MEXICO: Death cult tries to change image

Santa Muerte (Saint Death), a religious figure worshipped by criminals and many of Mexico's poor, changes its look. Dozens of followers congregated in a sanctuary of the Santa Muerte (Saint Death) in the middle of Mexico City on Sunday (August 12) to attend a ceremony to announce the change of the image from a skeleton to an angel of the Santa Muerte, venerated in Mexico by the poorest and most violent drug traffickers. The new image is a pale angel dressed in a golden gown used by devotees belonging to this cult, who look to get closer to Christianity. In a house transformed into a "sanctuary" located in a rough neighbourhood of Mexico City, "father" David Romo and his followers "canonized" the new image of death, the "White Lady" to which jailed criminals pray to in order to ask for miracles. Devotees carried in their arms and around their necks the traditional image of death as the hooded skeleton, while towards the end of a long ceremony Romo, who claims that he is a priest not affiliated to the Catholic Roman church, explained the reason for this change. "When we set out on our studies in 1998, we started to find mentions of the Santa Muerte and we ended this year finding it in the sacred scripts, the confirmation that one can ask, one is able to pray to the Santa Muerte, not to the Santa Muerte that everyone knew of. It's a very strong change for people, but they will have to accept this, that is why we have given time of grace," he said. He invited devotees to venerate the new less terrifying image and to make ignorance a thing of the past. In poor neighbourhoods in Mexico it's common to find altars dedicated to the Santa Muerte, often depicted as a cloaked figure similar to the Grim Reaper or as a skeleton wearing a white dress. Petty thieves, convict and even middle-classed professionals swear the saint protects them and brings them luck. "I asked her to help me. I was addicted to cocaine, I ended up in jail. I've had many failures but have managed to pull ahead thanks to her. Also due to my own will," Eugenio Marquez, an ex-drug addict and convict, told Reuters. Last May, hit men from Mexico's Gulf Cartel drug gang handcuffed three men and shot them dead near the northern city of Nuevo Laredo at a Santa Muerte death cult altar leaving lit candles, flowers and a taunting message from rivals in a worsening drug war. Nevertheless on Sunday (August 12) the sanctuary in Mexico City was filled with devotees singing Christian hymns and families took their children to be "baptised." The Catholic frowns on the cult, which has pagan roots, but many devotees also see themselves as Catholics.

ITN Source | August 20, 2007

Tags:. .rivals. .grace. .confirmation. .rough. .dedicated