In this book, Taíno academic José Barreiro distills over a decade of interviews with Francisco Panchito Ramírez Rojas, a true cacique (leader) in the tradition of his Taíno ancestors. In the track of an uninterrupted lineage reaching back to before the 15th century, Panchito speaks with the plain and certain voice of one who understands and communicates with nature, humans included, in ways profound and true.

FRANCISCO “PANCHITO” RAMÍREZ ROJAS is the hereditary chief of Caridad de los Indios, a mountain enclave in Guantanamo, Cuba. His clan, the Rojas-Ramírez, is considered the most historically documented continuous Taíno population in the Greater Antilles.