The humiliating and haunting return of El Negro to Africa

El Negro received a warm welcome when he was returned to Botswana in 2000
El Negro received a warm welcome when he was returned to Botswana in 2000

The October 2000 repatriation of the human remains popularly known as ‘El Negro’ (Spanish for ‘The black one’) constitutes a textbook example of how not to carry out such an exercise.

The remains were returned in an incomplete and undignified manner in gross violation of professional protocols and ethics, as well as indigenous sensibilities, while key stakeholders were not consulted.

What was thus meant to have been a triumphant return of a son to his soil, bringing closure and a degree of reconciliation to an evil chapter in the annals of Europe’s violation of Africans, instead degenerated into controversy.

Editor's Comment
Human rights are sacred

It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...

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