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:
Every year, the Wixarika (Huichol) indigenous people of central west México walk 500 km to the sacred land of Wirikuta, where according to legend, the sun was born. Here, they collect jíkuri (peyote), carry out rituals of purification and come into communion with their gods, who give them blessings and guidance. In this way, they conserve their culture, maintain harmony with nature, and uphold a thousand-year-old tradition.
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.
MEXICO- Brena Norrell interviews Huichol (Wixárika) Indigenous activist Jesús Lara, of San Sebastian, Jalisco, Mexico during the Cancun Climate Summit on December 6th, 2010.
"Huicholes are fighting silver mining in a sacred area, where they offer prayers for the balance of the world. English and Spanish translations. Censored News at the Cancun Climate Summit."
Listen here:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell/2010/12/06/huicholes-fight-mining-sacred-land
Ensure the full recognition of our rights in a Cancun climate decision
On October 1, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a ruling that the Mexican government had violated the human rights of two Indigenous Me'phaa women who were raped by members of the armed forces in 2002. The violations also include giving impunity for those responsible for the abuses as well the harassment of the people who have supported the women in their search for justice.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
