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Jorge's avatar
Nov 8Edited

Note #2 has been challenged and disproven by more recent journalists and archeologists with no agendas. What happened was 2 things:

1. Spaniards were not allowed to kill or enslave the natives (e.g. Arawaks, Taínos) of the territories they were conquering (this after some priests, particularly Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, reported to the Crown the atrocities that were taking place). At the same time, the Arawaks / Taínos were often sailing to other islands to get organized, recruit, and return back to continue fighting and resisting. So what did the Spanish do? They started naming ALL of them Caribs, because technically they were coming from other territories (e.g. Lesser Antilles). By doing this, they were allowed to continue enslaving and killing them.

Needless to say, Carib is actually a made-up word, since most of these native people in the region got along for the most part.

2. Most historians and archeologists kept repeating the same lie because they did not have access or ignored several documents, or mostly because they had to continue with the narrative that the noble, catholic and civilized Spain brought civilization to those primitive tribes from the Caribbean and the Americas. Moreover, they wanted to portrait a non-violent, gutless, beta Taíno that even let their wives being taken by these “Caribs”. This was part of a psychological gaslighting campaign on the once-colonized nations that has taken place for decades and continues taking place, so that they continue viewing themselves as powerless and inferior.

Note: In elementary school, I once participated in a sketch where I played being a Taino that was assaulted by Caribs (other students from my classroom) and took away my wife (the prettiest girl in the class), while I stood there, powerless.

Note 2: This book (in Spanish) elaborates on what I was explaining: https://www.amazon.com/Agüeybaná-Bravo-Jalil-Sued-Badillo/dp/1934461180

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Al X. Griz's avatar

Ray, I really appreciate your new formatting and found this article much easier to read. Oftentimes I get frustrated with all the stand alone links to the “full story.” Thanks for the change. IMO more user friendly.

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