November 17, 2011
Campaign Update - Mexico: Tourism Complex Threatens Another Huichol Sacred Site
Another area considered sacred by the Huichol people of Mexico has been licensed out in concessions by the government. According to the Secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), approximately 250 acres of beachfront property including the sacred area of Tatéi Haramara will be developed for tourism.
The area known as Playa del Rey, a beach in San Blas, Nayarit, since ancestral times has been a place for worship and prayer to the Huichol goddess of the sea, Tatéi Haramara. Isla del Rey, an island visible from the
beach, marks the place where the goddess first rose from the sea, the floor of her temple becoming the earth that covers the planet. Candelario Valadez, a member of the Huichol community, told Nayarit Enlinea, “The island is
worshipped by my people today as it was by my ancestors in their times,” he continued, “it was worshiped by my ancestors, my grandparents, my parents, as I worship it today.”

This concession is the second made on territory considered sacred by the Huichol Indigenous peoples of Mexico, despite agreements made by President Felipe Calderon to protect and promote the Huichol culture in the Hauxa Manaka pact of 2008.

See our action alert to save the sacred site of Wirikuta in the Real de Catorce mountains, and write a letter to President Calderon, here.

Read more information about this issue here. (Spanish only)

Country: 
Mexico
Issues: 
Lands, Resources, and Environments

Related Stories
Good News – Mexico Campaign: Federal Court Suspends Mining in Wirikuta March 2, 2012
Saving Wirikuta: My people’s struggle to protect a sacred place in Mexico February 14, 2012
Campaign Update – Mexico: Historic Pilgrimage to Save Wirikuta February 14, 2012
Campaign Update – Mexico: Mining Office Replies to Cultural Survival December 7, 2011
Campaign Update - Mexico: Writers and Artists Sign Petition to Protect Wirikuta December 5, 2011

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