A Victory for the Wixárika
WORDS BY CHARLIE WOHLGEMUTH
Mexico announces a landmark step: The return of nearly 15,000 acres of ancestral land to the Indigenous Wixarika people. This long-fought victory follows decades of legal battles and grassroots organizing by the Wixarika (also known as Huichol) community, who have been demanding the restitution of their sacred territory in the San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán region of Jalisco. The returned land, which had been unlawfully occupied by private ranchers, holds deep cultural and spiritual significance—forming part of the Wixarika’s pilgrimage route and cosmology. The decision marks a rare but powerful example of Indigenous land rights being honored in Latin America, setting a precedent for other restitution claims across the continent. Still, the work is far from over, as local resistance and legal loopholes continue to challenge the Wixarika’s ability to fully access and care for their territory.
SHEINBAUM DELIVERS LONG-AWAITED LAND JUSTICE
On May 8th 2025, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first woman president, announced the return of 5,956 hectares (14,747 acres) of ancestral territory to the indigenous communities of Wixárika. This unprecedented move marked an important step towards mending the historic injustices visited upon Mexico’s indigenous populations since the Spanish colonial invasion over five hundred years ago. The Mexican state had ignored the demands of the Wixárica for their land back since the agrarian conflict began in the late 19th to early 20th century, and this had continued despite 11 court rulings in the last decade confirming the illegality of the land grabs. However, Claudia Sheinbaum has sought to right the wrongs of the past with her Plan de Justicia para el Pueblo Wixárika, of which the recent ceremony where she announced the return of the land marks a major development.
Land reform has been central to Mexican political struggles for centuries. Despite the victory of the 1911 Mexican Revolution, which enacted vast land reform by breaking up and redistributing many of the colonial haciendas, the encroachment of the state and private agriculture onto indigenous lands continued. The Esperanza Project writes, “although the 1917 Mexican Constitution recognized Indigenous communal land rights, in practice these rights were frequently ignored.” As a result, the Wixárika suffered seizures of their ancestral territory from the Mexican state during the Porfirian land reforms of the pre-revolutionary period of the late 19th century. These lands were later privatized and sold off to ranchers that have held onto the land ever since, despite the efforts of the Wixárika to regain their land rights in court.
A CENTURY OF COURT BATTLES AND SILENCE
It is often true that legal verdicts cannot always enforce the meaningful change that they intend to. The courts are typically slow mechanisms, and when it does come down to enforcement, power disparities can make the achievement of actually existing justice quite difficult. In the case of the Wixáka, the recognition of indigenous land rights in Mexico’s revolutionary 1917 constitution was not itself enough to reverse the land grabs of the previous period. This gap between what is written in the law and the reality on the ground is a situation that dispossessed indigenous communities in Latin America continue to face in a variety of contexts. For this reason President Sheinbaum’s initiative to use executive political power to push through the rightful resolution to this centuries old land conflict is a commendable victory, but at the same time it would never have occurred without the relentless struggles of the indigenous communities of Wixárika on the ground and in the courts.
ONE VICTORY, ONGOING STRUGGLES
There is no single panacea to remedy the historic injustices against Latin America’s indigenous communities. This historic victory for the rights of the Wixárika demonstrates that dignity is possible to achieve, but that to realize it requires a multifaceted struggle. The courts or the state alone are inadequate. The Esperanza Project reported that in 2016, “members of the community took direct action by reclaiming one of the parcels that had been awarded to them by the courts. Despite facing threats from non-Indigenous ranchers who still occupied the land, they moved forward.” While Sheinbaum deserves praise for her recent announcement, the direct actions of the dispossessed Wixárika should be recognized as a key factor in this exciting new development for indigenous rights in Mexico. Altering the power structures of the past is no easy task, but for many indigenous communities it is still the task of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Sources:
“Sheinbaum Returns Stolen Land to Wixárika in Historic Ceremony” The Esperanza Project, May 9, 2025.
