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Chamorros from Guam should not be excluded
from owning land in the Northern Marianas. It is only fair since Chamorros
from the Northern Marianas can own land in Guam.
Chamorros from Guam are the same as Chamorros from the Northern Marianas.
We speak the same language, we have the same culture, we share the same history,
and we share the same blood. It is ridiculous to discriminate against Chamorros
from Guam from owning land in the Northern Marianas. Guam does not discriminate
against Northern Marianas Chamorros from owning property.
The value of property would go up in the Northern Marianas if Chamorros
from Guam could purchase land here. It will open up the market to more than
100,000 people. Currently, the market contains around only 40,000 people.
The land would remain in Chamorro hands. It should be their right as Chamorros,
descendants of Taotaomonas, first people of the Marianas.
Many of them want to own land in the Northern Marianas but are denied
this right because they voted against re-unification in the '70s. They voted
against it because they were BETRAYED by Chamorros who were FORCED to become
translators in Guam for the Japanese outsiders.
If they did not obey the Japanese outsiders, they would have been
killed. Outsiders such as Spain and Japan were the true reasons that separated
the Marianas, not the Taotao Tano. To all Chamorros: know your history well.
Allow ALL Chamorros to own land in the Marianas. Biba Marianas! Na da, na
talo y Marianas! Fanoge Chamorro!
Jesse Torres
Kagman, Saipan
Wednesday July 18, 2007
Letters to the Editor
Monday, July 16, 2007
U.S. Navy Killing
Carabao Population In Guam...
HAGATNA, Guam (Local Source)
- The carabao population in Guam is being exterminated daily by the U.S.
Navy allegedly to avoid contaminants from the animals urine. More
to follow...
HAGATNA, Guam (AP)
- Former Sen. Angel Santos, a Chamorro rights activist, died Sunday. He was
44.
Santos had suffered from an undiagnosed disease for the past year. An autopsy
was to be performed to determine the cause of death.
Santos served three terms in the U.S. territory's Legislature.
In 2000, Santos, a spokesman for the indigenous activist group Chamoru Nation,
served six months in federal prison for violating a 1993 court order to stay
off U.S. Air Force land he claimed belonged to his grandfather. He was elected
to the Guam Legislature after his release.
Santos ran for governor in the Democratic primary in 1998, losing to former
Gov. Carl Gutierrez and former Lt. Gov. Madeleine Bordallo, who now is Guam's
delegate to the U.S. Congress.
07/08/03 07:05 EDT
In Memory of Angel Leon Guerrero
Santos; "You Shall Never Be Forgotten"
I send my deepest condolences to
all the surviving members of the Santos family:
"I will share your grief with you and
yours in this moment of great sorrow by his passing...
I shall pray to our creator for
the easing of your pain and suffering for his loss in this
world...
I pray that He gives you all the
strength (as Angel had) to take you through your days...
On behalf of my entire family and
I, we shall pray for you and yours... God Bless..."
Tommy L.G. Benavente & Family
Tacoma, WA
Click to
view some photos taken during the official State Funeral
Press Release:
UN Could Provide Aid to territories
Like Guam
The United Nations later this year
will consider providing technical and financial aid to non-self-governing
territories such as Guam for a number of purposes, including educational
programs leading up to political status plebiscites, according to recent
reports from the UN Committee on Decolonization and the Guam Commission on
Decolonization.
The UN committee, also called the Committee of 24, drafted its annual resolution
in New York last month for consideration by the General Assembly later this
year. Guam Commission on Decolonization education officer Debra Lynne Quinata
attended the committee meetings, telling members and others in attendance
that "nothing has changed in 20 years regarding our colonial status, while
much has changed to destroy our sense as a people."
Quinata reminded Committee members that Guam's Commonwealth Act languished
in the U.S. Congress for nearly 10 years, saying the result is a "confirmation
of our colonial status and an affirmation that our Administering Power can
do whatever it wants to do regarding Guam, including doing nothing."
She pointed to economic difficulties Guam is facing, noting that the U.S.
Congress recently voted for continued financial and medical assistance for
the poor in all 50 states, but refused to reauthorize these crucial programs,
which affect mostly women and children, for the territories.
Government officials has endorsed the Guam Chamber of Commerce's "#000000
Paper," which calls for a larger military presence on the island, which Quinata
said demonstrates the extent of the U.S. military's occupation of Guam and
its influence in local affairs.
The Committee included language in their resolution that notes Guam's poverty
level has risen from 12% a decade ago, according to U.S. Census figures,
to 20% today.
Discussion on the "major issue" of funding for Guam's political status education
program included the representative from Cote d'Ivoire wondering what the
Committee could do to provide financing for that purpose.
"Let us not kid ourselves," Quinata said, "our Administering Power is trying
to lure you into believing that Guam is so important to world peace that
we should be left as a colonial territory. Our greatest fear now is not that
we will be the last non-self-governing territory, but that we will be the
first global colony. If we are, indeed, to be a United Nations colony, then
let the United Nations be our Administering Power!"
Representatives of the U.S. Interior and State departments also attended
the meetings, but did not present any testimony.
For comments and questions, please contact:
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(Human Radiation Experiment - HREX)
CHAMORUS/NON-CHAMORUS OF GUAM AND THE NORTHERN MARIANAS EXPOSED
TO RADIATION FALLOUT - STRONTIUM 90 RESULTING FROM THE NUCLEAR BOMBS TESTS
DURING 1946 THRU 1958 - FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION,
AND DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR COVER-UP EXPOSED ON RECENTLY UNCLASSIFIED
DOCUMENTS....PRESS RELEASE BY
R. "NAMAULEG" C." dated 18 June 2001...
-- "The L.A. Times has described
him as the most famous American Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
Russell Means is a natural leader. His fearless dedication and indestructible
sense of pride are qualities admired by nations worldwide. His vision is
for indigenous people to be free... Free to be human, free to travel, free
to stop, free to trade where they choose, free to choose their own teachers
~ free to follow the religion of their fathers, free to talk, think and act
for themselves and then they will obey every law or submit to the penalty.
The most difficult lesson of all is to respect your relatives' visions..."
Read more about Russell Means by clicking on the photo which is linked to
his homepage "T.R.E.A.T.Y. Productions."
Russell, may the "Great Mystery" guide you and keep you safe on your journey
home.
Take a brief tour through just
some of the atrocities that early Americans (even to this day) have commited
towards the American Indian
(Tour).
Our
mission: to perpetuate the culture, traditions, beliefs, and the lands
of all Chamorus and to ensure a place on our sacred island in the future
for the next generation of Chamorus.
Let us not forget that our
culture, beliefs and our people have been suppressed for over four hundred
years. Our history portrays us as always giving with open doors and
open arms to all. How much longer can we as a people continue this
behavior when our resources and surroundings are diminishing at a very fast
pace with the assistance and our growing dependancy on both industrial and
commercial growth? The time has come for us to make a stand in preserving
what's left of our lands. We must all decide what fate is to
be determined of our sacred island before it falls entirely in to the hands
of others who only have personal financial interests in mind, and not the
interest of the people as a whole.
Our first step in perpetuating
our goal is to first bring common ground with our Chamoru brothers and sisters
both on, and off-island. It is time to start renewing our faith and
beliefs as Chamorus. Some of us might have forgotten who we are in
this time and age and from where we've come from, but I sure haven't,
and neither should you. This is what makes the world such a fascinating
place to live on, "A diversity of cultures." "Be proud of who
you are" and "try not to portray yourself as someone who you can never be."
Fan ha'su Chamoru, "No matter what you wear, how expensive your clothes
are, the size of your home, what country you're currently in,
or what color you paint your skin, whenever you bleed, you will still bleed
Chamoru blood.
It is time to commit ourselves to educating our children and ourselves
of our true culture. The Chamoru culture. I Kotturan Chamoru.
Let us not laugh at those of our brothers and sisters who
attempt to speak our language and make mistakes. Instead, we should
educate them on the proper manner in which to pronounce or speak it.
"Chedo"
Protesting for
the Return of Chamoru Lands on the Grounds of the Governor's Office in Adelupe
(1994):
As active members of the Nasion,
Angel,
Ed,
Fa'et,
Luta,Ma'taga,
Ma'laet, Ma'ting'an, Pagat,
Ofing,
Rumbo,
Stranger, (just to name a few) along with many other sincere and dedicated
members of the Nasion Chamoru, humbly had become catalysts towards resolving
many issues facing the Chamoru People.
The photo on the left depicts
Kahlahi and another Nasion member making final touches on one of the
many "A-frame" huts to be used by Nasion members during the infamous protest
on the grounds of the Governors office in Adelupe. The final result
of the protest came many weeks later when the Governor finally agreed to
sign the "Chamoru Land Trust Act."
"Chedo"
Fan Bisisita Talo'
~ Please Visit Us
Again...
Esta
biahi di ma bisita hit guini desde i finati'nasna gi
28 Mar 1999.
Uttimo di ma'na nuebo:
Domengo' ~ Juliosigua, Hugua Chalan
ni gai Gualu'