Guarionex
Quick Facts
Biography
Guarionex (Taíno language: "The Brave Noble Lord") was a Taíno cacique from the cacicazgo of Maguá in the island of Hispaniola at the time of the arrival of the Europeans to the Western Hemisphere in 1492. He was the son of cacique Guacanagari, the great Taíno prophet who had the vision of the coming of the Guamikena (White Men).
The subsequent Spanish colonization of the island of Hispaniola forced thousands of Taíno natives to flee to other neighboring islands, including Borikén (Taíno language name for Puerto Rico at the time). Guarionex was among those who fled to Boriken and there he became the cacique of the central mountains village of Otoao (Utuado, Puerto Rico) in 1493. Under Guarionex's leadership, Taíno warriors made various attacks against the Spaniards. Guarionex was captured during one of those confrontations and was sent to Spain in 1502, but the ship sank during a storm, along with a fortune in gold said by Bartolomé de las Casas to be worth 3600 castilians.