Irma Chávez Cruz

Cultures of Resistance Awardee — Burkina Faso

Irma Chávez Cruz is an Indigenous Raramuri (Tarahumara) leader, activist, and teacher. She has a master’s degree in human rights—the the first person from her community of Rejogachi, as well as one of the only Raramuri ever, to earn an advanced degree. She works to protect Raramuri land and rights against narco mafias that have killed their leaders, cut down their forests, and threatened her family. She founded a nonprofit organization that communicates directly with the Mexican government to defend Indigenous lands and rights. She is also leading a project to provide clean water, seed banks, and sustainable agriculture to schools and communities so they can continue living and thriving in their ancestral lands.

She received a Cultures of Resistance Award (CoR Award).

Follow him on Facebook here.

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