By Uziel Medina Mejorada. SPR Noticias. Mexican Press Agency.
On July 12, 2025, in Paris, during the 47th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, the sacred Wixárika Route was inscribed on the World Heritage List. This made history as the first nomination in this category for a living Indigenous tradition in Latin America—an achievement born from civil society’s determination in the face of voracious capital and governmental missteps.
The Wixárika Route stretches over 500 km across Nayarit (Tatei Jaramara), Jalisco (Tuapurie), Durango (Huaxa Manaka), Zacatecas (Cuyetsarie, Xurahue Muyaca, Cupuri Mutiú, Cacai Mutijé, Macuipa, Tatei Nihuetúcame), and San Luis Potosí (Huahuatsari, Cuhixu Uheni, Tatei Matiniere, Nihuetaritsié, Natsitacua, Uxa Tequipa, Tuy Mayau, Huacuri Quitenie, Huiricuta: Mucyuahue; Huiricuta: Raúnax; Huiricuta: Maxa Yaritsie). It is precisely the high plateau of San Luis Potosí, in the municipality of Catorce, that serves as the mecca of Wixárika pilgrimage—a site that holds the magic of the sun’s origin, but also the deep history of mining from the colonial period to the Porfirio Díaz era, as well as a mesmerizing landscape where exotic species resist extinction.
Catorce’s 1,944.9 km² hides stories of prosperity and decline, demographic contraction and hints of gentrification, wealth and inequality, heritage recognition and dispossession. Precariousness, limited access to development opportunities, and the distance between communities have provided fertile ground for abuse by those pursuing the doctrine of accumulation and extractivism—fueling social division between ejidatarios and comuneros, horticultural and poultry industries against local agricultural producers, and transnational mining companies against environmental defenders.
Since 1998, Wirikuta has been part of the World Network of Sacred Natural Sites, and since 2000 it has been designated a protected area. Nevertheless, throughout the 21st century, the region has been the subject of legal disputes between those seeking to profit from its resources and those fighting to preserve the integrity of the sacred site. Now, with its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Wirikuta enters a much broader framework for preserving cultural and natural assets—one that could bring integral development to the municipality if managed properly.
The UNESCO designation entails cooperation and assistance from national authorities and from the States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage to carry out the tasks of identifying, protecting, conserving, and revaluing the recognized universal heritage. This requires financial, scientific, administrative, and technical resources—starting with the capabilities of the State Party (Mexico) and followed by the international community.
Contrary to rumors, the designation does not mean abolishing the economic activities of Catorce’s residents—such as goat farming or small-scale corn and bean cultivation within communities. On the contrary, it brings opportunities to improve agricultural techniques through integrated ecology and circular economy systems. Established industries, like tomato cultivation and poultry farms, now have the chance to redesign their practices to reduce environmental impact without sacrificing investment or job creation—something that will require dialogue and openness to new forms of territorial management aligned with the Convention’s criteria.
One key aspect in this new context is tourism. Over the past three decades, Catorce has become a high-value tourist destination, both for San Luis Potosí and Mexico as a whole, attracting local and foreign visitors due to its cultural richness—particularly in Real de Catorce—and for the appeal of the Wixárika pilgrimage.
This generates important economic activity but also poses risks to regional balance. For instance, most of the economic benefits are concentrated in communities near Real de Catorce, leaving about half the population disconnected from the main economic driver. Tourism, which can reach up to 3,000 visitors per day, creates a heavy demand for essential resources such as water. Moreover, fascination with the pilgrimage attracts cultural extractivists, threatening the ritual through theft of offerings, misappropriation of cultural elements, and illegal peyote use by outsiders—also endangering species at risk of extinction.
With the Wixárika Route now recognized as World Heritage, Catorce has a unique opportunity to embrace an integral ecology approach that redefines care as a fundamental social value and as a policy for development—creating a political, educational, environmental, cultural, spiritual, and economic ecosystem focused on cooperation, solidarity, and local-global connection to overcome inequalities, preserve the environment, and promote social and individual growth.
Taking advantage of this new status requires restoring and reimagining the relationship between native residents, migrant populations, and tourists with the space that holds Wirikuta’s cultural, historical, spiritual, and natural wealth—understanding that nothing exists in isolation and that every element, from natural resources to human factors, must be protected rather than depleted.
This new reality demands an integrated social, economic, cultural, and ecological system—based on ecological interconnection that safeguards domestic and wild flora and fauna, which in turn boosts tourism appeal and supports climate and water cycle regulation; social interconnection that facilitates cultural exchange and communication, eradicating discrimination, plagiarism, and displacement; economic interconnection that modernizes supply chains and opens access to financial systems and new markets through sustainable resource management; technological interconnection centered on medium-scale industry, innovation, and conservation; and natural interconnection in which human activity is responsible and environmentally conscious.
This network of connections can foster strong ties among Indigenous pilgrims, ejidatarios, comuneros, entrepreneurs, small producers, students, and households in a climate of co-creation built on civic participation.
How can new economic chains be created through conservation? The natural environment already offers abundant resources without overexploitation, but much of this wealth is wasted. Flora is currently threatened by the paxcle pest, risking the weakening or loss of plants like mesquite. A conservation-based economic model could focus on controlling moss infestations, caring for mesquite, palm, and viznaga, and responsibly using nopal, maguey, and lechuguilla—producing, at a medium scale, foods, beverages, compost, animal feed, fibers, and other goods that can be integrated into the region’s tourism economy while also reaching national and international markets. Ecosystem conservation could also give other communities opportunities to establish ecotourism projects.
In Wirikuta, the sun is reborn. The tracks of the blue deer lead to a new horizon for community development—one that is grounded in the earth and in harmony with every element of nature. The question is: can we show the world that another way of coexisting is possible?
Related: The Mexican Chat-GPT: A Step Toward Technological Sovereignty or Just More Dependence?
Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
