Protecting Our Sacred Sites
Central to our work and responsibilities as Nauas is to protect our lands, water, air, and everything sacred in our territory. Whether the threat is a multinational corporation, the federal government, or individual land holders, we will not allow anyone to violate our lands, waters, burials or places of ceremony.
Altepetl Makuilojtli was born out of the responsibility to protect the most sacred site in our region when we had found that one of our sacred Tsakuali (ceremonial and burial sites) had been intentionally damaged with a machine excavator.
During talks with community leaders to stop any further damage, we share the importance of the area for our people and the present threat of theft from the federal government and private landholders. It was in this meeting that we were asked what should be done next. It was at that point that we shared our ancestral responsibility to fully restore our sacred Altepetl so it can return as our ceremonial center once again.
Since our first meeting with community leaders, we have already successfully stopped multiple projects directly intended to destroy and violate a number our sacred Tsakuali. We also know that more of these kinds of threats are likely arise again.
We continue to organize and strengthen our communities to confront these threats to our lands and assert our ancestral responsibilities, autonomy, and strength to protect and care for them.