Accolades

From Taino-L, 3 January 2001

It is sad news, but I have come to believe that the Creator always moves in strange ways.

As a member of the Taino tribe, my family and I thank you for all the hard work and the example you have always given us.

Please continue on your e-mail as an elder.

We wish you peace in your decisions and may your path be revealed to you.

Respectfully yours,
Paul Marrero and Family.

Tau Pedro,

I agree with your decision, and Noq'a niy paikuna...let the wolves pick on your bones.

NOW ¡SAMAY!

Taino ti
Respectfully yours;
Guamoel,
Spiritual Elder of the Taino Nation

Tau Pedro,

I understand your departing and I am sad too, but I will keep you in my prayers because you have been an amazing person. I have a feeling you are going home back to Boriken our homeland and town Barranquitas. I wish you the best of health and future.

Thank you for your encouraging letter to me. I will never forget your legacy for the Taino people, I hope you take my other geneaology history of my family which for so long through history they kept us as a secret, to me that is how it looks.

For now I will step out of the light and go into the dark and dissapear and watch with my family and baby Jonathen. Take our pictures and always remember us I will always speak of your legacy to Amanda, Angel and baby Jonathen and remind them of who they are. And as a family we thank you we thank you so much.

Do not be sad. I trust my Great Spirit for you. You are like a grandfather I never had Da Arocoel.

Taycaraya
Love,
Nanichi
Migdalia

Tau Cacique:

Que te vayas bien

Larry

Cacique Torres,

A tribe without a chief is like a hummingbird without wings. Our flight will be cut short and we will not be able to find sustenance.

But I do understand to some small extent why you've chosen this path, and I wish you well in your travels. We will miss your presence as our leader/advisor, especially now that we are finally banding together and trying to find our place in the world as a tribe. Your drive has taken our people a very long way, and for that I thank you with all my heart. I wish things could have been different . . . perhaps more involvement from the rest of us would have led to a different decision on your part. But I know that you've repeatedly called for assistance from us and ended up carrying the ball with only a few helping. We have no one to blame but ourselves. I hope some day, though, you will feel the need to come back and finish what you started so well.

For the rest of us: This will be a real test in our own resolves as members of this community. We have effectively been pushed out of the nest, and now we have to see if we can apply what we learned while safe at home. Let's make Cacique Pedro Torres proud of us. Somehow, though, I suspect that our movement as Tainos will be greatly slowed, if not stopped. This breaks my heart.

It does gives me some comfort, though, when I think of what Cacique Torres has accomplished. We are now a known tribe. People have heard us now; they know who we are, and that's half the battle. He has taken the hard steps for us, but we now have to do the rest. Mayra Martinez

To Peter Guanikeyu Torres

For the last 10 years I have watched you build one of the strongest and most visible indigenous communities of the Taino revival movement. I would even venture to consider you responsible for the success of this movement as a whole. Your untiring efforts since long before you came to my attention in the early nineties have made it possible for the rest of the people to come out of our cocoons and blossom as a nation. Geographically I have been far from the center of activity during these exciting times of growth and as a result of that have not always been aware of all of the details surrounding the ups and downs of your work. I do know that at times your work has been controversial although I am not aware of all the details. I myself at one time felt a bit antagonized by your attitude toward one of my colegues way back in the mid-nineties. This trivial event pales in the shadow of the awesome work you have realised and I have for quite some time seen that work with great admiration and respect. That is the reason why I read with shock and dismay the letter that you published in the Taino Digest announcing your withdrawal from leadership in the Taino global community. We need Kasikes like you and although I have no idea what strong personal conflicts could have persuaded an energetic and effective mover and shaker like yourself to withdraw from the fray I feel it important to state publicly that your absence would create a huge hole which few would be able to fill.

It is my fervent hope (And I know that there are many who echo my sentiments) that you reconsider what I am sure you feel is a well-thought-out decision. I hope you find a way to remain the strong and thoughtful leader you have always been and that the value of your work is recognized as widely as it deserves to be.

With sincere respect

your brother Miguel A. Sague Jr.

Sobaoko Koromo(Black Ribs)
Head Beike
Caney Indian Spiritual Circle