Alberto Hotus Chavez Alberto Hotus, 82, is Chairman of the Rapa Nui Council of Elders. This was created in 1980 with the aim of recovering the investiture of Rapanui chiefs and rejecting the delivery of individual titles of land ownership, a situation that was opposed to the ancestral custom of
“Matusalem” Masú Hey Masú Hey’s family name really should be Edmunds. His father, Enrique, is the son of Henry Percival Edmunds, the English administrator for the Williamson & Balfour sheep company between 1903 and 1930, and of Sofía Hey, the mother of the first four of nine children Edmunds had
Carmen Cardinal he current Governor of Isla de Pascua is the granddaughter of Rafael Cardinali, an Italian who arrived to the Island during the First World War looking for opportunities and founded the Cardinali clan, a name that is today considered Rapanui. Carmen Cardinali, school teacher and businesswoman in tourism,
María Haoa Ive had a very sad life. My mother, Estela Haoa, abandoned me when I was born. She was only 17 when she got pregnant. I was raised by grandparents, Adela Haoa and Isaias Fati, whom I always considered as my true parents. My biological father never recognized me
Analola Tuki The daughter of Lucas Tuki-Schmidt and Ana Teao-Manuheuroroa was born on June 21, 1928. She is the youngest of 11 siblings, all of whom are now dead. Many people considered that Analola was one of the most beautiful women of Rapa Nui. In the 1950s, she worked
María Ignacia Paoa Rangitopa María Ignacia is the daughter of María Carmela Languitopa and Alberto Paoa-Bornier, a grandson of the French settler Dutroux-Bornier, who took over the lands of the Easter Islanders and proclaimed himself “King of Easter Island”, prior to the Chilean annexation. Everyone knows her by her nickname
Ana Rapahango, 80 years old, is the granddaughter of Antonia Tepuku and the daughter of Victoria Rapahango and the Englishman, Henry Percival Edmunds, who was the resident administrator of the Island for the Williamson & Balfour Company from 1906 to 1930. My father left, leaving my mother alone with his
Ursula Rapu My father was called Alejo Kana Kyoka. He was the son of a Chinese, but my grandmother’s husband accepted him as his son and gave him the family name of Rapu. He was white skinned and, when I was born and he saw me as dark as my
Rosa Ika Paoa The daughter of Napoleón Ika and Flora Paoa, Rosa today is 73 years old. With her 17 brothers and sisters, she belongs to the aristocratic Miru tribe. “My father is the son of a Frenchman who took refuge on the Island after his cargo ship, the “Jean”,
Felipe Pakarati Felipe Pakarati Tuki, blind since 1968, has left an important legacy for future generations in Rapa Nui. In the book “Papa Tu’u ‘i Hanga Kao Kao”, dedicated to his grandfather Timothy Pakarati, has been narrating the social and cultural changes of his time. In 1947 I was seven
Esperanza Pakarati Tepano Esperanza Pakarati (1922 – 2005) was the great-granddaughter of the last Rapanui priestess, Te Oho A Neru, whom she actually knew, and granddaughter of important local personages, the catechist Nicolas Pakarati and Juan Tepano-Huke. She was married at a young age to Esteban Atan-Pakomio, who was later
Sergio Tepano Cuevas Today, all the public services on Easter Island are locally administered by a Rapanui executive. One of these is Sergio Tepano-Cuevas, 35 years old, the son of Ricardo Tepano and Ximena Cuevas, who is the current Head of the Office of Indigenous Affairs, CONADI. His paternal grandparents
