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RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Grand Chief of Moru­ga, Er­ic Lewis, says he is pre­pared to give his life to pro­tect and re­vive the tra­di­tions of T&T’s First Peo­ples, ar­gu­ing that al­though In­dige­nous com­mu­ni­ties have shaped the coun­try’s val­ues of hu­mil­i­ty, broth­er­hood, uni­ty, and to­geth­er­ness, they re­main “for­got­ten, side­lined and os­tracised.”

Lewis made the de­c­la­ra­tion on Tues­day as he un­veiled a stat­ue of Chief Utuyaney on Har­ris Prom­e­nade as part of San Fer­nan­do’s City Week cel­e­bra­tions. Utuyaney was among the Amerindi­an war­riors who fought against Span­ish gov­er­nor An­to­nio de Sedeño in the 1500s, along­side chiefs Guy­na, Pa­ma­coa, Amanatey and Paraguany.