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Amid shouts of anger "hewa!" (False!) And "illegal sales", four parcels of land surrounded by the 700-acre Facebook CEO's estate, Mark Zuckerberg, were auctioned on Friday. Kauai Island.
Surprisingly, the bidder supported by Zuckerberg only won three of the packages, while a rival group outweighed the fourth.
In a contentious transaction, lawyers bid on behalf of their clients. On one side, a group led by several members of the Rapozo family; on the other, another family member, retired Hawaiian Studies professor Carlos Andrade, whom his relatives accused of having Zuckerberg's financial support.
A commissioner read the package numbers while the lawyers quietly made their offer until the four packages were sold: parcels # 19, 25 and 26 went for $ 300,000, $ 460,000 and $ 300 respectively. $ 000 in Andrade.
Parcel 17 was purchased for $ 700,000 by De Costa, on behalf of its clients, the Rapozo family. Andrade and the so-called "faithful Rapozos" are the descendants of Manuel Rapozo, a Portuguese citizen who emigrated from the Azores to Hawaii in 1882.
"A family against a billionaire. It is what it is. It's a family against a billionaire. Scream to one of kuleana's owners, Alika Guerrero, wearing a black t-shirt bearing the inscription "Culture, Heritage, Ohana (Family)".
The four parcels of land, called kuleana in Hawaiian, measure only 5,200 m² and are entirely surrounded by the Zuckerberg property. Fifth Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe ordered the auction to be auctioned to try to resolve a dispute between parents and neighbors.
Even before the noon auction, family and community members demonstrated in court, holding Hawaiian flags, ceremonial sheets and handmade signs carrying slogans such as "Mark you Zuck! And "Study Kuleana Zuckerberg!
Angry members of the Rapozos Fortress reported that Zuckerberg was away even though he was schooled in the complex world of traditional Hawaiian landownership.
Andrade did not attend the auction or respond to previous requests for comment, but pleaded for a quiet title in an editorial today in the Kauai's Garden Island newspaper.
Andrade says that he is the only one to have cleaned, surveyed and maintained plots, planted crops, paid taxes and built housing on isolated and underdeveloped land.
Cecilia Rapozo Inanod, Andrade's cousin, thought for a long time that she was a good guardian of the country, but that she had excluded other members of the family, even changing the locks of the doors to keep people at home. gap. "As a university professor of Hawaiian studies, he should be concerned not to sell Hawaiians land to sell to billionaires," she said.
For its part, Zuckerberg has not communicated directly with its neighbors on its adopted island, located in the Pacific, where the largely underdeveloped area stretches along a long cliff offering breathtaking views of the central Pacific.
Today's auction stems from what was once an obscure Hawaiian law called the Kuleana Law of 1850, which granted plots of land to Hawaiian natives and other residents.
But the relatively unknown and little-known title gained notoriety at the end of 2016 after Andrade threatened to sue his relatives to become the owner.
Zuckerberg's participation in Andrade has raised accusations of being a neocolonial settler on an island with a long history of overthrow, occupation, displacement and marginalization of Kanaka Maoli – indigenous Hawaiians – by foreigners.
In 2017, the pushback in the community led Zuckerberg to write a column in the local newspaper explaining that he was abandoning his actions with a discreet title and that he would "work with the community on a new approach."
The technology mogul, with a fortune estimated at $ 65 billion, has again found himself making a public apology.
But Andrade won the quiet title with the alleged support of Northshore Kalo, a Zuckerberg screen company.
This week, Garden Island released reports of new claims that "misleading and high-pressure sales tactics" had been used against kuleana owners to force them to sell their land. .
Healani Sonoda-Pale, a resident of Oahu, who owns kuleana lands in Molokai, went to Kauai to support the Rapozo family and described the disputed plots as being mele inoa – the "song of our name". She also oversees four separate soft law bills as they progress through the state legislature in Hawaii, which she says is a positive step.
"Unfortunately, you have to take someone like Zuckerberg to come here and start doing it," said Sonoda-Pale, adding, "It's very complex, our terrestrial systems here, so if you want to come here in Hawaii, please do your research and have respect or people here, "she said.
In front of the courthouse, Guerrero, who lives in Maui, said he wanted to publicize what he called "misuse" of the title law with the aim of inspiring others. Hawaii families avoid situations in which a family member sues other families. members for the sale of the property.
Before the auction started, Guerrero said that no matter what happened today, "for me, we won in the sense that we won. [raised awareness] anyone who can not come to Hawaii, find one of our parents, convince him to sue the rest of the family and get away with it. "
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