Wirikuta News

Displaying 19 - 30 of 30

Wixarika leader Santos de la Cruz consults with Ruben Albarran of Café Tacvba in a May 2012 press conference right before Wirikuta Fest. Photo ©Tracy Barnett

Behind the Scenes: What Wirikuta Fest fans bought with their tickets

Tracy Barnett

| April 2014

It was a long time coming – but it was worth the wait. Nearly two years ago, more than a dozen of Mexico’s biggest performing artists came together in a mega-event aimed at saving Wirikuta, one of the country’s most sacred sites, from devastation at the hands of Canadian gold and silver mining operations. It was a triumphant moment for the indigenous Wixarika people and for indigenous movements in general when, as the daylong festival came to a close, they were invited to come up on stage. A massive screen flashed images of traditional Wixarika beadwork behind them as 60,000 fans chanted, in unison, “Wirikuta no se vende! Wirikuta se defende!” (Wirikuta is not for sale! Wirikuta will be defended!)

Good News--Mexico Mining Concessions Suspended in Wirikuta

| September 2013

In a major victory, the judicial power of San Luis Potosí, Mexico has suspended mining concessions in the territory of Wirikuta, sacred to the Wixarika (Huichol) people. All of the mining projects proposed by the Universo and Maroma companies, which total 40 different concessions, have been suspended in their entirety. This adds to the 38 other concessions owned by mining project La Luz which were suspended in February of 2012.

Wirikuta: Defense of the Ancestral Land of an Indigenous People

Frente en Defensa de Wirikuta Tamatsima Wahaa

| January 2013

El presente documento hace pública la opinión de los miembros de la Mesa Técnica Ambiental del Frente en Defensa de Wirikuta Tamatsima Wahaa y de un grupo de cientificos e investigadores asesores con gran trayectoria nacional e internacional, respecto a la posibilidad de que el lugar sagrado de Wirikuta sea declarada una Reserva Biósfera,publicado por el gobierno federal mexicano a través de la Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP),

Birth of the Sun - Yarn painting by Guadalupe González Ríos 1973

Message from the Gods: Unite to Defend the Birthplace of the Sun - Part III

Tracy Barnett

| December 2012

They came by the hundreds from the Western Sierra Madre, native Wixarika or Huichol people on a spiritual quest, seeking to consult with the spirits of their ancestors and of the land where their world began. They came in their ceremonial dress, colorfully embroidered with their sacred symbols of the deer, the eagle and the peyote. They came with offerings they had fashioned from beads and gourds and candle wax, offerings they had made precious with their love and their prayers, as their forebears had done for centuries.

Canada meets Wirikuta: Canadian Author Visits Birthplace of the Sun

Tracy Barnett

| November 2012

"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. Her goal was to connect with the people being affected by these mining proposals and see what, if anything, the social action groups she leads can do to help. She had come to Mexico to participate in the Permanent People’s Tribunal regarding the devastating effects of mega-hydroelectric projects throughout the region. And she wanted to investigate first-hand some of the impacts of Canadian mining companies in Mexico. “We Canadians feel embarrassed and ashamed of what is being done in our names,” she had said on the winding cobblestone road to this place. She had just paid a visit to the sad vestiges of Cerro de San Pedro, the colonial mountain town whose fate the defenders of Wirikuta hope to avoid.

Wixarika Respond to Government Proposal For Biosphere Reserve in Wirikuta

John Ahni Schertow

| November 2012

Wixarika leaders are welcoming a new government proposal to declare a Biosphere Reserve in Wirikuta. However, they warn of inconsistencies and dangerous propaganda that is being instigated by First Majestic Silver, the Canadian mining company that wants to gut the Sacred Territory of the Wixárika (Huichol) people. Once again they demand to be included in the process as the government prepares to issue a final decree.

Yauxali and his son walk in Wirikuta - Photograph ©Juan Negrín 1978-2018

Campaign Update–Mexico: Proposed Biosphere Could Protect Wirikuta

| November 2012

The federal government of Mexico has proposed the creation of a Biosphere Reserve in the area of Wirikuta, sacred site to the Wixarika (Huichol) people and the battle ground for a silver mine first proposed by Canadian company First Majestic Silver, and others. The biosphere reserve would cover 191,000 hectares, according to Mexico’s National Commission on Natural Protected Areas. On November 8th, the Consejo Regional Wixarica and the Frente en Defense de Wirikuta anncouned their decision. Wixarika leaders will welcome the government proposal to declare a Biosphere Reserve in Wirikuta, but warn of inconsistencies and dangerous propaganda instigated by the mining company among the local population. Once again they demand to be included in the process as the government prepares to issue a final decree.

Huichol ‘Cosmic Portal’ Peyote Ceremonies Threatened by Silver Mine

William Booth

| February 2012

For the Huichol Indians, the desert mountains here are sacred, a cosmic portal with major mojo, where shamans collect the peyote that fuels the waking dreams that hold the universe together. For a Canadian mining company, these same hills look like a billion dollars worth of buried silver.

Wixarika delegation organizers say: "Save Wirikuta: The Sacred Heart of Mexico" [Gabriela Delgadillo/Al Jazeera]

Battle for 'birthplace of the sun' in Mexico

Tracy Barnett

| October 2011

The context seems like a movie script, but it's deadly serious to the Wixarika, whose core cultural practice for more than a thousand years has consisted of regular pilgrimages to Wirikuta, the birthplace of the sun: a magical desert where the balance of life on Earth is maintained through a sacred cactus that carries the wisdom of a blue deer.

What is Wirikuta?

Florencia Podesta

| January 2011

Wirikuta is one of the most important natural sacred sites of the Wixárika (Huichol) indigenous people and the world. The Wixárika people live in the states of Jalisco, Nayarit and Durango and are recognized for having preserved their spiritual identity. They have continued to practice their cultural and religious traditions for thousands of years. Wirikuta is the birthplace of the sun and the territory where the different Wixárika communities make their pilgrimage, recreating the route taken by their spiritual ancestors to sustain the essence of life on this planet. In this desert springs the peyote or jicuri, the cactus that the Wixárika ritually ingest to receive the “gift of seeing”.

Maude Barlow atop Cerro Quemado with Santos de la Cruz 2010

Bad Neighbours: Canadian Mining companies in Latin America

Lisa North

| December 2010

Last Year Alone, at least five opponents of Canadian mining projects were assassinated in Latin America: three in El Salvador, one in Guatemala, and one in Mexico. Critics of mining operations there and elsewhere were wounded and maimed in attacks while many, along with their family members, were threatened.

Comunidad Wixarika sale en defensa de sus sitios sagrados

Héctor Escamilla Ramírez

Integrantes de pueblos wixaritari señalaron que están a la espera de la sentencia final del juicio de amparo que desde 2010 mantienen para la protección de Wirikuta en el estado de San Luis Potosí, un sitio sagrado y parte fundamental de su cosmovisión. Esta mañana sesionó el Consejo General Wixárika donde señalan que seguirán con la defensa de este territorio, que es amenazado por intereses de empresas mineras. “Exigimos que se dé atención prioritaria al asunto legal y se exige que la decisión del juez sea acorde al marco jurídico internacional en materia de derechos fundamentales de los p

Displaying 11 - 20 of 29

Mexican human rights and Wixárika delegates observe the passing of egg cargo from the new industrial plants. Photography by Author, 2022.

Why Land and Ecology Matter for Global Psychedelics

Diana Negrín da Silva, PhD

| February 2024

The 18th through the 20th centuries easily mark one of the most significant periods in human and environmental history, as Western European imperial expansion and settler colonialism incentivized the study and the incorporation of the botanical wonders found in what often came to be labeled as ‘the tropics.’

Wixárika People on their pilgrimage to Cerro Quemado sacred mountain in Wirikuta. Photograph ©Nicola Zolin 2024

Asesinatos, sequía y peyote: la lucha mortal por el agua en México

The Guardian

| January 2024

Cada año, miembros del pueblo Wixárika hacen el peregrinaje de 800km desde San Andrés Cohamiata en la Sierra de Jalisco hasta el desierto semi-árido de San Luis Potosí. Su destino es Wirikuta, un lugar sagrado donde, según sus creencias, el mundo fue creado de una gota de agua.

Frank Dayish (wearing black cowboy hat), who grew up on the Navajo reservation, leads one of the Peyote Way of Life Coalition’s meetings in Window Rock, Arizona. Photograph ©Sharon Chischilly/The Guardian

Peyote is the darling of the psychedelics renaissance. Indigenous users say it co-opts ‘a sacred way of life’

Annette McGivney

| December 2023

In recent years, progressive politicians, doctors, community groups and Silicon Valley investors alike have thrown their weight behind decriminalization bills in dozens of US states and cities. Their goal to spread the benefits of psychedelics may be well-intentioned, but for Indigenous Americans, the boom has a dark side that rarely comes up in venture capital pitches. Many Diné tribal members are describing this moment as a “peyote crisis” that threatens to appropriate and commodify their sacred way of life.Their concerns are multifold. Decriminalizing peyote could fuel poaching and a black market for the slow-growing cactus, whose limited habitat is already threatened by climate change and development. A sudden surge in demand might completely wipe out peyote from its natural environment, traditional practitioners say.

Hikuri in Demand: A Living Being in Subordination and Tensions

Jade Ramírez, Adrían Cuevas, Bianca América Enríquez and Pajarito

| August 2023

En medio del conflicto de potencias, de las humanas contra las naturales y espirituales entre pueblos originarios y mestizos sobre el uso de una cactácea con componentes psicoactivos, se abre un marco propicio para desfavorecer a la planta convertida en droga.

Gerardo Ruiz Smith speaking to those who attended the training in Wirikuta.

Planting Agroecology in the Sacred Desert of Wirikuta

Diana Negrín

| January 2022

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

Diana Negrín

| September 2021

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.

Wixarika territory, courtesy of Taller de Operaciones Ambientales.

"It is loved and it is defended": Critical Solidarity Across Race and Space

Diana Negrín da Silva

| August 2018

Abstract: Since 2010, the Wixarika (Huichol) indigenous people of western Mexico have struggled against transnational mining activity in their sacred pilgrimage site of Wirikuta in the semi-desertic plateaus of San Luis Potosi. This struggle has been accompanied by a multitude of non-indigenous and largely urban actors who have joined the Wixarika, bringing with them their own cultural, political and geographic registers for understanding and mobilizing against mining in the region.

Wirikuta News

Behind the Scenes: What Wirikuta Fest fans bought with their tickets

Good News--Mexico Mining Concessions Suspended in Wirikuta

Wirikuta: Defense of the Ancestral Land of an Indigenous People

Message from the Gods: Unite to Defend the Birthplace of the Sun - Part III

Canada meets Wirikuta: Canadian Author Visits Birthplace of the Sun

Wixarika Respond to Government Proposal For Biosphere Reserve in Wirikuta

Campaign Update–Mexico: Proposed Biosphere Could Protect Wirikuta

Huichol ‘Cosmic Portal’ Peyote Ceremonies Threatened by Silver Mine

Battle for 'birthplace of the sun' in Mexico

What is Wirikuta?

Bad Neighbours: Canadian Mining companies in Latin America

Comunidad Wixarika sale en defensa de sus sitios sagrados

Why Land and Ecology Matter for Global Psychedelics

Asesinatos, sequía y peyote: la lucha mortal por el agua en México

Peyote is the darling of the psychedelics renaissance. Indigenous users say it co-opts ‘a sacred way of life’

Hikuri in Demand: A Living Being in Subordination and Tensions

Planting Agroecology in the Sacred Desert of Wirikuta

Water and Power in Wirikuta

"It is loved and it is defended": Critical Solidarity Across Race and Space

Behind the Scenes: What Wirikuta Fest fans bought with their tickets

Good News--Mexico Mining Concessions Suspended in Wirikuta

Wirikuta: Defense of the Ancestral Land of an Indigenous People

Recent Articles

Support Our Work

Contact Information

From Our Archive

"We are committed to the defense of the sacred lands and natural resources of the Wixárika people"

Wirikuta News

Signup for Our Newsletter