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Thursday 13 July 2023 locAl
A10

Episode 19

A Nobel native heart

Native Aruban compassion a bigger one and returns his care of him for a week un-
story. What it meant to be a pouch behind his poncho. til the slave was appearing
slave in Aruba? He plays a little with the better in order to sail over
In these stories of Curacao small nuggets in his hand to Aruba.
and the Dutch Colonies we like shaking a maraca and When Alvarez and his slave
encounter this amazing sto- say "cuateronza,” with this I arrived at Tara Tata beach
ry which starts in the Medi- will save this man’s life. Now that they called Playa, peo-
terranean in the year 1762 he thought, he still had to ple congratulated him for
and ends in Aruba 1765. convince the master of the good purchase the Fis-
the slaves that the slave cal had made, but Miguel
It was in the year of 1763 he wanted to buy did not told them that he had not
that Fiscal Miguel Alvarez, have much more time to bought that man, that he
a religious chief appointed live, and yes: four ounces had only given them mon- in North Africa and that
by the Pope and of the Ro- of gold did the job. ey so that the man could The inhabitants of Aruba it bordered the Mediter-
man Catholic Church, as get his freedom. saw that the slave, the ranean Sea and that his
the one person responsible Once that Mr. Alvarez got man had done the sign parents died when he was
for the life and faith of Aru- him, he immediately took of the holy cross the same very young that they were
ba’s Amerindian souls and him over to a friend's house way they do it themselves Christians and that he had
also as the care taker and in Curacao; there they took and thought he must be received a Catholic edu-

authority of the Church a good person.The name cation.
“Queen of the Holiest Ro- of that freed slave was
sary of Alto Vista of Aruba”. Crisostomo and so little by After a year Aruba re-
This well to-do Amerindian little Crisostomo was get- ceived the visit of Father
of the Caquetios, a mer- ting used to his new reality Pedro Rodriguez. All the no-
chant and business man of life. Miguel Alvarez had bles and principal petition-
sailed a lot between the is- a room build especially for ers of Noord gathered at
lands and the mainland. him in the town of Noord, the house of Fiscal Miguel
close to his own house. Alvarez. There, Father Ro-
During one of these trips to driguez who traveled from
Curacao, approaching the As time passes by he be- Caracas could get some
plaza where all the slaves gan to learn the Spanish information from Crisosto-
normally would be lined up, language, since Arawakan mo. He told the curious that
there he was, standing and was too difficult and it be- he has been married to a
staring at this noisy docking came a secret language good woman named Ele-
ship that had just arrived that was not shared with na Petronilia and lived hap-
full of slaves at the port in foreigners any more. Now pily in Algeria for 14 years.
Willemstad. He stood there he was gaining the ability They had five children but
and could not believe his to tell something about his four of them died when
eyes to see how cruel other previous life in Spanish. they were very young, they
human beings where treat- were baptized and only
ed and felt great com- Crisostomo answered the oneAnastacio was alive
passion for one of them in people that asked him when tragedy struck…q
particular. One who was where he was originally
wounded and that gave from and that he came Source; Island Insight column
the impression to be edu- from Algeria a country by Etnia Nativa.
cated and seemed to be
a civilized person. Aruba
had always treated those
who were considered to be
slaves very well.

Miguel decided to try to
convince the slave trader
to sell him the slave for
peanuts mentioning his dire
conditions. So he opens his
money pouch he carries on
his waist, took out two tiny
pieces of gold, a small and