Weekly Report - 31 May 2012 (WR-12-21)

MEXICO | Mining concessions in indigenous holy land cancelled. On 24 May Mexico’s government announced that it had reached an agreement with Canadian mining firm, First Majestic Silver, to cancel 22 mining concessions awarded to the company in San Luis Potosí State. The concessions were located within a 140,000 hectare area known by the Huichol people of western Mexico as the Wirikuta. According to Huichol folklore, the Wirikuta is the place where the world was created, and so it is revered as one of their most sacred sites to which they conduct a pilgrimage every year. The Huichol people have demanded that the site, which was incorporated into the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco)’s global network of holy natural sites in 1998, be declared protected territory.

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