A New Collective Statement from the Curanderos and Curanderas of North Peru

Uniting the voices of traditional Huachuma healers in Peru

Happy December, cactus lovers!

We are thrilled to at last share the fruits of a project that has been in the works for many months.

Together with over 45 Peruvian traditional healers, Peruvian academics, and Peruvian allies, we have drafted and published a new collective statement. This statement is our response to the mistreatment of Huachuma in Peru and around the world. It makes our position clear about issues such as commercial “San Pedro powder” and urges practitioners to give back to Andean communities. The statement is an urgent call from the guardians of Huachuma to the world to stop consuming wild Huachuma and to cultivate their own plants.

Collaborators for this statement included the elder Maestros of Las Huaringas, Huancabamba; the elders of Mercado de Brujos, Chiclayo; Peruvian academics and archaeologists; The family of Eduardo Calderon; The family of Santos Vera; renowned sound healers such as Tito La Rosa; and representatives from all of North Peru. Pictured (left to right): Don Ramon Chasquero Sahuanga, fiscal of the Association of Maestros Curanderos of Las Huaringas; Don Cristobal Rojas Espinoza, expert in shamanic tools at the Mercado de Brujos, Chiclayo; and Don Victor Estrada Cervantes, a Cusco-area Maestro who honors North Peru as the origin and beating heart of Huachuma's traditions.

You can download and read the statement in English or its original Spanish here, and see the full list of collaborators:

Statement (ENGLISH)

289KB ∙ PDF file

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Download

Statement (SPANISH)

284KB ∙ PDF file

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Download

This document may be shared widely with your friends and communities. Thank you for supporting us to support Huachuma!

In love & community,

The Colectivo Huachuma Team

P.S. If you are able to donate any amount to our community-led planting efforts in Peru, your contribution would come at a perfect time to help us finish 2023 strong. Every penny helps!

Lots of fun was had in the creation of this document! Pictured (left to right): Walter and Hugo Cordova with our Projects Director, Josip Orlovac Del Rio; Josip and Julia Calderon de Avila.

Colectivo Huachuma is a Peru-based nonprofit association which cares for the bio-cultural sustainability of the San Pedro Cactus. Our leadership is an alliance of curanderos, curanderas, Indigenous leaders, and Andean community members. Together, we empower communities to protect, conserve, and plant Huachuma and explore sustainable practices for growing and working with traditional medicine in Peru. Our projects support and revitalize cultural traditions in Andean and Coastal Peruvian communities.

Our organization was founded in 2020 to unite and provide a platform for the voices of traditional curanderos and curanderas in North and Central Peru. The collective convened to address growing concerns with Huachuma's conservation status and the loss of traditional medicinal knowledge in North Peru. The knowledge and practices of San Pedro were declared Cultural Heritage of Peru in November 2022, an important step towards recognizing the unique cultural world of this medicine and the skill of practitioners. Colectivo Huachuma takes this a step further by working at the community level to ensure the survival of Huachuma and the healing arts of North Peru.