The inscription of the Wixárika Route on the UNESCO list recognizes a historic struggle.

▲ The proposal presented by the Mexican delegation was unanimously approved. Photo courtesy of the Wixárika Route

Angel Vargas

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, July 13, 2025, p. 2

In an event that various sectors and groups in Mexican society considered an act of justice , the Wixárika Route along the sacred paths to Wirikuta, Tatehuarí Huajuyé, was inscribed yesterday on the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List.

The resolution was adopted during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee, which is being held at the international organization's headquarters in Paris, France, from July 6 to 16.

This marks a milestone for Mexico in terms of justice for indigenous peoples and the recognition of traditional practices that protect the planet , UNESCO said in a statement.

The proposal presented by the Mexican delegation was approved unanimously and without amendment by the member states of that international organization.

However, the committee noted that the International Council on Sites and Monuments (ICOMOS) has identified threats to the sacred route, including unregulated spiritual tourism, overexploitation of peyote, and mining concessions , and recommended increased monitoring, education, and enforcement .

As reported yesterday in these pages, the aforementioned proposal emphasized that the sacred Tatehuarí Huajuyé (The Path of Our Grandfather Fire, in the Wixárika language) route is one of the most representative pre-Columbian routes still in use in the Americas.

It was also explained that this is an exceptional testament to the persistence of the Wixárika people's cultural traditions and an exceptional example of the interrelationship between culture and the natural environment in the spiritual practices of this indigenous people.

Shortly after the inscription was approved, a representative of the Wixárika people addressed the plenary session of the UNESCO assembly in their own language to thank the World Heritage Committee and the Mexican State for protecting our territories, sacred sites and ancestral routes .

Amid applause, he emphasized in his brief speech, translated into Spanish by another member of that culture and then into English by an interpreter: After years of fighting for the recognition of our sacred sites, where the essences of life and our ancestors reside, we fulfilled a mandate of the Wixárika Regional Council and the Xapawiyemeta Civil Association .

From the Mexican delegation, historian Francisco Vidargas, head of the Heritage Directorate of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), also expressed his gratitude on behalf of the communities of that indigenous people, the government of Mexico, the entities of the Republic and involved instances, for protecting the Wixárika world: its landscapes, trees, rocks, deer, eagles and sacred sites, as an act of redemption for the peoples of the world .

He explained that the Wixaritari, on their annual pilgrimage to the ceremonial center of Wirikuta, travel more than 500 kilometers from the sea to central Mexico to reconnect with the gods, transcend the feminine, the contradictory, the past, the present, and current problems.

Wirikuta is a colossal sacred land, where the gods performed their creative feats at the dawn of time. There, there is no rock, spring, cave, or hill that is not linked to a mythical or ritual event. Everything acquires meaning. Everything demands a higher nature.

Vidargas also highlighted that, after seven years, Mexico has added a new asset to the World Heritage List, a process that took three decades to prepare .

During the presentation of Mexico's candidacy to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the session chair explained that the Wirárika people's route to the ceremonial center of Wirikuta encompasses a cultural journey comprised of 20 sacred sites or spaces spanning more than 500 kilometers, through the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, and Durango, covering an area of more than 135,000 hectares.

This route represents the living spiritual and ritual tradition of the Wixárika indigenous people, centered on the pilgrimage to Wirikuta, a desert landscape considered the place of creation and the birth of the Sun , he indicated.

The designated route is not a linear path, but rather a network of pilgrimage trails that traverse sacred sites, sanctuaries, ceremonial centers, and ecological landmarks of symbolic value. The pilgrimage takes place annually, renewing the Wixárika worldview and strengthening traditional knowledge, community ties, and environmental stewardship.

Its 20 components or sacred sites, he added, include sacred mountains, wetlands, rock formations, springs and ritual landscapes.

Testimony of a living tradition

In the analysis of the proposal, it was considered that the aforementioned route is an exceptional testimony of the living cultural traditions of the Wixárika people and represents one of the most enduring spiritual traditions of Mesoamerica .

It was also recognized that "it manifests a living spiritual worldview based on reciprocity, which reinforces cultural identity, maintains agrobiodiversity, and ensures the success of the traditional agricultural cycle known as 'milpa.'"

Peyote, the golden eagle, the deer, and corn are sacred beings honored during the pilgrimage. The landscape and its attributes form a cohesive spiritual map, actively used by ceremonial leaders and families.

During the assessment, it was also taken into account that the aforementioned Wixárika pilgrimage is practiced annually with broad community consensus. All components are essential to the ritual cycle. However, there are vulnerabilities, such as mining pressures and access restrictions due to private property, that can affect full ritual use .

Likewise, it was considered that this cultural asset has national legal protection, including the Federal Decree on Sacred Sites (2023), reforms to the Mining Law and the Mexican Constitution.

These frameworks protect sacred landscapes, Indigenous rights, and cultural continuity. They also enshrine constitutional recognition of Indigenous territories and spiritual practices. The management system is coordinated by the Wixárika Council in collaboration with state and federal agencies.

Finally, it was mentioned that the Comprehensive Management Plan (2024-2030) includes mechanisms for free, prior and informed consent, community governance, and inter-institutional cooperation.

With this inscription on the UNESCO list, the Wixárika people crown a tenacious and complex struggle of nearly 30 years in defense of their territories and sacred and ritual practices.

▲ Regional councils and local authorities welcomed the news. Photo courtesy of the Wixárika Route

Juan Carlos G. Partida, Vicente Juárez and Alfredo Valadez

Correspondents

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, July 13, 2025, p. 3

Santos de la Cruz Carrillo, who attended the session of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) in Paris as a representative of the Wixaritari communities during the assembly in which the inscription of the Wixárika Route on the World Heritage List was approved, said in an interview with La Jornada that after 27 years of seeking this recognition, the federal and state governments will now have to live up to the designation.

The route covers the four cardinal points, centered on Wirikuta in San Luis Potosí, considered the place of origin of the world in Wixárika cosmogony. Other sacred sites are located in Haramara (San Blas, Nayarit); Te'akata (Santa Catarina, Jalisco); Xapawiyeme (Lake Chapala, Jalisco); and Hauxamanaka (Cerro Gordo, Durango).

It's the ancestral route, just as our ancestors traveled it and along which we continue to make pilgrimages to this day. It extends throughout the mountains, passing through Zacatecas and reaching San Luis Potosí , he explained.

Santos de la Cruz said this historic achievement represents essential material protection for the flora, fauna, and all the elements that make up the sacred sites and their route, with the primary objective of ensuring they are free from threats, especially from mining.

The inscription was promoted by the Wixárika people and represents the fulfillment of one of the key demands of the Wixárika Regional Council: that Wirikuta be recognized under the Convention on Cultural and Natural Heritage , the indigenous leader said.

Other demands from the council include freeing Wirikuta from mining and elevating the region's protected natural area to federal status.

Long and persistent process

De la Cruz Carrillo stated that the process for this inscription was long and persistent, including the application that resulted in its inclusion on UNESCO's tentative list in 2004, which required the preparation of a detailed dossier on Wirikuta and the other sacred sites.

In this effort, the Mexico City-based civil association Conservación Humana provided significant support. Ultimately, the effort was carried out through the Mexican government delegation, with contributions from the National Institute of Anthropology and History , he added.

He stressed the need to consolidate guidelines based on the appointment, involving the federal and state governments, in addition to establishing a board of directors to ensure the effective protection of Wirikuta and the entire pilgrimage route.

Currently, the governing council of the Wirikuta State Ecological Reserve is made up of civil associations and does not include Wixárika authorities. Therefore, he stated, it is imperative that the communities be represented on the council to truly oversee and safeguard the sacred site.

De la Cruz, the Wixárika Regional Council delegate to the UNESCO session, expressed his deep satisfaction with the outcome and emphasized that it is an achievement attributable above all to the unity of the Wixárika people and their communities.

The Wixárika Regional Council of Jalisco reacted positively to the news; Óscar Ukeme Bautista Muñoz, general coordinator of the Waut+a-Kuruxi Manuwe Self-Determination and Autonomy Commission (San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán and Tuxpan de Bolaños), described it as a "historical and cultural recognition for all Wixárika people."

"It represents a recognition of the cultural and ancient greatness of our indigenous peoples of Jalisco, Durango, and Nayarit. It expresses that, above all economic interests (mining, agriculture, livestock), respect and care for Mother Earth come first, which is a source of great joy ," he told La Jornada.

The Wixárika Regional Council stated in a statement: May this global recognition serve to protect pilgrims harassed by insecurity as they travel along this sacred path, may deer hunters be respected and recognized, may all brothers and sisters who have disappeared on their pilgrimage be returned safe and sound, and may the sacred hikuri (peyote) plant be protected .

Angel Vargas

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, July 13, 2025, p. 3

The Mexican government, through the head of the federal Ministry of Culture (SC), Claudia Curiel de Icaza, celebrated the inscription of the Wixárika Route along the sacred paths to Wirikuta on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO).

This declaration is of the utmost importance for our country in these times of profound democratic transformation, where public policies are significantly focused on Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, the official stated.

This is the first time in Latin America that a cultural expression linked to a living and active indigenous tradition has received this international recognition.

Curiel issued a video message on his official X account shortly after the UNESCO World Heritage Committee assembly approved the inscription yesterday during its 47th session in Paris, France.

He highlighted that Mexico now has 36 World Heritage listings, confirming us as the first country in the Americas and seventh in the world with the largest number of UNESCO-recognized assets in this category .

As part of that message, the head of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Diego Prieto Hernández, emphasized that this is a recognition of the depth and significance of one of our most emblematic indigenous peoples: the Wixárika.

He mentioned that this indigenous nation and the Na'ayeri, O'dam, and Meshikan peoples share the same symbolic territory, whose main sacred sites were already recognized and protected through a historic decree promulgated on August 9, 2023, by then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

This is the distinction of a people who walk, sing, sow, dream, create and, in their way of understanding the world, know that this walk, this route that they recreate year after year from the west to the east (of the country), serves to ensure the survival of humanity , the anthropologist noted.

It is an ancient, yet living and active pilgrimage route that connects more than 20 sacred sites where the Wixaritari practice rituals to reaffirm their relationship of respect and reciprocity with the land, foster the well-being of the people, and ensure a successful agricultural cycle so that the milpa bears fruit and the corn continues to provide us with life.

For the head of the INAH, with this inscription, UNESCO recognizes this Wixárika tradition as an exceptional testament to Mexico's indigenous cultures, which have endured and persisted throughout the centuries and continue to form part of the country's rich multicultural fabric.

Today, this spiritual wisdom has been recognized as a legacy to humanity, something to be studied, valued, protected, respected, safeguarded, and disseminated as a commitment of the Mexican State to the international community.

He emphasized that such a declaration responds to a demand that the Wixárika people have maintained for decades to defend and protect their sacred sites, and which found echo and support in the Mexican government, which enacted the aforementioned decree for the protection of these sites.

And now, this demand is being heard and taken up by the international community, which represents an act of justice and a tool for the survival of this cultural expression in the face of threats from development, mining concessions, and the risks looming over hikuri (peyote), a sacred plant for the Wixaritari.

▲ Despite demands for government intervention, community leaders have been kidnapped and even murdered. Photo courtesy of the Wixárica Route

Juan Carlos G. Partida

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, July 13, 2025, p. 4

Guadalajara, Jalisco, The Wixaritari communities in Jalisco and neighboring states such as Nayarit, Durango, and Zacatecas face a complex web of problems marked by widespread insecurity, poverty, long-standing territorial conflicts that remain unresolved, threats to their sacred sites, and the struggle for recognition of their autonomy.

For at least two decades, Wixárika territory has become a strategic drug trafficking corridor, resulting in constant anxiety due to the presence of armed groups from the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels, who are vying for control of the area, creating illegal checkpoints, extortion, disappearances, murders, and threats against the indigenous population.

Communities have demanded intervention from federal authorities, including the installation of National Guard barracks, as well as increased surveillance by state police, given the widespread fear of traveling through the region. However, they have been consistently ignored, with reports that municipal and state authorities are aware of the presence of these criminal groups without taking effective action.

The 2017 murders of brothers Miguel and Agustín Vázquez Torres in Kuruxi Manuwe (Tuxpan de Bolaños), leaders committed to territorial defense, are a tragic example of this impunity. Despite the fact that those responsible have been identified, eight years later, no arrests have been made.

In addition, Wixaritari leaders such as Maurilio Ramírez Aguilar and Santos de la Cruz Carrillo have been deprived of their liberty. They were released after being beaten and threatened to keep silent.

Other cases include the disappearance of four Wixaritari in Tatei Kie (San Andrés Cohamiata), in September 2024, which led to the closure of the road and a sit-in demanding their appearance alive, which fortunately occurred.

Another line about the problems suffered in Wixárika territory is that of poverty.

In Mezquitic, Jalisco, the municipality with the largest concentration of Wixaritari communities in the country and the majority of the indigenous population, the situation of multidimensional poverty is alarming, with rates similar to those in the African countries of Ethiopia or Gambia. For decades, it has been the poorest municipality in Jalisco.

Another problem is the invasion of vast areas of their ancestral territory, despite having viceregal titles and court rulings in their favor.

Wuaut+a-Kuruxi Manuwe (San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán and Tuxpan de Bolaños) have claimed around 10,448 hectares in Huajimic, Nayarit, occupied by mestizo ranchers who until recently and after compensation, agreed to return them, after opposing the execution of sentences with blockades and death threats from the possessors.

The 2022 March for Wixárika Dignity toward Mexico City and the presidential commitment promoted the restitution. Recently, President Claudia Sheinbaum issued a decree to restore an additional 2,471 hectares for 158 million pesos, bringing the total restored to 5,946 hectares since 2016, representing 56.7 percent of the total claimed. 4,550 hectares remain to be returned.

Minas and Wirikuta

The sacred site of Wirikuta in San Luis Potosí, considered the origin of the universe in Wixárika cosmogony, remains under constant threat. Approximately 70 percent of the 140,000 hectares of the protected natural area are under concession to mining companies such as First Majestic Silver Corporation, Revolution Resources, and Minera Frisco (owned by Carlos Slim), despite injunctions obtained since 2012 that have temporarily halted activity.

They also face the plundering and illegal trade of hikuri (peyote), their sacred plant. Furthermore, Wirikuta suffers from pig and poultry farms that dump waste into the open air, polluting the environment.

In budgetary matters, only a long legal battle has allowed Wuaut+a-Kuruxi Manuwe to obtain favorable rulings from federal and state electoral courts (SG-JDC-35/2019 and JDC-005-2019) that allow them direct administration of municipal resources in the municipalities of Bolaños and Mezquitic, becoming the first community in Jalisco to obtain this right.

They estimate they are owed around 80 million pesos annually, but despite the rulings, municipalities like Mezquitic have refused to comply, citing legal loopholes and a lack of transparency.

This process eventually seeks the creation of a self-governing indigenous municipality, where elections are held according to customs and traditions, without political parties, as indicated will occur in 2027.

Furthermore, bicultural schools in Wixaritari communities face discrimination, disrespect for teacher appointments, late payments, and a lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity, water, and internet.

This has led to prolonged work stoppages and protests, demanding the attention of federal, state, and municipal authorities.

In the health sector, the lack of ambulances and adequate medical care in isolated regions has resulted in the deaths of children from preventable conditions, such as respiratory failure or scorpion stings. Communities have also unsuccessfully demanded the purchase and repair of emergency vehicles suitable for the region's terrain and the support of senior health officials to ensure the necessary medical personnel are available.

Armando G. Tejeda

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, July 13, 2025, p. 4

Madrid. More than 2,000 people gathered in Spain to condemn the incessant bombings and violence unleashed against the Palestinian people by the Israeli army and demand an end to the war. In up to 200 rallies in most of the country's cities, more than 300 people responded to the call of the Stop the War platform, which has so far drafted eight manifestos signed by more than 30,000 people from 125 countries, including prominent cultural figures such as Catalan singer-songwriter and poet Joan Manuel Serrat, Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez, and Spanish novelist Antonio Muñoz Molina.

The event in Madrid was held in the central Plaza de Callao, where representatives of the platform gathered alongside protesters to spread their message of stopping the war and once again call on citizens to unite to end the genocide in Palestine . During the event, attendees were seen carrying Palestinian flags and chants of " It's not a war, it's a genocide" were constantly heard.

At the 200 rallies held in city squares across the country, the same message was voiced, demanding an end to the war in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have been living through this hell for 20 months, one that is particularly cruel for children . At the same time, activists called for popular mobilization regardless of ideology or creed .