Huichols harassed by police during Peyote Pilgrimage

[Teotzlcoatl]

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Huichols harassed by police during peyote pilgrimage, Wirikuta

February 22, 2010 a large group of Huichols, or Wixárika as they call themselves, were harassed by police while they were gathered at the sacred place they call Wirikuta, conducting an ancient ritual that, to them, ensures the well being of not only their own community but of the entire universe.

According to a bulletin released by the Asociación Jaliscense en Apoyo de Grupos Indígenas (AJAGI), the police treated the Wixárika gathering with disrespect - they broke up the ceremony with rifles, handled sacred objects and offerings, crossed a ceremonial line that shouldn’t be crossed, accused a mara'kame (shaman) for cocaine use, and showed various other types of abusive behavior.

The police counted the number of peyote buttons collected by the pilgrims and accused them for being in violation of the law. In 2004 a maximum “personal” quota of 100 peyote buttons was introduced, but the Wixárika pilgrims are collecting peyote for the entire community, not just individual use. The police also threatened that the Federal Agency for the Protection of the Environment would sanction and detain the pilgrims, arguing that the peyote had been cut with the root. Harvesting the root might not be the best of harvesting techniques but it has been the practice of the Wixárika for several thousand years.

Huichol woman holding large peyote, Wirikuta

Huichol woman holding large peyote, Wirikuta

The AJAGI bulletin more than indicates that the real conflict is not as much based on plant conservation issues as on the clash between the traditions and ceremonies of a millennia-old culture and the tireless insisting on “development” by modern society. Today the Huichols’ sacred pilgrimage route is threatened by mines, agro-industry, and manufacturing facilities along with the highways, roads, and electric infrastructure needed to supply these industries.

The Huichols are known to fight for their right to the peyote pilgrimage route. In February 2008 a group of 800 Huichols set up an encampment at a highway construction site and remained there for six months. Since then they have filed suit against the government, saying the highway project violates environmental laws as well as their spiritual rights and right to the land.

One can only hope that this intricate situation is going to be solved with respect for all involved parties.

References

AJAGI bulletin, February 25, 2010

Police harass Huicholes during pilgrimage, The Esperanza Project

The image above is courtesy of Nicola “Okin” Frioli

For reference, please find the full content of the AJAGI bulletin included below.

February 25, 2010

To National and International Civil Society

To the Press

To the National Indigenous Congress

At five pm on February 22, 2010, while a sizable Wixárika contingent from Tuapurie - Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlán, was in a location named Tanque Valentín, in the ejido (rural land concession) of Las Margaritas, municipality of Catorce in the state of San Luis Potosí, carrying out ceremonies that are part of their millenarian tradition in the sacred region of Wirikuta, four squad cars of state police arrived with an arrogant attitude and began to insult and treat the wixaritari as delinquents, interrupting their ceremony. The sacred circle was broken and Our Grandfather Fire was disrespected by breaking up the large Wixárika gathering with rifles.

The harassment continued until 8 pm and took place in a location where the three ceremonial centers of the community of Tuapurie, Las Latas, Pochotita and Tuapurie had gathered in a rare fashion (the latter had left for another sacred point in the desert of Wirikuta just a few hours prior). Each ceremonial center had brought a bus full of Wixárika pilgrims bringing together a large concentration of jicareros (votive bowl carriers).

The police manhandled the sacred offerings, the deer antlers, and crossed the ceremonial line that they should not have. They accused one mara'kame (shaman) of ingesting cocaine.

They proceeded to count the number of peyote buttons that the pilgrims had gathered, citing an accord signed by governmental agencies that regulates the pilgrimage to Wirikuta, in violation of the communities' traditions and forms of ceremonial operation, in that the pilgrims are representatives of the entire community and not just of one person or family.

At that moment, the police threatened to return and did so on Tuesday the 23rd at 2 am, arriving with video and photo cameras once again interrupting the ceremony, the chant of the mara'akame and the words of the sacred Ancestors.

On Tuesday, while the emissaries of the ceremonial centers left to place offerings at the sacred site of Leunar (in the Cerro Quemado), the police returned at 9 am and threatened that the PROFEPA (Federal Agency for the Protection of the Environment) would sanction and detain the pilgrims, arguing that the peyote had been cut with the root; a practice that has occurred for the past 3 thousand years.

This aggression in itself is an attack against the Wixárika people, and particularly for those from Tuapurie since the assault was against all three ceremonial centers of this community, that are in charge of the wellbeing not just of their territory but of the entire universe.

The harassment occurred just a few hours after personnel from the Commission for the Development of Indigenous People (CDI for its Spanish acronym) of the state of San Luis Potosí left the site of the ceremony.

It makes no sense that the PROFEPA, as a branch of the SEMARNAT (Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources), harasses Tuapurie under environmental pretexts and norms which do not fall under the jurisdiction of the state police. This, while the extraction of peyote at the hands of drug traffickers is heightened and important regions of biodiversity are destroyed by multinational agro­industrial operations.

We cannot lose site of the fact that, since February of 2008, the community of Tuapurie has been resisting the imposition of the Bolaños­Huejuquilla paved road which has been stalled by strong mobilizations that have led the community to have diverse jurisdictional proceedings pertaining to environmental, penal and agrarian rights.

Among these is the injunction that stalled this mega project at a crucial moment after the Secretary of Urban Development (SEDEUR for its Spanish acronym) argued that it had 400 signatures from the community members in favor of the road construction. In the court injunction, the SEDEUR presented simple copies of said signatures on February 8, 2008 pointing out that the PROFEPA held the originals. The community proceeded to ask said agency to physically present the originals, the request was denied.

In reality these signatures did not exist since the assembly and supposed act of assembly were falsified. In the case that these signatures are presented, the signatures should be ruled false and if genuine it should be ruled that they were gathered by a government agency in an illegitimate manner. This situation unmasks the delinquent actions of both the federal and state level governments; furthermore this serious fraud was directly mediated by the CDI, the federal entity that proclaims to serve indigenous people.

The tension of the situation has only increased at the announcement by the state of Jalisco that the road would be completed before 2012 and by the decision by the general communal assembly of Tuapurie that the road will not be allowed to cross communal land, thus manifesting the same stance that they held when the tensions began in February 2008.

The Context of Wirikuta

Legal accords exist, based on biological, ecological, socio­economic and anthropological studies and the number of goats, cattle and horses owned by the regions ejidatarios (members of rural land concessions) counted in the sacred land of Wirikuta. These studies that have cost sizable amounts of public money, have led to the decree that rules the area an Ecological and Cultural Reserve which does not recognize the ancient relations between the desert and its inhabitants with the Wixárika people and their right to pilgrimage.

This is in direct violation of the International Labor Organization's Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples regarding psychotropic plants for ceremonial use, a supreme law in our country under the 2nd Article of the Mexican Constitution, and under the 9th Article of the State Constitution of San Luis Potosí.

All the laws of management under the Ecological and Cultural Reserve are based on the imposition of laws that pretend to regulate the ancestral Wixárika pilgrimage, a process that has continued alongside the imposition of neo­liberal political economic ordinances.

In June of 2004, the municipal headquarters of Estación Catorce, San Luis Potosí in the presence of the CDI, the state of San Luis Potosí's Secretary of Ecological and Environmental Management, the State Agency for Attention to Indigenous Peoples, the Commission for Indigenous Matters of the state's congress, and the State Attorney for Indigenous Matters of Jalisco established a maximum quota for personal extraction of 100 peyote buttons. It was also ruled that "security, municipal and state authorities must be notified of annual definitive extraction" and that an annual calendar of visits be elaborated. It is worth mentioning that that same year the assembly of Tuapurie rejected the aforementioned accords.

This is all done under the auspices of preventing the excessive extraction of peyote and to "protect the species" leading to the situation in which Tuapurie finds itself today.

On the other hand, there exists an unprecedented pressure for the installation of large tomato farms belonging to the wealthy landowners of Cedral, San Luis Potosí (close to the state's governor) who bought 400 hectares of land from the Ejido Estación Catorce, parceled by the Program for the Certification of Ejido Rights (PROCEDE) to 15 ejidatarios for the installation of tomato agro­industry, Clearing a region that measures 5 kilometers by 3 kilometers and that is located in an area of high endemic biodiversity with large quantities of peyote.

This company dug deep wells, drying them by square kilometers, they have also detonated explosives into the air to disperse clouds in the region and prevent rain to protect the tomatoes, affecting thousands of peyote buttons.

Is this the environmental protection that the PROFEPA refers to? Is it the state police's duty to protect the National Commission for the Protection of Natural Areas (CONANP for its Spanish acronym)?

The State Plan for Urban Development of San Luis Potosi (2000-2020) intends to build highways, roads, and electric infrastructure to supply manufacturing facilities, mines and agro­industry in every municipality located along the sacred pilgrimage route.

The situation is delicate and the Wixárika people need for the general civil society and human rights organizations to be vigilant of the developments relevant to this traditional pilgrimage, as well as to the harassment that has systematically occurred against Tuapurie since February of 2008.

CONSTITUCIÓN NO. 102, COL. CENTRO * TONALÁ, JALISCO * MÉXICO

TEL.: 0133 38 25 68 86 Y 0133 38 26 61 03

[ref1ect1ons]

I cannot consider these creatures to be living sentient beings, they cannot justify their existence and do not exist. These hollow beast have no respect for the sacred, only for the hollowness and powerless-ness which fills them.

[whisperz]

I cannot consider these creatures to be living sentient beings, they cannot justify their existence and do not exist. These hollow beast have no respect for the sacred, only for the hollowness and powerless-ness which fills them.

 

??

Too much weed, me thinks...

whisperz,...

[dworx]

I cannot consider these creatures to be living sentient beings, they cannot justify their existence and do not exist. These hollow beast have no respect for the sacred, only for the hollowness and powerless-ness which fills them.

Reference to the powers that be!!Politicians, Bankers, big business etc.

[Teotzlcoatl]

I'm not really sure what you mean?

[The Dude]

I must be constantly stoned then, because I totally get the reference and think ref1ect1ons comment to be totally appropriate and a good observation of the non-existence and meaningless-ness of these phantoms; they are not angels of light, merely a shadow.

I would also add, they do not exist except as shadows or reflections of our own misunderstandings, prejudices and fears. They, as police officers and politicians are the embodiment of this mistrust and misunderstanding, as human relations are mediated by the god-like authority of arbitrary laws rather than true human connection.

Their structures, ceremonies and myths celebrate nothing vital, merely dutifully re-enforce their own delusions of power, law and order as they attempt to understand and control that which is beyond them... being the ghosts that they are.

anybody seen DARK CITY? - those soul-less beings fucking our shit up to study us and try to categorise and understand this elusive soul they themselves lack.

[edit] was ref1ect1ons not dworx who's comment i refer to.

Edited March 7, 2010 by The Dude

[PD.]

anybody seen DARK CITY?

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm naked melissa george mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[whisperz]

I must be constantly stoned then, because I totally get the reference.

 

Maybe not constantly stoned, but probably the same weed...

whisperz,...

Edited March 4, 2010 by whisperz

[bℓσωηG]

evil,ghoulish entities tend to inhabit persons who wield power over others, as the evil feeds off their fear and suffering ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrqsKq2T3dE&feature=player_embedded

also this evil does not want people to wake up realize, so the people they possess (the elite) are used like puppets to influence the physical world ,creating more fear and suffering. They prohibit the use of certain plants and substances which may cause a consciousness revolution and are a threat to their reign of terror

[whisperz]

I'm glad I got off the weed years ago, sounds like it's now stronger than ever.

whisperz,...

[incognito]

maybee just maybee the best interest of the plant may have been in mind.

harvesting 1000's of lophs roots and all cant be

that ideal.

[whisperz]

Amen !!

[bℓσωηG]

the governments of the world do nothing but aid the destruction of the amazon rainforest, but they wants to save a cactus species yeah hummmkay

[ref1ect1ons]

I don't see why my post was hard to understand, I don't smoke weed, whisperz. Just think, a little. It was about the level of conciousness or lack of that gives rise to such behaviours that many ppl, ie. the police, engage in. Is everybody who says something 'abstract' a pot head?, what can be said about our greatest philosophers or even physicist if this was the case, which it isnt. Abstract or reflective thought is not a threat or something to fear, it is ok, everything is ok, sleep.

I agree with the dude and blowng 100%, these ppl are unusual in many ways, i feel so different that they are souless (tho as u said dude, they are just a shadow and a reflection of our own fear, i think they have a role by the way, in transforming conciousness). I will have to see dark city soon, sounds interesting.

Tho blowng, im not sure if these entities/ways of being or consciousness simply inhabit those who weild power, i personally think it has more to do with the fact that these ppl worship the material world because they can sense nothing within atm.

Ofcourse they care about cactus, they love every living thing, even indigenous peoples, not < to help you whisperz, end sarcasm.

Edited March 4, 2010 by ref1ect1ons

[bℓσωηG]

hahaha i was goin out on a limb there , its just my way of looking at things as a lot of things remain unseen...there are dimensions of which we are unaware ,where all sorts of non physical beings can traverse and i believe some get a kick out of inhabiting humans and causing mayhem ... these people (i mean the ones who make the rules) have very little compassion for others, they had no soul to start with , if they cannot keep the slaves in line then they lose money and control which they desperately seek...the cops are just slaves to the system also , but if everyone bows down and does what theyre told then the noose just gets tighter and tighter........ im all for non compliance....

[Teotzlcoatl]

Wha?

Edited March 5, 2010 by Teotzlcoatl

[bℓσωηG]

lol, ill shut up now ,i prolly sound a lil maybe these huichols need a donation of pereskiopsis to help them pump out some lophs to replace the ones they take hmmm... grant them license to do so at least

[Teotzlcoatl]

Yeah, I agree that they shouldn't be wild harvesting the plant... but they need to be able to legally grow it so that they don't need to wild harvest it!

[ref1ect1ons]

self-censorship. ah nice blowng

[lophophora]

Yeah, I agree that they shouldn't be wild harvesting the plant... but they need to be able to legally grow it so that they don't need to wild harvest it!

 

Harvesting peyote is part of the Huichols' millennia-old traditions and an integral part of their religion and doesn't affect the peyote populations in nearly the same way as urban, industrial and agricultural development (if their harvesting had any major effect, their thousand year old history of doing so would have depleted the populations long ago).

Maybe I'm just becoming a grumpy old man, but I find it good manners (and conducive to discussions) to quote your sources. The source (ad verbatim) of Teotzlcoatl's post can be found here (which happen to be my blog).

[bℓσωηG]

 

 

Maybe I'm just becoming a grumpy old man, but I find it good manners (and conducive to discussions) to quote your sources. The source (ad verbatim) of Teotzlcoatl's post can be found here (which happen to be my blog).

and what an awesome blog that is lophophora , i have been watching it for some time, hope things are thawing out now

[grantoss]

I think this is appalling... Blowng, Vivek I am hearing you guys and totally agree. I find it astounding that Big Brother Gov wants to poke its nose into an ancient traditional ceremony such as this. Police should not be within 100 miles of this kind of thing. At the same time there are no doubt people becoming victims of rape and murder, hell even genocide in the world and they somehow find themselves harassing the Huichols during a sacred ceremony in the desert while the entire Pachamama is raped and stripped bare. Very important work, I'm so glad they spend our tax payers dollars to protect us from these "Terrorists".

Regulating amounts of Peyote that a tribe are allowed to take, how about they tell the Peruvian Shamans how much Ayahuasca they are allowed to consume???. That will be the very start of it, think about the things that the gov regulates in our lives in western society..... The water we are allowed to use, and even trying to tax the air we breathe with ETS and so on. if The Huichols allow this to occur at all and recognise the "fictitious, imaginary" Authorities. It won't be long before it is banned outright or hindered in a big way.

Many people are still fast asleep whilst the Totalitarian Tip Toe creeps ever so slowly along but I really find it hard to believe that they are harassing these people now too.

I guess it is just my opinion and hope that noone is offended by what i say, but I am offended at the nerve of these Policy Enforcers (ie. Police)

All Police FORCES are privately owned corporations running for profit anyway and you can look this up on the financial websites such as Dunn and Bradstreet.

In Australia they try to hide it a little more but they are still all owned by Tenix defense contractors.

An interesting vid for anyone interested in a few things along the lines of what i am talking about could take a peak at this......

 

or for Aussies...

 

Enjoy or... Enjoy your Slumber.

Peace everyone.

[incognito]

the governments of the world do nothing but aid the destruction of the amazon rainforest, but they wants to save a cactus species yeah hummmkay

ur bang on there!

saddens me what is happening to the amazon as well as the sumatran forests, even closer to home being the tazzie forests.

[ref1ect1ons]

The fact that the police are privately owned militias limits their juristiction to other commercial entities called persons. I cant wait to get my bandwith back so I can see ur vids grantoss, very intriguing thanks.

[bℓσωηG]

The fact that the police are privately owned militias limits their juristiction to other commercial entities called persons. I cant wait to get my bandwith back so I can see ur vids grantoss, very intriguing thanks.

 

I just finished watching the youtube ''soveriegn australia '' of grantoss's and yes it was good , great to see some aussie truthers posting that which is applicable to us here in Oz and also good to see some wide awake folk here on this forum =)