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Received 20 April 2002
Aztec/Maya, USA Ramón Arroyos, Tecuhtli Kalpulli Tlalteca
302 Gonzales St
El Paso, Texas 79907
(915) 859-8505
http://kalpulli.8m.com/
kalpulli@elpasonet.net
Hueco Tanks State
Park, El Paso, Texas: The Case of Kalpulli Tlalteca and Tonal Teokalli
Submitted to:
"Cultural Heritage and Sacred Sites: World Heritage from an Indigenous
Perspective"
School of Law of New York University : May 15, 2002
Hueco Tanks State Historical Park is located
in El Paso County, Texas about ten miles from the border with Mexico. In
1971 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places because of
the over 2000 pictographs found there. Though there are different schools
of thought as to their origin and significance, it is generally accepted
that the earlier pictographs are associated with cultures ranging from the
Pueblo to the Mesoamerican. The pictography at this sacred site is
connected to the sites of Casas Grandes and Chalchihuites in Mexico as
well as cave paintings as far north as Wyoming. The Aztec-Maya heritage is
evident through the pictographs of the plumed serpent (Quetzalcoatl) and
goggle-eyed rain altar figures (Tlalocs). In a cave where two huge rocks
naturally form an eagle and a jaguar side by side, there is a set of
lines, dots, and oval shape that are unmistakably from the Mayan numbering
system. Hueco Tanks was also one of several farming "launching pads" for
the spread of maize (corn) four thousand years ago as the crop migrated
north from its home of origin in central Mexico.
Hueco Tanks is a peaceful, holy place, a place of renewal, of
regeneration; it is a place where our ancestors visited to renew their
spirit, to gather herbs and to make offerings to the spirits of the land.
Because of its unique location and geology, we consider it to be the navel
of the continent. Through the years our spiritual community has held fast
to our covenant with Creation and Mother Earth, even though Christian
religions have almost succeeded in destroying all of our old traditions.
Yet we persist, there is a renewal of the traditions, a revival of our
spiritual beliefs, and a need to continue the prayers for our sacred earth
and all our fellow creatures. Our resolve in revitalizing our cultural
traditions has found a more organized expression through the formation of
"kalpulli", the indigenous Mexican form of social and political
organization
With unrestricted access to all parts of the park and no limit on the
number of visitors, the park began to suffer from vandalism and erosion of
its natural and cultural resources. In order to protect these resources,
the park instituted a Public Use Plan in 1998 that raised entrance fees,
curtailed hours of operation, limited the number of daily visitors,
required the viewing of an orientation video, and restricted access to
most areas by guided tour only. Recognizing the spiritual significance of
this sacred site to the local indigenous populations, Texas Parks and
Wildlife extended cultural affiliation to six groups, which entitled them
to special use permits for ceremonial activities. Under this status,
affiliates were exempt from paying entrance fees and were permitted after
hours use. Kalpulli Tonal Teokalli and Kalpulli Tlalteca, local
organizations of the traditional Mexica community, were among the groups
recognized as having ceremonial ties to the park and were enlisted in
producing the orientation video that is required viewing of all visitors.
In the video, members of the two kalpultin share their cosmosvision as it
pertains to the park, emphasize its sacredness, and advocate for its
preservation through education and respect.
In 2000, Texas Parks and
Wildlife modified its Public Use Plan and contracted two independent
ethnographic studies to assess cultural affiliation. One study was to
evaluate four groups and the other the two kalpulli organizations. Citing
the latter study, Texas Parks and Wildlife withdrew recognition of
Kalpulli Tonal Teokalli and Kalpulli Tlalteca as cultural affiliates. The
decision was based on the formal organization of the kalpultin in 1981 and
National Park Service guidelines requiring a fifty-year association
between the park and affiliates. The decision has devastating implications
for indigenous peoples of Mexican descent. The TPW decision undermines
numerous rights that are clearly outlined in the United Nations Draft
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and challenges our right
as indigenous people to name ourselves as such as accepted by the United
Nations and the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Convention 169
(1989).
The kalpulli's relationship with Hueco Tanks has yielded promising results
for the spirituality of the kalpullis as well as for the effort by park
authorities to protect the site as a place of unique history and important
archeology. A Kalpulli Tlalteca member, held a fast at a cave where a
solar alignment marker was revealed to him. This pictograph had been
painted over eight hundred years ago and is well documented but until we
prayed there its solar alignment had gone undetected by authorities. This
reversal of recognition has negatively impacted our ceremonial calendar of
pilgrimages and offerings and we are no longer permitted to seek visions
overnight. The TPW decision was based on the mistaken assumption that the
Kalpulli communities are "new." The ILO and UN accepted definition of
"indigenous people" point to the fallacy of this argument. According to
both organizations, indigenous peoples are "those which having a
historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that
developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other
sectors of societies now prevailing in those territories…" As people who
have descended from the original inhabitants of the Americas, and
specifically what are now Mexico and the Southwestern part of the United
States, we claim the right to our indigenous identities. We firmly believe
that Texas Parks and Wildlife has erred in declaring that we are not
affiliated to Hueco Tanks Historical Park. Their argument is that the
Kalpullis did not exist fifty years ago and that is so, but we as a
community have lived here for countless of years. It is evident that our
ancestors used this land for communication with the supernatural, but were
forced to abandon such use when converted to Christianity. A
revitalization of traditional religion has begun in the last decade, and
as a result the site was again being used for vision quests similar to
those carried out there in prehistory. The National Register Bulletin 38
Determining Eligibility (criteria used by Texas Parks and Wildlife) makes
it clear that the site's association with the traditional activity
reflected in its contemporary use is what must be considered in
determining eligibility.
In addition, as indigenous people, we have the
rights under the Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to:
-
Practice and revitalize our
cultural traditions and customs (Part III, Article 12)
-
Maintain and strengthen our
distinctive spiritual and material relationship with the lands we have
traditionally used (Part VI, Article 25)
-
Use the lands we have
traditionally occupied or used, including the right to full recognition of
our traditions and customs (Part VI, Article 26)
-
Manifest, practice, develop
and teach our spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies
(Part III, Article 13)
-
Maintain, protect, and have
access in privacy to our religious and cultural sites (Part III, Article
13)
Texas Parks and Wildlife has
interrupted the spiritual relationship renewed by our community and is
depriving kalpulli members of their religious rights. It is also denying
the local indigenous population its spiritual heritage and holding back
the TPW's own agenda to protect the site as a Native American cultural
site. It is clear that the rules set by the U.S. National Register and
applied by TPW are meant to be inclusive and not exclusive as Texas Parks
and Wildlife has decided in regards to our continued use of the park.
We are asking for the support of the international indigenous communities
to overturn this outrageous decision by Texas Parks and Wildlife who
refuses to hear an appeal. Our community is being denied access to sacred
lands where we have revived our sacred tradition of the Ayuno (Fast or
Vision Quest). We believe that that the spirits have called us back to
this sacred place so that we may pray for this Earth that is being misused
and sorely needs to be taken care of. Through ceremony we all must learn
to take care of all of our relatives within Tonantzin (Our Mother). We
must bring offerings to these spirits as our ancestors did so that they
may reveal to us the way to continue life on this earth. It is the navel
of the continent, the connection of North and South and we, the original
inhabitants and descendants of the local indigenous community, are the
guardians of this sacred site. What benefit do Indigenous People derive
from the protection of Sacred Sites if we are denied access to them?
Hueco Tanks: Eagle and Jaguar
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