Mexico City, Mexico – The federal government issued a decree that establishes the Tamatsi Paritsika Iyarieya Mataa Hane mineral reserve in San Luis Potosí as a nationally protected area, which includes sacred Wirikuta sites.

Last May 24, the current administration declared several sacred Wirikuta sites to be part of the National Mineral Reserves. The federal government worked on determining the precise borders of the reserve after an April 2008 agreement.

Wirikuta community members voiced their concerns after the government gave out 72 mining concessions to businesses, 35 of which were granted to Canadian mining company First Majestic Silver.

In the decree published August 16, the Secretariat of Economy stated that last July a resolution was passed to cancel various mining agreements in the region. The decree comes after the federal government took measures in May to protect and preserve sites considered sacred by the Wirikuta community.

The sacred lands include the municipalities of Catorce, Charcas, Matehuala, Cedral, Villa de la Paz and Villa de Guadalupe.

Currently, Wirikuta lands are a UNESCO site, and extend onto a state natural reserve that is protected under international and national law.

According to the cosmology of the Huichol Indians, the world was created in Wirikuta, a sacred site in central Mexico’s mountains.