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Foto Archivo El Occidental

CEDHJ warn about a group of men, looking for comuneros from Cuexcomatitlán

The State Commission on Human Rights of Jalisco (CEDHJ) warned of problems of insecurity in the indigenous community of Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlán, belonging to the municipality of Mezquitic, whose commissioner and three policemen were arrested for the enforced disappearance of the PRI pre-candidate. The community is now supposed to be guarded by state police, but residents accuse that it is null and void and instead in recent days detected the presence of a group of strange men who, list in hand, are looking for comuneros from the area.
Pine forests in San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán. Image courtesy of Agustín Castillo.

Forest enterprise in Mexico attempts to present opportunities for Indigenous communities

The Sierra Madre Occidental in northwestern Mexico boasts vast forests that are home to Indigenous communities such as the Wixárika people (or Huichols). Across the largest forest reserves in Jalisco, just three communities are spread across an area of more than 400,000 hectares (988,421 acres), equivalent to one-fifth the size of El Salvador. But this natural wealth is not reflected in the residents’ living conditions. Now, several stakeholders are coming together to help change this narrative.
Wixárika Invitation Inspires 'Mirror Altars' Around the World

Wixárika Invitation Inspires 'Mirror Altars' Around the World

It is that time of year again, when, since time immemorial, the Wixárika people are preparing their offerings. The candles of life, the chaquira gourd bowls, the God’s eyes, the prayer arrows. They are beginning to retrace the arduous journey of their ancestors, carried out every year in sacred reciprocity for the gift of life. 
Gerardo Ruiz Smith speaking to those who attended the training in Wirikuta.

Planting Agroecology in the Sacred Desert of Wirikuta

On the morning of July 31, 2021, a group of 40 people assembled in the hamlet of Las Margaritas in the sacred land of Wirikuta, in the high plateaus of the Chihuahuan Desert of north-central Mexico. Local farmers in cowboy hats and baseball caps gathered alongside young indigenous Wixárika women and men who had come from their communities in the western states of Jalisco and Nayarit. There were also a dozen non-local and foreign attendees who happened to be in Margaritas or who had put down roots and established homes and working relations in the region.
Wirikuta - Fotografía ©Juaquin Urrutia 2021

Water and Power in Wirikuta

When it rains in the high plateaus of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, the dampened earth releases a scent that showcases its unique biodiversity. During the rainy season, greasewood bushes, mesquites, yucca and a wide variety of cacti flower and give their fruits, while the locals plant their cornfields that grow according to the nourishment they receive from the seasonal rainfall.
Photograph ©Juan Negrín 1980-2022

Psychedelics, the War on Drugs, and Violence in Latin America

On September 22, 2021, six young Wixarika men between the ages of 16 and 32 were “disappeared” from a road that runs along the sinuous border between the western Mexican states of Jalisco and Zacatecas. Relatives and friends confirm that the young men had gone to carry out a traditional deer hunt. Within days, four of the six bodies were found bearing the marks of torture that are all too common in a country that acts as a hub for organized crime serving its northern neighbor’s notorious appetite for drugs.
Xóchitl Xitlalic Chanes Aguilar ~ Scholarship recipient 2019 - 2020

Xóchitl Xitlalic Chanes Aguilar ~ Scholarship Beneficiary 2019-2020

     Hello, my name is Xóchitl Xitlalic Chanes Aguilar, a student of the Autonomous University of Nayarit, and a native of the Indigenous community of Rosa Morada, Nayarit. In my experience, I think it is important to support Indigenous youth who are low income because sadly we are the most vulnerable population but also one that has the most desire to move ahead.

Bianca America, estudiante del ciclo 2019 - 2020

Reflexions of Bianca América ~ Scholarship Beneficiary 2019-2020

My name is Bianca América Enríquez López, I am from Bajío del Tule, which is part of the community of San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlan, in the state of Jalisco. I am a proud Indigenous Wixárika woman, and three years ago I moved to Guadalajara in search of new opportunities and to study law (Bianca América (Tanima) Enríquez López is a 2020 law graduate from the Universidad Enrique Rebsamen).
Isaías Navarrete Chino con alumnos de pueblo originarios de Norteamérica, 2019

The Wixarika Nation: A Vision Toward the Future

With the right that freedom of expression gives me and the communal statute as a member has given me, I give myself the opportunity to write a personal opinion about the future of the Indigenous Community of San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán and its Annex of Tuxpán, the community that has given me a space in which to live, where to develop myself and that in gratitude I would like to express my sentiments for the space and for Our Mother Earth, Ta Tei Yurienaka.

San Sebastián's Historic Vote ~ Foto Wixárika.mx

Wixárika community takes back financial autonomy in historic vote

After four years of struggle, the Wixárika community of San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán in Mezquitic, Jalisco, will directly receive federal resources to manage amongst themselves without the intervention of local officials or political parties. And they will do so with women at the table under an agreement of gender parity, a rarity among Indigenous governments and, indeed, governments in general.