Subject: Medicine Lake Tribal Lands Threatened
The following is an article from the Winter 1998 issue of Native Americas, published by the Akwe:kon Press at Cornell University. For more information on how to stay informed of emerging trends that impact Native peoples throughout the hemisphere visit our website at http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada First Nations Back Taino Treaty
By Jos� Barreiro/Marie-Helene Laraque
A peace treaty signed in 1533 in the Caribbean between a Taino cacique
and a representative of the King of Spain was recognized as the
"first international� treaty in the Americas between Indigenous
people and Europeans," by over 100 delegates to the Assembly of
First Nations (AFN) National Treaty Conference, held in Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories on Oct. 28. By Jos� Barreiro/Marie-Helene Laraque
It is a little-known fact of history that even as Cuzco fell to the Spanish invasion in 1533, Taino cacique Enriquillo (Guarocuya; Cacique Henri) was fighting a war in Quisqueya (later christened Hispaniola, present day Haiti-Dominican Republic), having deployed camps throughout the Bahoruco mountains. Enriquillo, "a hereditary cacique (chief) of the Taino Nation," reads the resolution, "revolted against slavery and conditions of extreme inhumanity." Enriquillo and his followers fought off Spanish troops for 14 years, during which time commerce on the island came to a standstill. When the Spanish through the benevolent friar, Bartolom� de las Casas requested peace talks, Enriquillo asserted that he would only negotiate with direct representatives of King Charles V of Spain, who proceeded to send his negotiator, Francisco de Barrionuevo, in the King's own ship. The trip and peace pact, which gathered the island's conquistadors, are reported by all the major chroniclers of the period.
The AFN resolution recommends recognition of the Taino-Spanish treaty to a United Nations rapporteur, Miguel Alfonso Martinez of Cuba, presently completing his final report on treaties with Indigenous peoples around the world.
One fourth of Canada's Indian chiefs attended the conference, which discussed national and international treaty implications and strategies.� The resolution, moved by Akaitcho Territory Government Grand Chief Felix Lockhart and seconded by Chief Fred Sangris (Yellowknives Dene), reads in part: "AFN recommends that the 1533 Bahoruco Treaty be recognized as the first Treaty in the Americas between Indigenous Peoples and Europeans in the Final Report of the U.N. Special Rapporteur."
The "Enriquillo Treaty" and the war it ended had important implications for the Spanish colonies. The Spanish encomienda system of Indian slavery, as brutal as it continued to be, was tempered nevertheless by the realization that Natives, "who were eventually joined by African slaves in their struggle for freedom," could organize and fight effectively.� "This treaty� goes so far back-I never knew about anything like this before," said Chief Lockhart. "This information is now in the grasp of the First Nations of Canada and the opportunity is there for our people to learn about that part of history of the First Nations in the Americas."
Native Americas Journal
Akwe:kon Press
Cornell University
300 Caldwell Hall
Ithaca, New York 14853
Tel. (607) 255-4308
Fax. (607) 255-0185
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu
<<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>>
If you think you are too small to make a difference;
try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito....
African Proverb
<<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
=-=>>>>
IF it says:
"PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...."
Please Check it before you send it at:
http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm
