On the North Coast of Peru — a nation proud of its triptych cultural and geographical heritage consisting of Coastal, Mountain, and Jungle regions — the Huachuma Collective together with the Túcume Museum held an International Meeting of Curanderismo (traditional or ancestral healing), focused on the Huachuma or San Pedro cactus and the communities who use it as medicine. The three day conference took place over a sunny weekend, the 21-23 of February, 2025, in the auditorium of the museum grounds, a sprawling archaeological site that houses many ancient pyramids or huacas, as they are locally called.

Huachuma use spans the regions of the Coast and the Andes Mountains in Peru. One of the goals of the conference was to help visibilize the northern Coastal use of the medicine; the Mountain region, especially in the tourist-heavy Cusco area, is well known for its Huachuma practices (and mis-practices). 

Friday, the opening day, saw a gathering of curanderos and an introduction to the event, followed by an evening multi-collaborator ceremonial presentation where various curanderos in attendance shared their mesas and healing techniques with conference-goers.

Saturday saw presentations by Josip Orlovac del Rio (Founder of the Huachuma Collective) together with Felipe Peredo Llanos, who shared about the origins of the collective and the results of a series of meetings with regional groups of curanderos, where they worked to assess and understand the current situation as related to the practice and use of Huachuma across various stakeholder groups. 

They were followed by a co-presentation by Laurel Sugden, a PhD candidate at UBC whose thesis is on the sustainability of the Huachuma cactus and its subspecies (Echinopsis spp.). Consistent reports from interviews with community members highlight the near disappearance of the cactus in the wild, and ecological studies back that narrative. The species are in sharp decline, and have been recently declared as at risk of extinction.

This is in contrast with a common perception from the North American psychedelic movement, who often suggest Huachuma (or San Pedro, as it is colonially known) as a reasonable alternative to Peyote for those looking for a mescaline-based experience. This is of course a culturally uninformed suggestion that is neither respectful of the reasoning behind the Native American Church’s resistance to having Peyote listed in decriminalization movements, nor is it respectful of the living cultures that have stewarded Huachuma for generations upon generations. Reducing a medicine that is central to ancestral healing practices to a constituent chemical does not accurately capture the complex biocultural web in which these medicines exist.

The Huachuma Collective was formed in part as a response to the increasing interest from the psychedelic boom in the Huachuma cactus, and the globalization of the medicine. They have published a collective statement, signed by many curanderos who maintain Huachuma practices, which can be found here. As is the case with other declarations we share, the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund does not take an official position for or against the recommendations in the statement, but stands for the right of groups to organize and express their collective concerns and wishes. 

Huachuma Collective Board of Directors

Don Jose Garcia Correa, Director with the Huachuma Collective and former president of the Asociación de Maestros Curanderos de Medicina Ancestral y Ecología De Las Huaringas - Huancabamba, was present at a diplomatic ceremony in Piura in 2024, where the director of the regional Ministry of Culture presented him with a copy of the official national resolution declaring Huachuma a National Cultural Heritage. The ruling was only made official in 2022, compared to Ayahuasca, which has been declared an official national cultural heritage (along with its rituals) since 2008. Garcia Correa was also present at the International Meeting of Curanderismo, holding a strong central position in a large panel that came third in Saturday’s presentations. 

The panel brought together Maestro Curanderos from around the Coastal and Mountain regions of Peru to share their perspectives on the use of the medicine. A strong central theme in the Huachuma Collective’s work is to plant Huachuma, with hopes of repopulating wild stocks in addition to providing sustainable-harvest options for curanderos who use it for their medical practices.

Maestro Curanderos at the International Meeting of Curanderismo

The IMC Fund was invited to participate in the conference and gave a panel after the lunch break, bringing together three members of our Conservation Committee: Mona Polacca, one of the founding members of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers and an active member of the Indigenous Environmental Network, who holds a Peyote bioculture seat with the IMC Fund; Lucy Benally, an Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative collaborator and another Peyote seat with the IMC Fund; and Romulo Sinuiri Ochavano, president of the Organización Intercultural Oni Xobo and an Ayahuasca seat holder with the IMC Fund. The panel was moderated by our Co-Executive Director, Bia’ni Madsa’ Juárez López, who helped guide a conversation that addressed biocultural conservation through local and international lenses, as well as some of the common themes across biocultures related to the exploitation of medicine and its knowledge. It was interesting and valuable to be able to contribute to the conversation in the presence of a diverse crowd of curanderos and academics interested in Huachuma and its uses.

IMC Fund Panel at the International Meeting of Curanderismo

Lucy shared from her Peyote culture, where that cactus (Lophophora williamsii) has been impossible to directly harvest over the last generation due to land use issues and declining wild stock. “Our elders used to harvest,” said Lucy, “so for us it’s reconnection. For our children, who have never harvested [Peyote], it’s connection. It’s a way of life for us.” She emphasized the importance of having a relationship with medicine, and not just seeking “experiences.”

For Mona, having medicine growing on land that one owns gives the land and the ownership of it more power. “There will come a time when someone comes and wants to use your land,” she shared, “and you’ll be able to say, ‘No, this is where my medicine grows.’”

The third day of the conference moved into a more academic focus, with Carlo Brescia, Alfredo Narváez, Régulo Franco, Sacerdote Andino Marco L. Mosquera Huatay, and several others, culminating in a presentation by the UNESCO anthropologist Adine Gavazzi.

The conference was attended by a rotating crowd of about 100 people, including local and regional curanderos, students and professors, and local representatives from public institutions, with a small handful of loyal students of curanderismo from various foreign countries and artists interested in the movement. It was a sweet few days of sharing and exploration, and we are hopeful that the work of the IMC Fund — for a thriving future for Indigenous Peoples, their medicines and knowledges — remained as a highlight for some of the audience members. Although our participation was not Huachuma focused, it was good for us to learn more about the cultural and ecological status of Huachuma and its associated practices, and an interesting opportunity to bring together members of our Conservation Committee to unite their voices in a common message for the health of Indigenous communities and their medicines.