Titled “500 Years Overdue,” Calvo will address the United Nations and ask its members to support Guam in its quest for self-determination.
“We are bearing a great burden. Colonialism has weighed down upon our people for nearly 500 years. This half-millennium of external rule has taken its toll,” according to the governor’s speech.
Calvo will present hundreds of years of Chamorro ancestors’ colonization.
“Our island suffered over 230 years of Spanish colonial rule. Chamorros were devastated by new diseases, war, and oppression. After the Spanish-American War, the United States claimed Guam, and rule began under the Naval government. Once again, Chamorros had no representation and no say in their future.”
She will speak of the suffering that took place under the hands of Japan’s Imperial Army during World War II.
“Chamorros suffered atrocities from the Japanese Imperial Army. Our women were raped. Our men were beheaded. Chamorro families were marched into caves and exterminated like vermin.”
Ultimately, after Guam’s liberation by the United States, “the Chamorros were still suppressed under colonialism.
“Worse yet, the Chamorro people have yet to even receive reparations for the atrocities they suffered.
“The Chamorros of World War II endured slavery, occupation, murder, and genocide. Yet, the U.S. government is silent in its obligations to war reparations. Our island anxiously awaits the day where our people can receive the same amount of respect as fellow Americans who endured unimaginable evil during that time. The silence from the administering power on this issue reinforces the point that Guam can no longer remain a colony in perpetuity.”
Calvo will also speak of the indigenous Chamorros who “have been unable to reach their full socio-economic potential because of our political status.
Now, more than ever, it is important to move forward, while there are still Chamorros left to express our right to self-determination.”
