Huichol peyote picking under threat

Huichol looking over the desert - photo by Tracy L. Barnett

The Huichol not only have to deal with threats to their sacred land by the Canadian-based mining company First Majestic Silver Corporation. According to the Guadalajara Reporter a recent presidential decree also outlaws harvesting of peyote in two protected areas in San Luis Potosi, partly prohibiting the ancient Huichol pilgrimages that revolve around peyote picking.

The full Guadalajara Reporter article reads:

Not only is their sacred land threatened by Canadian mining corporations, but the indigenous Huichol or Wixarika of Jalisco and Nayarit’s Sierra Madre must now also contend with the Mexican government undermining their peyote-infused religious rituals.

One of four Wixarika deities, peyote is considered a means of communicating with the gods, and for thousands of years the Wixarika have embarked on pilgrimages to pick the hallucinogenic cactus flower in the mountainous “Wirikuta” area of Real de Catorce in San Luis Potosi.

But a presidential decree issued on October 26 partly prohibited this ancient tradition by outlawing the harvest of fruit from two protected areas in San Luis Potosi.

At a press conference last week, the Regional Council for the Defense of Wirikuta, demanded that the government guarantee their right to pick peyote. The council also called for the cancellation of 79 mining concessions affecting their sacred land.

Since 2009, the Wixarika have been campaigning against mining concessions granted by the Mexican government to Canadian firms. The mining has a devastating impact on the local environment, critics say, with swaths of land destroyed and large quantities of cyanide used in the process.