Local activist Raymond Quitugua displays an inverted U.S. flag outside the United States Courthouse in Gualo Rai on Thursday.
LOCAL activist Raymond Quitugua on Thursday displayed an inverted U.S. flag outside the United States Courthouse on Middle Road in Gualo Rai.
This was not the first time Quitugua had done this. He and fellow indigenous rights activist Herman Tudela displayed an inverted U.S. flag at the same spot on May 1, 2023.
Asked why he was doing it again, Quitugua said, “I want the U.S panel to the 902 talks to know [that] there are many other issues regarding the Covenant that they should also tackle.”
The CNMI-U.S. 902 consultations were held at the U.S. courthouse on Wednesday and Thursday.
“As a Chamorro native, I believe the U.S. government has an obligation to properly identify my national identity, which right here is questionable right now because of the CNMI flag issue,” he said.
The flag’s design includes a multi-colored mwaar or floral wreath representing Carolinians. For Quitugua, however, the only “true indigenous people” of the Northern Marianas are Chamorros.
Quitugua said if the U.S. government would claim that the CNMI’s indigenous people include the Carolinians, “then why are the Carolinians not included in the U.S. Census? That says everything. They are not indigenous.”
He wants the U.S. government to acknowledge who “really are” the indigenous people of the Northern Marianas.
“We are the only indigenous people of the CNMI, the Chamorros,” he reiterated.
