The Taínos have been unrepresented .  As more and more of us reconnect to our roots and history it is becoming overwhelmingly apparent that the indigenous community of Puerto Rico is not getting the recognition they truly deserve as survivors of the horrible effects of colonialism. While we understand we cannot erase history , we would at least like to be in the story as resilient ,not as “long extinct” as many believe. By keeping the statue of De Leon it celebrates the dark truth of what his “discovery” truly ensued for the Taíno. They suffered  the erasure of our history and many of our people. By having more monuments of our people and our history I feel that the culture will thrive. If we don’t start representing ourselves more nobody else will. The culture preservation of the Taíno should be more important than a statue of the people who fought so hard to erase us. My proposal is to have Agüeybaná the Taíno Cacique that actually met and tried to work diplomatically  with De Leon replace the current statue . Agüeybaná was betrayed by the Spaniard and killed. He deserves to be remembered for his bravery and honor. The Taíno deserve to be honored the way the conquistadors are.