Untold Pacific History | Episode 4: Rarotonga - The Cursed Cook Islands Hotel | RNZ

oh, these are the

cook

islands

, a small self-governing territory of new zealand located in the heart of polynesia, in this picture-perfect playground lies a monument that has given rise to its own myths and has been reflected upon its own makutu murder mysteries and mafia tires, so in a country whose economy depends heavily on tourism why did this almost completed luxury

hotel

lie in ruins, decrepit and decaying when the polynesians first colonized raritong time between 900 and 1200 AD. The island was divided by the three ariki lines or chiefs drawn from the Maunga in the center of the island and a traditional system of allocating land between each tribe operated then as it still does now basically it is the feudal chief mata system this is how it is done. allocates the land and in a time before the European settlement that landed by manga where what was meant to be the future sheraton that is now located was perhaps the most coveted and the ancestors of the current Araki pair fought fiercely for it.

The

history

of that land is that it belonged to pak. He went to war with the first araki tenemona and they went to war and he won that land, he gave it all to the mata, yes, fools, except that one, he kept that one. Land ownership is one of the worst things in Palestinian culture. Today we will be friends and tomorrow we will fight among ourselves on land. Actual ownership of the land would always remain a point of dispute for rival clans, especially the modes, but in 1902 the then Ariki peer officially claimed ownership as the Cook Islands moved to establish official landowners at the time.

You can lease land in Railton for 99 years, but you can never sell it, you can't divide and disown your own people from land ownership, which meant that anyone with the least means could land in the Cook Islands and with a high demand for cotton and copra export, New Zealand settler William Wigmore jumped at the opportunity to lease this property to develop farms and, unbeknownst to the modes that still claimed ownership of this land, pa ariki granted a contract of 99 year lease to Whitmore and in 1911 the dispute over the land came to a violent point while the land was in Whitmore's position.

Rom Mori returned with his son, went to Whitmore and told him to give me back my line and then they shot him. William Wigmore shot dead Mori Uri. All he did was ask for his land back. Metuhatu, distraught by the death of her father, cast a curse to condemn the land business would fail unless the ways were turned in her eyes, the rightful owners, yes, there is a bit of talk about the fact that the land It's

cursed

and that's all nonsense, you know, I mean, everyone can create their own stories, but the reality is that there was an altercation and this man was shot and I believe that old man Wigmore was convicted and served this sentence, for As long as the lease remained with the Wigmores, the curse became more myth than fact, but as tourism became the focus of the Cook Islands economy, the curse would take on new life in late It was at a time when, as I understand it, the Italian government created an export credit scheme for its craftsmen and construction companies.

They went out into the world and sold their expertise and materials with government-backed financing, so they traveled the South Pacific offering these turnkey

hotel

deals. Some people from Italy came to Rarotonga, went to the government and said we have 50 million dollars that we are looking for. for a project and we will be happy to build you a hotel, it didn't take much to convince the

cook

islands

government of the time, franco pichi had persuaded the democratic party government politicians in the late 80's that there was a lot of money Italian To have it, you had to spend it on an Italian building contractor, but if you just signed on the dotted line you would get a loan from Italy, you would get an Italian contractor from Italy and the next thing you know we would have a beautiful hotel that we could all use be proud the loan would be 52 million NZ dollars so our government said yes we will take the money and find them a land long after about eight months they have no land so the prime minister called me in Wellington and asked me to I returned to Rarotong and found the land for them.

Javetta, who was the High Commissioner of the Cook Islands in New Zealand at the time, negotiated the purchase of the remaining 15 years of the lease with the Whigmores, so with that contract we returned. For pa ariki, the Sheraton now had a place to call home, but the curse and the land dispute were about to appear at the front door. My friend Mori I think he knew he would die after Crystal Mike made the traditional costume and staff for his friend Mori to renew the curse his grandmother put on Waimanga you feel like this is my lap and someone else has stolen it so the May 25, 1990, the same day that the land was broken to build the Sheraton, Moriua renovated his grandmother's, I think he was bitter and full of anger, you can't feel it without him saying it, and he was talking to the wind that was pointing to the sky and spoke and stabbed the ground and spoke to this everything went downhill from there the original plan for the Sheraton was to have the hotel and the golf course around it with condos, it went wrong a couple of times the first time, If I remember correctly, it was that the contractor was breaching his obligations, the builder, although we didn't know it at the time, was stealing. peter to pay paul in terms of his construction contracts and went bankrupt soon after with very little to show for it other than a mound of par ariki's earth the italian construction company sisel spa went bankrupt before the foundations were laid, but not before lining their pockets the real problem is why our managers in Rarotonga allowed them to withdraw something like 20 million dollars before they went bankrupt, so when they left the scene the whole project was already in trouble this was embarrassing for everyone involved: the government of the cook islands, the Italian government and So, the Italian government said don't worry, we will lend you some more money, so with an additional loan of 20 million dollars from New Zealand, a second Italian construction company, Stephanie Spa, the construction itself began, many people will tell you that the mafia is involved. in the construction of this hotel and that is simply not correct, but it is certainly true that there is a mafia connection, mafia money laundering, the construction projects in other parts of the world were guaranteed by the same Italian government agency, they froze the entire portfolio worldwide, which resulted in the officials of the bank or insurance company guaranteeing the loan being blocked and then the funds ran out, the contract was not being paid, so they packed up and left pretty quickly, without was her fault, Stephanie Spa found herself out of funds with an unfinished hotel javetta thinks she knows who is to blame: corruption on the part of the Italian construction company seashell and stupidity on the part of the cook islands but they didn't just stay with the legacy of a lost hotel The Cook Islands government also had a crippling debt of $120 million with nothing to show for it, perhaps the curse was all well and good.

I mean, I think it's easy to say the place is

cursed

because look at that mess, but I know why it was a mess. It has nothing to do with the curse, it has to do with the chaos in the way we deal with this, you know, the government did not know what it was doing at that time to pa ariki, the owner and current tenant of the land , the evidence is obvious. Well, you know, you know they're saying damn, but that Mori family is already dead, so I'm still there, so let's get it over with, with the New Zealand government acting as mediator.

Javetta spent years negotiating with the Italian government to reduce the number of cooks. The island's debt has been reduced to just six million dollars, so what now happens to this monument to death, debt and decay? We are currently using Rario buggies and they also practice paintball and laser. At least we're using the land for now until we sort out the future plans for the property, you know, there's a vision of wanting to do something for it, you know, we want to put in things like a hotel, a nursing home, a golf course, a garden botanical or a place to walk in the back.

That kind of thing is my mission and on a small island where tourism is almost at full capacity, it's no wonder this land remains divisive. I couldn't care less what happens there. I don't like tourism. We have gone too far, you know, what we need is more agriculture and less construction, and with certainty, I think we should let the owners produce good food in the most natural way possible, why do we need tourism if it is not for our benefit? Why do we need it? Because right now it is not for our benefit, it is for the benefit of some companies.