5 takeaways from our investigation into the ‘ghost’ tribe that got millions in climate funding
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Juan Mancias chairs the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas as claimed hereditary chief, but Grist's investigation found the 1871 railroad report he cites as foundational lineage evidence cannot be located or authenticated, and historians called its existence "improbable" due to multiple anachronisms.
- The Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe raised more than $5 million for climate and environmental efforts since 2019 despite holding neither federal nor state recognition, transforming from a nonprofit that reported less than $50,000 in annual revenue into an international climate player after Mancias' 2017 French bank-divestment campaign.
- Tribe land purchases between 2022 and 2024 used philanthropic grants to buy four properties totaling nearly 23 acres in Cameron County, Texas, along a proposed pipeline route — a process that took months while federally recognized nations can wait decades to reacquire land, though the Cameron County parcels remain subject to property taxes.
- The Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe and its ally the Society of Native Nations hold accredited observer status at the U.N. Environment Assembly and UNESCO, with SNN's UNESCO status secured by highlighting its Carrizo/Comecrudo partnership, granting access to draft resolutions and government delegations — including U.S. Justice Department and Health and Human Services officials — typically reserved for federally recognized tribal nations.
- Frankie Orona, executive director of the Society of Native Nations, co-chairs the U.N. Environment Programme's Indigenous Peoples Major Group — the body whose internal guidance says would handle legitimacy complaints about SNN itself — and UNEP told Grist it has no procedure for addressing that conflict of interest.
Why it matters: Recognized tribal nations can wait decades to reacquire land, while the unverified Carrizo/Comecrudo purchased 23 acres in Cameron County within months using philanthropic grants — and gained access to U.S. Justice Department and HHS officials through U.N. channels overseen by a group whose own leader would adjudicate legitimacy complaints against himself.
Ask SkimNews
