the deep scientific
record (Marti, Rousse, Arrom, Rivero de la Calle, Nuez), the assertion of complete extinct-
ion of Taino Indians in the Caribbean became commonplace in the academy throughout
the twentieth century. Recently, however, some of these isolated Native groups have be-
gun to represent themselves within Cuba and to communicate with other Native groups
around the hemisphere.
Reina Rojas Ramirez,
Baracoa, Cuba,
Cuban and international documentation was initiated, with several articles appearing in
scientific journals. Most prominently, the Taino community at Caridad de Los Indios, near
Guantanamo, has retained various Native dances and songs, as well as considerable oral
history and understanding of ecological relationships.
There are as well, Native populations near Bayamo, Santiago and Punta Maisi in this east-
ern-most triangle of Cuba. As a result of the indigenous revitalization now in process, the
several Native-based community enclaves are now reaching out to each other to generate
an awarenes of the remaining Taino identity and culture in the area.
While the Taino-descendant population is not dominant, this is a region of Cuba that has
maintained the most sustainable indigenous agricultural traditions (the conuco system)
and features an "old Cuba" flavor. The agricultural base of the region is largely self-suffi-
cient farming, with families maintaining gardens and small animals. The Baracoa-Guanta-
namo region is a great living microcosm of the Cuban ethnogensis, rooted in the tri-
raciality of Indigenous (Taino), Spanish, and African peoples. The natural history of the
region offers nature walks in tropical forests, cultural exchanges with Native communities,
ocean fishing and snorkelling and cultural/historical tours tracing the route of Columbus
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