UPDATE 2/14/06: The community of Santiago is still in desperate needs of donations as the people are suffering the long term effects of the devastation wroght by the hurricaine. We have nbeen asked by the Cofradia to continue to collect and send funds. Please see below to make a contribution if you have the means. Thank you!
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As many of you know, much devastation was wrought upon Guatemala as a result of the flooding and mudslides caused by hurricane Stan. Many people have been left homeless and hungry. These are disproportionately the Indigenous peoples of the region. In the area of Santiago Attitlan, where Saq' Be' has traveled many times and worked with the community, the devastation was particularly fierce as a large part of the population have been left homeless. The family of Don Antonio Esquinas, the medicine man who was recently assassinated, was lost to the mudslides just outside this village. We have been asked by the Cofradia in the region to help by raising funds to directly support the community there, as they continue to struggle to survive with their daily lives. We are grateful as we have already sent nearly $2,000 contributed by friends of Saq' Be'. These funds will be able to reach directly to the community where they are needed. For those of you that are moved to make a tax-deductible contribution to help the people of Santiago in this time of need, please do so by either sending a check to: Saq' Be' PO Box 31111 Santa Fe, NM 87594 (please write on your check that it is earmarked for Santiago) Or visit here to make an online contribution (again, please indicate this a contribution for Santiago): Here

From SAGE Council:
As the City of Albuquerque commemorates its tricentennial, a celebration of our multicultural heritage, it simultaneously begins construction of the Paseo Del Norte road extension through the Petroglyph National Monument, a Native American sacred site.
SAGE Council asks your participation in a March to Give Homage to the Petroglyphs, to commemorate those who have fought this 10-year struggle and to acknowledge the difficult work of sacred sites protection here and elsewhere. We ask your help in spreading the word about this important event. Please post the details of this event on your organization's blog and/or website and please notify your contacts, members, friends and family.
Sincerely, Laurie Weahkee, Executive Director
Stand With Us! We ask our friends and allies to join us as we pay our respects to this sacred place, commemorate the years of struggle we have endured together and celebrate over 300 years of survival.
Organizations interested in endorsing this march are encouraged to contact Roberto Martinez at 260-4696 or roberto@sagecouncil.org no later than Wednesday Nov. 16th.
We are asking endorsing organizations to bring members, families and friends to the march. We encourage you to bring along a banner to identify your organization. We also welcome additional volunteers, snacks and/or donations.
The March begins at Pueblo Montano Park at the entrance to the bosque open space, off Montano just east of Coors. The March will culminate with a rally at the Petroglyphs with speakers, prayers and song. Transportation will be provided back to Pueblo Montano Park. Restroom services available. Please dress appropriately. For more information, visit: www.sagecouncil.org

In every corner of the world, people have held certain places to be sacred: places that hold special meaning, where prayers are offered for the betterment of the community and the planet. These can be natural places such as mountains and waterfalls or include man made structures such as altars and temples. In this modern era of globalization where development is sought at all costs, places held sacred by cultures for thousands of years are being sacrificed in the name of "progress". But those that recognize the cultural and spiritual value of these sites are still with us and they are fighting to resist the trend to pave over their places of power and worship. Such an effort is happening at a heated pace over the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We recently spoke with Laurie Weahkee, executive director of the Sacred Alliance for Grass Roots Equality (SAGE Council), about the importance of the area, the threats being faced and the resistance that's been organized.

By Saq' Be'

For so many of those reading this, the lands of Latin America may seem like a distant place and the Amazon basin like a remote exotic location that bears little relevance to our everyday lives. The reality is this region holds great relevance to all of our lives, on both the physical level as well as a symbolic and spiritual one. The Kichwa community of Sarayacu, located in the central Amazon Basin in Ecuador, find themselves on the front lines in the struggle for preserving a natural and traditional way of life in the face of the continued drive to conquer Nature in the name of profit and greed. Sarayacu is a strong community, and one that survives to this day in part because of the citizens of the world who recognize they share an intricate connection with the people and have raised their voices to holdup the actions of petrol companies that would see the forest leveled and the people destroyed in the name of oil. Yet, unless the eyes of the world continue to carefully watch the unfolding of events in this region, and the stream of letters, emails and phone calls continue to flow to let governments and companies know who is watching, this place of life and magic can cease to exist.

Help Save the Petroglyph National Monument

On November 2, 2004, Albuquerque will vote on another Street Bond election that would fund the proposed Paseo Del Norte Extension through the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Every tribe in New Mexico has opposed this road project. The All Indian Pueblo Council-representing New Mexico's 19 Pueblo tribes; The National Congress of American Indians-representing tribes across the United States; and the Navajo Nation-representing the Navajo people nationwide, all oppose the Paseo Extension. The National Congress of American Indians is one of our primary supporters for this campaign.

The Vote No on the Street Bonds Campaign

This update comes directly from SAGE Council, a Native organization based out of Albuquerque, NM. They have been fighting very hard to prevent a road from being built through the center of the Petroglyph National Monument, a site sacred to many peoples. Further information including contact information for SAGE can be found at: www.sagecouncil.org

NM Governor Bill Richardson
As many of you know, Governor Bill Richardson went on a tour of the Petroglyphs with the East West Conciliation Committee. On that tour he said he would not make a decision regarding the Paseo Del Norte road extension until after the Democratic National Convention (DNC) which will be held early next week in Boston.

Several SAGE Council members were attending a fundraiser, when they asked Gov. Richardson what he was going to do about the Paseo Del Norte road extension. He basically said that we were not going to be happy with his decision. Thus, we're working to put pressure on him prior to the DNC. We've begun raising money to put a full page ad in this week's Albuquerque Journal - An Open Letter to Bill Richardson. This letter basically asks him to be a pro-civil rights leader and protect the Petroglyph National Monument, a Native American sacred site.

This is a message delivered to the people of North America from Juan Santos in Peru. Juan Santos is a chacaruna, a "bridge person", one who is a vehicle for the interim infrastructure of the present Indigenous movement. His work is to fulfill the social, moral and legal needs of the people according to their spiritual values and tradtions. He is one of the many people working with the Indigenous communities of the Andes. In the region of Cuzco he is committed as a dignitary dancer with the nations who make the pilgrimage to the sacred mountain of Qoyllor-Ritti. He is Quechua.

Birds are dropping from the hot tarnished sky onto the congested streets of Mexico City. Treetop nests empty of baby birds plunging to their deaths as chainsaws and bulldozers terrorize the Amazon Rainforest trailblazing an insatiable path to feed the hunger for oil and fast food beef. When the World Trade Center was hit, thousands of birds fell to the ground, their wings burned off and their bodies still on fire joining the other trapped spirits in debris that extended for blocks.

Manuel Pan Ju Lux is a Mayan Ajq'ij, or priest that comes from the village of Chichicastenango in Guatemala. Saq' Be' sat with Manuel while he spoke of his life and struggles upon his path that led him to becom an Ajq'ij and member of the Cofradia.

This is a story dictated to Saq' Be' directly from Mayan Ajq'ij Manuel Pan Ju Lux concerning the history and traditions of his home town of Chichicastenango in the Homelands of Guatemala