JENSEN LA VENDE

Se­nior Re­porter-In­ves­tiga­tive

Jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt

Am­bas­sadors who par­tic­i­pat­ed in a tree plant­i­ng ex­er­cise to com­mem­o­rate Hyari­ma Day yes­ter­day de­scribed it as a spir­i­tu­al ex­pe­ri­ence.

The tree plant­i­ng took place on a par­cel of in­dige­nous land in San Raphael. Roger Be­lix, pres­i­dent of the Part­ners for First Peo­ples De­vel­op­ment, said the event cel­e­brat­ed the ties that T&T main­tains with in­dige­nous peo­ples in Cu­ba, Venezuela, Chile and Mex­i­co.

The sig­nif­i­cance of the oc­ca­sion was high­light­ed by the plant­i­ng of dif­fer­ent types of trees by the am­bas­sadors in at­ten­dance. Cuban Am­bas­sador Tania Diego Olite plant­ed a poui tree, while Her­nan Nunez, Am­bas­sador to Chile, plant­ed a ch­enette tree, Vic­tor Hugo Morales Melén­dez, the Am­bas­sador to Mex­i­co, plant­ed a nut­meg tree, and Venezue­lan Am­bas­sador Al­varo Sanchez Cordero, plant­ed bal­a­ta and aloes.

Melén­dez, Diego Olite and Sanchez lat­er gave their im­pres­sions of the event, which in­clud­ed a smoke cer­e­mo­ny led by Raul Si­mon, Shaman of the Warao Com­mu­ni­ty of San Fer­nan­do.

“It is a spir­i­tu­al ex­pe­ri­ence that is strong not just for Trinidad but for Mex­i­co as well,” said Melén­dez, who added that Mex­i­cans are very spir­i­tu­al peo­ple.

“To be here with na­ture and the en­vi­ron­ment in a cer­e­mo­ny with deep spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, this is very im­por­tant to us.”

Cordero said, “It was a mem­o­rable ex­pe­ri­ence, very spir­i­tu­al, con­nect­ing with our an­ces­try. In terms of in­dige­nous cul­ture and her­itage, Trinidad and To­ba­go and Venezuela are but one place.”

He said the two na­tions have no bor­ders—it is a com­mon space of love, cul­ture, ed­u­ca­tion and the en­tire ex­pe­ri­ence strength­ened the union be­tween the two coun­tries. He said the cel­e­bra­tion of Hyari­ma Day came two days af­ter his coun­try­men cel­e­brat­ed In­dige­nous Re­sis­tance Day, which added a greater lev­el of sig­nif­i­cance to the ex­pe­ri­ence.

Be­lix said the trees were se­lect­ed to show the con­nec­tion be­tween the First Peo­ples in the var­i­ous coun­tries. The poui, which flow­ers three to four times a year, sig­nals the be­gin­ning of the rainy sea­son. The bal­a­ta usu­al­ly has one seed and two in a leap year, while the nut­meg rep­re­sents the earth and its struc­ture, which he de­scribed as sig­nif­i­cant. The ch­enette rep­re­sents the moon as seen from earth.

Diego Olite said, “It was an amaz­ing ex­pe­ri­ence. The spir­i­tu­al­i­ty that we felt his morn­ing, the con­nec­tion with na­ture, with the moth­er land, it has been a very nice ex­pe­ri­ence. We are very hap­py to be here to­day and to con­tin­ue this ini­tia­tive and all that may arise from it.”