GUADALAJARA — As commissioner of public lands for the indigenous Wixárika territory of San Sebastian Teponahuaxtlán, Miguel Vázquez Torres was at the forefront of the legal fight to recover 10,000 hectares of indigenous ancestral lands from surrounding ranching communities. He was among those who repeatedly urged the federal and state governments to intervene to prevent violence in the increasingly tense region that had been the subject of land conflicts for more than a century and, more recently, an increasing presence on the part of the drug cartels.

“With their knives they ripped the tires of the truck owned by Benjamín Sandoval, a lawyer from Tepic who is supporting us; Cristian Chavez, our geographer, arrived, and they slashed two of his tires with knives, broke off a mirror, and tried to threaten him. They brought a rope with a noose and they put it through the window, so that I could put my head in (suggesting that I should be hanged).

Mezquitic, Jalisco, February 2020.-  A historic day was lived in the ceremonial center of Las Latas, municipality of Mezquitic, in the indigenous community of Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlán, where the ancestral culture has been preserved, where its girls and boys They communicate in the Wixárika language and women and men wear their colorful clothing on a daily basis. It is here that the wise elders are venerated, the territory is preserved with its sacred places and the universe is respected.

MEXICAN WATER, Ariz. —  For Navajo spiritual leader Steven Benally, saving a Native American religion from extinction means preserving those diminishing lands where hallucinogenic peyote grows wild. “It’s a small but important step toward realizing a prophecy,” said the 61-year-old. Preservation also means battling activists in the California Bay Area and other cities who want to legalize consumption of the psychedelic cactus. “To these outsiders, we say, ‘Leave peyote alone. Please,’” Benally said. “Is that too much to ask?”

We are pleased to announce the call for the third generation of scholarships 2020-2021 for Wixárika University students. This scholarship aims to help students with various university-related expenses such as school supplies and books, food, lodging or transportation. This year, the Wixárika Research Center, the International Friendship Club and VCEP will offer scholarships of $6,000 pesos for undergraduate students who have completed their first year of studies.