Leaders of the indigenous Wixarika people and the Wirikuta Defense Front, the civil society coalition that is supporting them, came forward in a Mexico City press conference recently to give an accounting of how the money was spent – an example of innovation in the face of daunting challenges.

 No further concessions will be allowed until a judgment has been resolved regarding the concessions in the Wirikuta Nature Reserve.

This year, however, would be vastly different from years past. This year, the sacred lands of Wirikuta lay under the shadow of an uncertain future. Vast swaths of the protected, UNESCO-recognized reserve had been concessioned to Canadian mining companies, and hundreds of hectares had been bulldozed by agroindustrial companies. This year they were responding to a call that ran through all their communities, spread out through the Sierra Madre over four states: The candles of life were dying, and they would come together there to pray for their renewal.

Maude’s mission was a different one. She had come to see for herself what was at stake in Wirikuta, this most sacred of Huichol holy sites, currently slated for exploitation by Canadian mining companies.

Press Release
THE WIXARIKA REGIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENSE OF WIRIKUTA (CRW) AND THE FRONT IN DEFENSE OF WIRIKUTA (FDW) WELCOME A BIOSPHERE RESERVE DECREE WHICH RESPECTS AND PROTECTS OUR BIOCULTURAL HERITAGE, WHERE ANY MINING ACTIVITY IS PROHIBITED AND WHICH RECOGNIZES THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF OUR PEOPLE AND OUR BROTHERS THE FARMERS AND INHABITANTS OF WIRIKUTA.

They demand, “the establishment of a biosphere reserve that respects the biocultural rights of the Wixarika people and the campesinos that live within Wirikuta, prohibiting any mining exploration or exploitation in any form, in any stage, within the nuclear zone or buffer zones of wirikuta.  We also demand that the design and execution of a management plan be led by the Wixarika people and consultants of their free selection.” 

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Wirikuta is one of the most important ceremonial centers for the collection and ceremonial use of peyote, and the Wixarika have been the historical guardians of the sacred hallucinogenic cactus, which they say puts them in contact with their ancestors and the spirits of the land. “We are indebted to them in this holy ground because they have cared for the medicine and they brought it to the North.”

The Wixarika, more commonly known by their Spanish name, the Huicholes, hope to gain some insights in a historic “spiritual consultation” regarding the threats to their most sacred site, Wirikuta. The Huicholes have made their millenial pilgrimages to Wirikuta since the beginning of their history, and see it as their holiest altar of prayer, the place where they come to hunt their sacramental cactus, the peyote, and the place where the sun was born; but this protected reserve is the target of Canadian mining companies and agroindustrial businesses that see it as a resource to exploit.