Honoring the Return of Our Ancestors

On November 1, 2025, as the morning sun rose over the Rio Grande, our community gathered at the Cementerio del Barrio de los Lipanes to welcome home several Ancestors of La Junta — people who lived, loved, and prayed along this sacred river long before our time. After generations of separation, they have finally been returned to rest in the lands of their descendants.

This homecoming was not only an act of remembrance, but of restoration. Each prayer, each shovel of earth, each song and tear was a thread of healing — reconnecting our people to the land and to the spirits who have waited so long to come home.

In the weeks leading up to the reburial, our community came together in shared purpose and ceremony. Elders, families, and friends spent long days learning and teaching — raising the tipi, treating and caring for the poles, preparing the land, and coordinating so that the return of our Ancestors would be carried out with love and respect. Invitations were sent near and far, and messages of support came from many who could not attend but whose spirits were with us.

We acknowledge the Center for Big Bend Studies for housing the remains during the long years of separation, and for supporting their return to their rightful resting place through this collaborative effort.

We extend our heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Meredith Snow for her care and respectful collaboration with our community. We also thank David Keller, who worked beside our Elders and community members to help dig the seven graves of the returning Ancestors — a humble and meaningful act that reflected the spirit of true solidarity and respect.

We are deeply grateful to our partners at the Big Bend Conservation Alliance and the Mellon Foundation, whose generosity has strengthened our capacity to protect sacred sites and preserve the stories that root us here.

We give thanks to the singers of sacred songs and players of the drums, whose voices and rhythms carried prayers into the sky. Their songs bridged the worlds between the living and the Ancestors, calling forth memory, healing, and peace. Sincere gratitude to all the women who carried and accompanied our Ancestors to their final resting. We are also grateful to the Indigenous visitors from many tribes who joined us as representatives of their nations and as relatives in spirit — reflecting the truth that La Junta has always been a place of meeting and exchange. As one of the oldest continuously cultivated lands in North America, it remains a living crossroads — a place where rivers, peoples, and traditions flow together.

We wish to honor and thank the Elders of People of La Junta for Preservation — Billy Hernandez, Juan Hernandez, Joe Portillo Jr., Lorenzo Hernandez, Norberto Ornelas, Alonzo Muñiz, and Oscar Rodriguez — for their steadfast support of their daughters and nieces leading this sacred work. From lending a hand to dig graves for our Ancestors to offering words of encouragement and wisdom, their presence continuously grounds us in strength and love. We are the women we are because of the strong family support we have, and the balance our men bring to the work of remembrance, responsibility, and care.

Most of all, we thank our community — those who dug graves by hand, wove cattail and grass mats, prepared food, offered prayers, and stood together in the early light of day. Each of you carried not just the soil, but the weight of generations.

And to our Community Elders, Xoxi and Enrique, we give our deepest thanks for their guidance, teachings, and unwavering belief in this sacred responsibility and in us. Their wisdom reminds us that our work is not simply about returning what was taken, but about restoring the balance between the living, the land, and those who came before us.

This reburial is a testament to what can be accomplished when community leads with heart, humility, and respect for the sacred. The Ancestors are home again — and through their return, our people are made whole.

People of La Junta for Preservation: Honoring the Ancestors. Protecting the Sacred.