On Saturday 26th of November 2022, in the 500th anniversary year of the start of the last - and longest - Indigenous Taino rebellion and Guerrilla war against the brutal Spanish colonizers led by Guama, the last Great Taino Chief of Cuba - from 1522 - 1532, and in the very location that was a Spanish military Fort in the city of Baracoa that Guama laid siege to many times, now converted into the Matachin Museum...4 significant events transpired one after the other.

The Government of Cuba facilitated the traveling of 4 members of the family of the last living Taino Chief of Cuba from their distant mountain village, to meet me and to thank me for creating (via my grassroots Caribbean Indigenous film production company - First Nations Productions) - the Guama movie about their great ancestor. The Government of Cuba also informed us that our movie is the first and only movie ever made about this locally famous historic Taino Chief.

Firstly, as a necessary spiritual atonement act of contrition, the actor - Francisco Santamaria Cubilla - who played the role of the Spanish Conquistador of Cuba - Diego Velazquez,

apologized to the descendants of Great Chief Guama, for the evils inflicted upon their ancestors by the Spanish conquistadores of the 15th & 16th centuries, because not all Spaniards supported the conquest of the Americas, there were even then - voices of reason and justice who opposed the wickedness of the Spanish colonization. It was a fitting gesture since he played the role of the Spanish Conquistador of Cuba - Diego Velazquez, in my Guama movie, and here we were, in the very Spanish Fort (now converted into the Matachin Museum in Baracoa), that Chief Guama laid siege to more than once, in the very year of the 500th anniversary of the start of Chief Guama's 10-year long guerrilla war and rebellion against Spain. NOTHING can erase the evils of the past, but we can ALL do SOMETHING to begin to lay the foundation for a more noble future between us. When we find right-thinking souls anywhere in humanity - we must embrace them as our spiritual brothers, or the flower of justice can never bloom from the ashes of injustice.

Secondly, as I held the hands of the son and heir of old Chief Panchito , we both had tears in our eyes as I personally expressed my love for them and my solidarity with them, as a fellow Indigenous person myself, and then I presented them with some gifts from myself and the Embera actors in the movie.

I gave the Chief's Son (Vladimir Ramirez Ramirez, 46) the necklace worn in the movie by the actor playing the role of his ancestor Guama in my film, it was made by Guainia Taino Tribe Chief Maekiaphan Phillips of the US Virgin Islands - who had gifted it to me, but I wanted it to be featured in the movie and then I felt it was more powerfully gifted to the last Taino Chief in Cuba, from the hands of one Taino Chief to another. Of the 3 ladies, the eldest Taina present was Yuleidi Castillo Ramirez (39) the niece of Kasike Panchito, next in seniority present was Mariulkis Soler Ramirez (34), granddaughter of Kasike Panchito, and the youngest was her little sister Ingrid Duverger Ramirez (15) - another granddaughter of Kasike Panchito.

Thirdly, I presented - as a post-humous award to the historical Cuban Chief Guama, to the son and heir of the current and last remaining Cuban Taino Chief Panchito - with the David Arnold Dewever Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawak Medal for Valor, it was originally created by me to honor the memory of my reluctant hero great uncle who served in 4 theatres of war during world war 2 under the British and later as a spy for the Allies, and the medal was made to be given to other often unsung Indigenous heroes of combat in this Hemisphere and around the world. However, when the Government of Venezuela accepted it as a post-humous honor to Commandante Hugo Chavez (who was himself half-native) in a ceremony at the Venezuela Embassy in Barbados on 18 December 2021 - it became THE most prestigious Indigenous-created medal of honor in existence worldwide today.

Fourthly and finally, the Medal of honor to Great Taino Chief Guama, AND the Conquistador suit of armor worn in my film by the Spaniard descendant actor who played the role of Diego Velazquez, were both donated to the Matachin Museum for the Government and People of Cuba for posterity.

You can learn more about the Guama film project here: https://chuffed.org/campaign/guama-film/share-jke3od39lpzr?fbclid=IwAR0UMtLnqbuWXYOVhCB140cWPyOpOg7hzEfnE38SBfn4C2AGrW5Spa84N38

Damon Gerard Corrie

Clan Chief Eagle Clan Arawaks/Bariria Korobado Lokono

Historic Day for Cuba's Indigenous People & Grassroots Caribbean Indigenous Filmmaking