<
https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-04-07/the-united-states-damages-millennia-old-archaeological-site-with-explosives-to-build-the-border-wall.html>
"The U.S. crackdown on migration from Mexico has destroyed a sacred site shared
by both countries. According to reports from residents in Baja California, as
covered by Mexican national media, explosions were heard last weekend on
Cuchumá Hill as part of construction work on the border wall. The explosives
were used by U.S. personnel. According to the reports, a 35-meter-tall
monolith, carved and considered sacred by Indigenous people in the region, has
been damaged. At the time of this publication, the extent of the damage is
unknown.
Miguel Olmos Aguilera, who holds a Ph.D. in ethnology, ethnography, and social
anthropology and serves as a professor and researcher at the Colegio de la
Frontera Norte, explains over the phone that the hill is a religious site of
great sacred significance to the Kumiai people, who also live on both sides of
the border. He says that some people in the community told him about the
construction work being carried out there: about the obstruction to passage and
the destruction of their ceremonial site. He also does not know how severe the
damage to the monolith is.
The Cuchumá mountain is an archaeological zone and ceremonial site of the
Yumano people — a family of Indigenous tribes including the Cucapah,
Halyiikwamai, Alakwisa, Kamai, Yuma, and Mojave, among others — that stretches
and rises to the summit, some 3,500 meters above sea level. The vast summit was
split in two during the 19th century by a border. That imaginary line also
divided the Kumiai people, who inhabited this area: they scattered across
Southern California, in the United States, and the cities of Ensenada and
Tecate.
“Although the hill is divided by the border, the Kumiai used to be able to
cross over. Now it seems to me that they can’t anymore,” says Olmos Aguilera.
The Kumiai are considered a binational culture, but the Trump administration is
reluctant to allow border crossings. The situation has angered the Kumiai.
“They hold constant protests at the border,” says Olmos."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
