APA..Newsletter # 3
National News..Prince Charles Meets Amerindians

The Prince meeting a Region 8 Toushao

During late February, His Royal Highness Prince Charles paid a four-day visit to Guyana and toured a number of prominent places in the country. Among the places the Prince visited were the Amerindian villages of Annai and Surama in Region 9 and the mighty Kaieteur Falls in Region 8.

In Region 9, the Prince participated in traditional dances with a group of Macushi ladies and drank the local Parakari drink. He also toured the Iwokrama Rainforest site. Later the same day he flew to Region 8 to view the world famous Kaieteur Falls. There he met the Patamona and Macushi peoples of the region, most of whom were leaders and representatives of villages. Some had travelled for days to meet the Prince.

The Region 8 people had hoped to greet the Prince during a traditional welcome ceremony at Kaieteur, a site of spiritual and religious significance to the Patamona and Macushi peoples but this was not to be so. Their request to stage the welcome was denied by the government. The people of Region 8 had felt that as guardians and protectors of the land, they should have been the ones to welcome the Prince at the site.

As such their presence at the landing strip just before His Royal Highness’ arrival took the welcoming party by surprise and they made no efforts to hide their disapproval of this. They were hostile and attempted to discourage the people from meeting the Prince. This was however noticed by the his security official who allowed the people to meet him.

The leaders took the opportunity to display a number of placards to remind the government, the Guyanese public and the international community at large of the government’s continued failure to respect and protect the rights of Amerindians in Guyana. They held up a number of placards reading messages to this effect.

The Prince has since said that he was pleased to meet the people of Region 8 and that he was deeply touched by their welcome.

Toshaos at Kaiteur