An Indian revival in Cuba?

[Judi Lynn]

An Indian revival in Cuba?
Once thought to be lost, Tainos now striving to keep their past alive


07/12/2003

By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

BARACOA, Cuba – At the top of a winding dirt path, past palm trees and overhanging branches, is the entrance to a cave. And inside is one of Cuba's newest and most unusual museum exhibits: ancient remains of a fabled Taino Indian.

For years, scholars thought a museum was about the only place one could find traces of the long-lost tribe.

Now though, a different view has emerged:
The Tainos survived the Spanish conquest – and 1,000 to 3,000 of their descendants can be found in eastern Cuba. The Indians, with help from supporters in the United States, Puerto Rico and other nations, are on a quest to revive what's left of their indigenous culture and customs. (snip)

(snip) The Taino first journeyed to Cuba from what is now South America about 300 years before Christopher Columbus came ashore in 1492.
Columbus wrote that the Indians, then thought to number at least 120,000, impressed him with their "naked innocence. ... They are very gentle without knowing what evil is, without killing, without stealing."

Columbus later decided the Indians should be enslaved, writing in his journals, "They will make excellent servants." His vision never came to be.

During the Spanish conquest, hordes of the Taino – no one knows precisely how many – died of smallpox, malaria, abuse or starvation. Others were killed in battle. One Indian leader, Hatuey, tried to organize a rebellion against the Spanish in the 1530s. He was captured and burned alive, and is remembered as a hero in Cuban classrooms today. (snip/...)

http://www.dallasnews.com/world/cuba/stories/071203dnintcubaindians.9b013.html

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