Belize government giving full recognition to its indiginous people
Posted by editor on November 21 2009 00:00:00
BELMOPAN, Belize -- Thursday was a public holiday called Garifuna Settlement Day in recognition to the indigineous people in which there was a massive ceremony at the Memorial Park in Belize. The theme for the celebrations was "Watina - Let us Answer the Call of our Ancestors".
Extended News
By Oscar Ramjeet
BELMOPAN, Belize -- Thursday was a public holiday called Garifuna Settlement Day in recognition to the indigineous people in which there was a massive ceremony at the Memorial Park in Belize.
The feature address was delivered by a young attorney, Philip Palacio who is a member of what he described as a "people who withstood so much, but have been able to survive" ... Gundatina La Garifuna Na"
The theme for the celebrations was "Watina - Let us Answer the Call of our Ancestors" in which Palacio traced back the history of his ancestors and said that "it is coming from the deep jungles of the Orinoco River? Paddling its way into the Caribbean Sea. It is coming from West Africa trying to make its way across the Atlantic Ocean?"
He asked if it is coming from Yurumein? Is it coming from Dominica, where some of our brothers and sisters are still confined in reservations?
Garifunas in Belize, Palacio said, have traced their roots to 18th century St. Vincent. He added that "they are descendants of the Black caribs who were exiled from St. Vincent in March 1797. These people are the product of intermarriage between Caribs of St Vincent and African slaves who took refuge among them"
He added that for centuries they had resisted European attempts to take control of St. Vincent and to deprive them of their lands, until finally surrendering to the British in 1796. He explained that after having been kept on Balliceaux, a tiny island of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, for about seven months, some 2,248 of them who remained from a captive population of 4,338 were put on board a convoy of eight vessels and sent into exile to Roatan, an island off Honduras. From Rotan they moved to mainland Honduras and then to the other countries of Central America.
Garifuna people form distinct parts of the population of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Following the pattern of migration from the mid-twentieth century, Garifuna communities now exist in the United States of America with an estimated population between 75.000 and 100,000.
The Belize Government in its National Policy on Local Government has included the Alcalde System in its Local Government Reform joining the Municipal Councils and Village Councils in the national local government programme.