Government of Mexico recognizes the spirituality of the people of deep Mexico. | INPI | National Institute of Indigenous Peoples | Government

INPI SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION 30/24

Isla del Rey, San Blas, Nayarit on July 26, 2024.

• The heart of the Justice Plan for the Wixárika, Náayeri, O’dam or Au’dam and Mexikan Peoples is the recognition of their sacred places: Adelfo Regino.

Recognizing the spirituality of the peoples of deep Mexico and complying with the agreements of the Justice Plan of the Wixárika, Náayeri, O’dam or Au’dam and Mexikan Peoples, the Presidential Commission, – in charge of coordination to protect, preserve and safeguard the sacred places and sites and the pilgrimage routes -, installed markers and signs with their respective indicative plaques for the delimitation of the Sacred Place “Tatei Haramara.”

With this, compliance is given to the Decree that recognizes, protects, preserves and safeguards the sacred places and sites and the pilgrimage routes of the Wixárika, Náayeri, O’dam or Au’dam and Mexikan indigenous peoples, signed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on August 9, 2023.

The Presidential Commission placed 7 concrete markers, each with a metal plaque that bears the name of the sacred site and the corresponding coordinate of the vertex that forms the polygon of the Sacred Place known as “Tatei Haramara” in the Wixárika and “Che’erimu” languages. ‘na” in the Naayeri language.

Two sacred sites called, in the Wixárika language, Takutsi Nakawe “the deity who began life” and Tatei Manawe “dwelling where the sun hides” are also located there. From this place life and ancestors emerged. Two white stones, Tatei Waxiewe and Tatei Kukawima, rise in the Pacific Ocean off King’s Island. According to the indigenous worldview, this is where the sun has to fight intensely, as it sets, to be reborn every day in Wirikuta, in the east, where the ancestors traveled.

Accompanying the Presidential Commission, in his capacity as technical secretary of the Commission, the general director of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), Adelfo Regino Montes, pointed out as a historical fact that the Government of Mexico recognizes spirituality, culture, rituals and, in a special way, the sacred places of indigenous peoples “our deepest essence, our most intimate truth, as the president has pointed out,” he asserted.

For this reason, he affirmed that the heart of the Justice Plan for the Wixárika, Náayeri, O’dam or Au’dam and Mexikan Peoples is the recognition of their sacred places; the relationship between the spiritual and the material (corn as the axis of the life of indigenous peoples).

He highlighted that, in the Constitutional Reform Initiative on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the President of Mexico sent to the Congress of the Union on February 5, the recognition of sacred places was incorporated. “We hope that by the month of August this Constitutional Reform will be ruled and in the month of September this Constitutional Reform will be approved,” he said.

In this sense, he invited community authorities to attend the National Assembly of Indigenous Peoples to be held on August 8 and 9 in Mexico City, within the framework of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, in order to strengthen route of recognition of the inalienable rights of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples.

Finally, he thanked all the traditional governors and public servants at the different levels of government for their commitment and sensitivity and for joining the important task of executing the Sacred Places Decree. He added that this important achievement is the result of collective work.

For their part, the traditional governors and representatives of the Wixárika, Náayeri, O’dam or Au’dam and Mexikan peoples expressed their agreement with the work of identification, demarcation and marking of the sacred place “Tatei Haramara”.

They expressed, on behalf of their communities, their joy and gratitude to the Government of Mexico and the Presidential Commission of Sacred Places for complying with the agreements of the Justice Plan.

Meanwhile, the president of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED), Claudia Olivia Morales Reza, pointed out that the first stage of the execution of the Sacred Places Decree is about to conclude, which consisted of the delimitation and marking of sacred places. which was accompanied by government institutions.

However, he said that now the commitment of the towns and communities begins; strengthen cultural identity, organize, maintain unity and dialogue to protect, preserve and safeguard their sacred places.

Finally, the alternate president of the Commission and commissioner for Dialogue with the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico, of the Ministry of the Interior, Josefina Bravo Rangel, alternate president of the Presidential Commission on Sacred Places, stated that the Presidential Commission has formed an authentic community between traditional authorities and government institutions.

He said that, although the public officials conclude their duties on September 30, the work will continue because this is established by the Decree on Sacred Places; Furthermore, because the virtual president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, has committed to continuing the justice plans.

They attended the work; the president of the Wixárika Union of Ceremonial Centers in Jalisco, Nayarit and Durango, Florencio López Carrillo; the general coordinator of the Wixarika Regional Council of Jalisco, Nayarit and Durango, Maurilio Ramírez Aguilar; the Commissioner of Communal Property of San Bernardino de Milpillas Chico, Feliciano Simental Cano; the governor of Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlán, Pablo Valenzuela Carillo as well as the mara’akame of the Sacred Places of the community of San Sebastian Teponahuaxtlán and its annex Tuxpan of the Municipalities of Mezquitic and Bolaños of the state of Jalisco, Ramón González Carillo, among others; as well as representatives of various government institutions that are part of the Presidential Commission of Sacred Places, the Government of the state of Nayarit and the local congress.