The Taíno are still here: Haitians, Jamaicans, and the island chiefs

SUMMARYThe Taíno are still here: Haitians, Jamaicans, and the island chiefs (Nov 3, 2026). Tito: "The original Taínos are the current Haitians, Jamaicans, etc. They're playing science games with the DNA. The family trees are still there; the current chiefs of the Virgin Islands look just like us."
RECORD, the DNA "game" is real: which test you run changes the answer. Juan Carlos Martínez-Cruzado (University of Puerto Rico, around 2000–01) found about 61% of Puerto Ricans carry Native American mitochondrial DNA (the mother's line), while whole-genome (autosomal) estimates usually show about 10–15%. Same people, two very different headlines depending on the test.
RECORD, reference panels: ancestry tests sort DNA by comparing it to modern reference groups. Caribbean Native ancestry is barely sampled, so it can't be measured cleanly against those panels (a known limitation)

OPENhow much "African" in Haitian and Jamaican results would change if the panels included ancient Taíno genomes.
THE DECISIVE

TESTcompare modern Haitians and Jamaicans directly with the ancient Caribbean genomes now published (the 2018 Bahamas genome; Fernandes et al., Nature 2021, 174 ancient Caribbean individuals). That compares us to them, not to a modern panel.
RECORD, the colonizers saw it themselves (Rule 13): the British called St. Vincent's island people "Black Caribs" (vs. "Yellow Caribs"). After the Second Carib War, about 5,000 Garifuna were deported to Roatán in 1797; Chief Joseph Chatoyer is St. Vincent's national hero. Dominica's Kalinago Territory (set up in 1903) still elects a chief. Jamaica's Yamaye Taíno are recognized as a community by Minority Rights Group, and Maroon oral history holds the Taíno link from 1655 on. Ayiti's founders chose the Taíno name and fought as the "Army of the Incas" (P159).
COMMUNITY

WITNESSthe Caribbean chiefs and families today "look just like us" (Tito); the family trees and oral histories carry the line

LENSthe Taíno weren't wiped out; they were renamed "Black," "Carib," "Maroon," "Negro." The paper changed, the people stayed (Pattern; ties to P180).