Long before nations like Mexico, the United States, and Canada existed, my people, the Wixárika Nation (incorrectly known as Huichol), were the original inhabitants of this land.

Hundreds of Wixárika pilgrims traveled last week from their homes in the Western Sierra Madre mountains to Wirikuta, expressing their united determination to save this most sacred place. Wearing ceremonial dress and bearing gifts and offerings, they traversed the path of their ancestors to the place where the sun first rose, Wirikuta

Mexico has assigned a special commission to consider the protests of the Wixárika (Huichol) people against mining and other environmentally destructive projects within the Wirikuta Natural and Cultural Reserve, according to a letter Cul

More than 150 writers and artists from 30 different countries joined together to sign a petition against the First Majestic Silver mine proposedwithin the Wirikuta Natural and Cultural Reserve, reported the

On October 26 and 27, hundreds of Huichol people traveled 20 hours to the Mexican capital to demand, once more, that President Felipe Calderón cancel mining concessions in their sacred lands and fulfill his promises to the Huichol people.

The Wixárika Regional Council and its allies in the Front for the Defense of Wirikuta Tamatsima Waha'a are mobilizing public events and demonstrations in Mexico City this week. They urge everyone to join them, both locally and internationally, in calling for permanent protection for the Wirikuta Natural and Cultural Reserve. Read their call to action below, in English, and the original Spanish here on their website.

James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, recently published a report on his correspondence with the Mexican government regarding  mining concessions within Mexico’s Wirikuta Natural and Cultural Reserve, an area that is sacred to the Wixárika (Huichol) people.

Anaya presented the following facts to the State of Mexico:

United Nations Human Rights chief Navi Pillay reported recently on the state of human rights in Mexico, after a visit to the mostly Indigenous state of Oaxaca.

Wixárika delegates joined other Indigenous activists from Guatemala and
Honduras for a week of protests  against mining projects  in their
territories. The conference of the Mining Justice Alliance focused on
activities of Canadian mining companies Goldcorp and First Majestic Silver
Corporation which are operating in Indigenous Peoples' territories without
obtaining their free, prior and informed consent.

For more information, see:

Delegates from the Wixárika traditional authorities were in New York and Vancouver the third week of May, defending their right to protect their sacred lands from exploitation by a Canadian mining company.

Muchas gracias to everyone who sent letters to the Mexican Senate in response to our appeal at the end of March! Our campaign was a success! After receiving 2,748 international letters in a single week, the Senate approved a “point of agreement,” that:

Mexico’s Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) is mailing replies to people who wrote letters in response to a Global Response campaign urging Mexican authorities to withdraw mining permits in the Wirikuta Cultural and Natural Reserve.

The following article is cross-posted from Upside Down World:

 VICTORY!  This action is now closed. 

Thank you for your letters!

Dear members of the Cultural Survival team,

C. Policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries  

Former Cultural Survival board member Vicky Tauli-Corpuz was a key participant in last week's climate change meetings in Cancun as both a representative of the Philippine government and an Indigenous expert on the impact of the REDD program (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). (REDD is a UN program that pays countries and offers expertise to preserve their standing forests.