This comment was in the forum by fellow poster Corrocamino
When the indigenous people of the Caribbean had been almost entirely wiped out by European-introduced diseases and the vicissitudes of slavery on some islands (e.g., Puerto Rico), the Spanish obtained new slaves among the Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula. My kids had friends in California who were nominally Puerto Rican by origin, but they (and their mother) were the spitting images of Maya I saw in Guatemala, as judged by stature and visages. So, just a note about slave labor, eradication and translocation of people.
There is a misconception here. Tainos and Arawaks never went extinct. Profesor Martinez Cruzado proved already that the population of Puerto Rico is Amerindian descendent. So, the idea that the Indians went extinct in the Caribbean is a myth. They didn't extinct. They mixed.
This is obvious from the studies of Martinez-Cruzado, and also from literary sources of Colonial times, that shows that admixture was in very large scale. By the way, one of the reasons why the Tainos were "declared extincted" in the Caribbean was simply because that was the excuse needed for importing slaves. So, it was convenient for farmers of the region to declare the natives extincted. Which is not really what happened there.
For those who speak Spanish, this is the research of Martinez-Cruzado
Taino organizations of the Caribbean. Lot of info there http://www.indigenouspeople.net/taino.htm
Caribbeans with Indigenous phenotypes
Chayanne (Puerto Rican)
Puerto Rican Tainos
Dominican Republic Taino.
Surviving Arawak speaking peoples outside in the non-Hispanic Caribbean