Officer Survival Spotlight: Accidental Deaths Among Law Enforcement Officers, Leadership Spotlight: Your Leadership Is Your Life Story (Part 1 of 2), Officer Survival Spotlight: Arrest Situations - Understanding the Dangers, Leadership Spotlight: Your Leadership Is Your Life Story (Part 2 of 2), Officer Survival Spotlight: Preventing Assaults - Assessing Offender Perceptions. The circumstances behind the origins of the skeleton and skullsif they were prior cult victimsremain unknown. Whether it is the scholar called to question cultural assumptions by these While addressing the rise of such dark spirituality requires a balanced perspective (e.g., avoiding a repeat of the Satanism scare of the 1980s), enough ritualistic behaviors, including killings, have occurred in Mexico to leave open the possibility that a spiritual insurgency component of the narcotics wars now exists. On 6 May 2021, three heavily armed men stormed into the Santa Muerte temple known as Santa Muerte Internacional Tultitln (SMI Tultitln), firing off shots into the air. This gang offered over a dozen people, including the victim, as human sacrifices to ensure the magical protection of its members. Researchers consider Santa Muerte to be a "folk saint" whose qualities and origins derive from a range of religious and spiritual traditions. That's part of her appeal for Mexico's poorest and most working-class . Santa Muerte ideology has developed in Mexico for approximately a half century and has spread into the United States and Central America. Leadership Spotlight: President Jefferson and Criticism, Community Outreach Spotlight: Camp Cadet of Cambria County, Leadership Spotlight: Leadership Lessons from Mom. Relax and let go of every worry and concern. Santa Muerte can be translated into English as either "Saint Death" or "Holy Death", although the professor of Religious studies R. Andrew Chesnut believes that the former is a more accurate translation because it "better reveals" her identity as a folk saint.. They draw on other actions in the same culture/community. Analysis by a U.S. law enforcement officer suggests that the perpetrators killed them as offerings to Santa Muerte. You must ensure that the color of the candle agrees with your desires. This has happened during training more than once.22 Programs and writings concerning wellness and spirituality in policing can provide spiritual armor against dark ritualistic crime scenes and altars containing human remains.23. Officer Survival Spotlight: What Is a Safe Distance? Members of the Catholic Church and the army see the growth of this cult as a dangerous development.8, Santa Muerte rituals vary, and worshipers disagree about some of the symbolism and the proper procedures to gain the spiritual and physical results petitioned. During 2008 in Nuevo Laredo, Gulf Cartel enforcers captured Sinaloa Cartel members, took them to public Santa Muerte shrines, and executed them. Metro Special Police Department, Washington, D.C. New Taipei City, Taiwan, Police Department, Radford City, Virginia, Police Department, River Vale, New Jersey, Police Department, Port St. Lucie, Florida, Police Department, Northern York County, Pennsylvania, Regional Police Department, Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Bureau of Police, Missing Person: Amber Lynn Wilde - Green Bay, Wisconsin, Missing Person: Joan M. Rebar - Meriden, Kansas, Unidentified Person: John Doe - Apache Junction, Arizona, Missing Person: Helen Irene Tucker - Tacoma, Washington, Missing Person: Debra Kay King - Tacoma, Washington, Missing Person: Simone Ridinger - Sherborn, Massachusetts, Homicide Victim: Santana Acosta - Phoenix, Arizona, Unidentified Person: John Doe - Arcadia, Florida, Missing Person: Richard Luther Ingram - Fort Lewis, Washington, Missing Person: Kelsie Jean Schelling - Pueblo, Colorado, Missing Person: Jennifer L. Wilson - Derby Kansas, Unidentified Person: Jane Doe - Marion County, Missouri, Unidentified Person: John Doe - Grant County, Kentucky, Unidentified Person: Jane Doe - Naples, Florida, Unidentified Person: Jane Doe - Pike National Forest, Colorado, Missing Person: William Gary Morris - Nashville, Tennessee, Unidentified Person: Jane Doe - Cameron Parish, Louisiana, Unidentified Person: John Doe - Needville, Texas, Unidentified Person: Jane Doe - Glennie, Michigan, Unidentified Person: John Doe - Wickenburg, Arizona, Missing Person: David Emerson, Jr. - Snyder, Texas, Missing Person: Gregory Keith Mann, Jr. - Wichita Falls, Texas, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - January 2010, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - February 2010, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - March 2010, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - April 2010, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - August 2010, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - September 2010, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - October 2010, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - November 2010, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - 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Dispose of Santa Muerte Statue? Relating to one incident: In a telephone conversation with convicted Zeta Sicario Rosalio Bart Reta intercepted by DEA agents, Cardona bragged about how he slashedtwo teenagers with a broken bottle, gathered their blood in a cup, and made a toast to the Santisima Muerte, or death saint. If someone was leaving small items related to Santa Muerte in an area I was responsible for cleaning, and I wanted to dispose of them respectfully, I'd gather them in a box and once a month or so (depends how frequently they're appearing) I'd arrange them at the feet of a large Santa Muerte statue at a botanica. I pieced back together her hand and scythe. 5 Likes. Place the triangle-shaped coins around it. The Santa Muerte also known as Santisima Muerte is the beloved goddess of death who's origins date to the Pre Hispanic period of Mexico. Applicable groups may be syncretic, drawing on multiple belief systems and having different meanings for the same characteristics. Called by plenty of names -Nia Blanca, La Huesuda, La Dama Poderosa or La Flaquita- Santa Muerte has become one of the most honored and prayed Mexican popular saints in little more than twenty years. With all of the Illegals come across the border from Mexico, Central and South America, one can assume their beliefs are coming with them along with the demons they are worshiping. La muerte means death in Spanish and is a feminine noun (denoted by the feminine article 'la') as it is in all Romance languages. Since 2006, 12 have died, 1,000 have been extorted, and 162 have been threatened with death. Unlike Death, however, she is worshipped and loved . See Joseph Kolb, Mexican Priests Face Death, Extortion from Drug Cartels, Catholic Register, October 6, 2011, http://www.catholicregister.org/news/international/item/13102-mexican-priests-face-death-extortion-from-drug-cartels (accessed August 27, 2012). Not all of the narcotics leaders, their foot soldiers, and assassins have remained religious or, alternatively, embraced secularism. The University of Texas at Brownsville Offers a Class in Mexican Witchcraft. If not offered solace via mainstream Catholicism, they will seek comfort elsewhere.3 While the adherents of a more benign drug saint, such as Jess Malverde, can engage in nonreligious killing, others who worship Santa Muerte increasingly appear unable to separate their criminality from their spiritual beliefs. Santa Muerte, also known as the Grim Reaper, is a popular folk figure in Mexico. Methodological issues pertaining to the possible underreporting of such killingsbecause authorities misidentified them or the media did not report themand the crossborder potentials of the Santa Muerte-linked killings still pose concern. Lewis published his work at the beginning of the 60s, meaning that the cult existed at least since the mid-50s in the Tepito neighborhood in Mexico City. Training also is offered by local High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) centers whose Mexican cartel and gang-focused training increasingly has narcotics saint content. 16 Laurie Merrill, Chandler Beheading Tied to Mexican Drug Cartel, The Arizona Republic, March 2, 2011, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/03/02/20110302chandler-beheading-mexico-drug-trafficking0303.html (accessed August 31, 2012). Smoke blown, alcoholic drink spit out, and narcotics smeared on statues are thought to help activate them. The latest variant of the Cult of Santa Muerte promotes extreme, corrupt, and criminaleven evilbehaviors. Leadership Spotlight: Single Point of Failure, Leadership Spotlight: Communicating with Millennials - Using Brevity, Community Outreach Spotlight: Redefining School Resource Officers Roles. Santa Muerte's Appearance and Purpose Santa Muerte appears as a skeletal figure, dressed in the colorful and delicate garb of historic Spanish descent, holding a scythe and a globe or set of scales in her hands. Create an altar to Santa Muerte and keep it cleansed of negative energies and free of demons. Before 2001, devotees of Santa Muerte largely worshiped in private, erecting shrines in their closets or personal spaces. I set up an altar near the doorway (our primary entrance) and respectfully welcomed his wisdom into our home. The Santa Muerte cannot manifest, she can only bring death - even when we ask her to manifest miracles, what we are actually doing is asking that she kill . Santa Muerte has a skull instead of head and she holds a scythe. For most of the cartels foot soldiers and their gang associates, brutal deaths prove almost certain. 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In the rough neighborhood of Tepito, Mexico City, in 2004, authorities arrested a local car thief who later died in prison. Well, the answer, like most answers when you get down to the heart of it, is simple: the lessons of Death are of acceptance. Red symbolizes love. Candles help to focus worshiper concentration and act as a conduit so that Santa Muerte receives the prayers. She is most often depicted as a female Grim Reaper outfitted with a scythe and wearing a shroud. It has not been confirmed whether some Santa Muerte worshipers have revived this practice. The rise of a fully criminalized and dark variant of Santa Muerte worship holds many negative implications. Although a reverence for death has long been part of traditional Mexican culture, exemplified by the hugely popular . No matter how jarring her appearance might be, she's a comforting figure to many people in Mexican communities and the surrounding areas. Additional incidents allegedly have occurred involving victims with their skin and hearts removed. The candles are the light of communication to the deity to grant her faithful worshipers their specific needs. 4 Kevin Freese, The Death Cult of the Drug Lords: Mexicos Patron Saint of Crime, Criminals, and the Dispossessed, http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Santa-Muerte/santa-muerte.htm (accessed August 27, 2012). The believers of Santa Muerte in Veracruz : The Picture Show A Mexican photojournalist documents a tradition that takes place in Coatepec, Veracruz during the Day of the Dead celebrations in . What you desire will lead you to light the perfect color candle. Inspired actions tend to have several characteristics. 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Links were inferred to Santa Muerte worshipers. Leadership Spotlight: A Return to Civility, Leadership Spotlight: Indispensable Guidance, Leadership Spotlight: Confidence in the Face of Challenges, Leadership Spotlight: Engaging Millennials in the Workplace, Leadership Spotlight: Importance of Cybersecurity, Community Outreach Spotlight: Jamming Hoopsfest. She is typically depicted as a skeletal figure dressed in a long robe, carrying a scythe. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. In December 2009 and January 2010 in Ciudad Jarez, perpetrators murdered individuals in apparent Santa Muerte ritual killings. The Santa Muerte has grown in popularity from the 1990s until today, when the situation of everyday Mexican people has been complicated by drug trafficking violence, poverty and the grind of making their way in a society that is not always kind to its lowest classes. There is still a small . : https://www.paypal.me/religionforbreakfastCheck out my. Prior to the killing, Monroy, a neighbor, and the three killers spent the night drinking at a local bar and talking about Santa Muerte. Other cases have included individuals castrated and beheaded while alive, lit on fire and burned to death, and butchered and quartered. Santa Muerte is a folk saint. Many of the groups members have tattoos of her image on their upper arm or chest. I accidentally knocked over one of my Santa Muerte statues. One component entails the rise of the cartel and gang narcocultura (drug culture) variant of the Cult of Santa Muerte (literally translated as Holy Death).2 This variant of the cult promotes greater levels of criminality than the more mainstream and older forms of Santa Muerte worship. He later disposed of their bodies in a barrel filled with liquid fuel, a method known as a guiso, or stew.15, However, the more recent Chandler event gained considerable media attention and became thoroughly documented due to the police incident report released to the media. Peace officers in cartel training have stated that they will have nothing to do with such Santa Muerte artifacts as altars, candles, statues, amulets, pictures, and sacrificial items because they consider them evil and, as a result, will not enter dwellings that contain them. There is still a small hole on the side of the base (many of the pieces became powdery). During the early hours of October 10, 2010, a cartel kill team stabbed and beheaded Martin Alejandro Cota Jando Monroy, 38 years old, in his apartment. cottagecheeseceiling 5 yr. ago The saint is a reassuring presence for a great number of ordinary citizens, as death is inevitable, non-discriminatory, and an end-point that all people share. Still, many of these men and women who brutalize, torture, and kill others need a way to rationalize their activities. 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Kevin Freese, The Death Cult of the Drug Lords: Mexicos Patron Saint of Crime, Criminals, and the Dispossessed, http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Santa-Muerte/santa-muerte.htm. Give it to someone else. In Monterey, Mexico, in May 2007, members of the Gulf Cartel left their murdered victims at a public Santa Muerte shrine. Check out our santa muerte bracelet selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our jewelry shops. Individuals in his gang posed as members of the Los Zetas Cartel.7 In 2009 he called for holy war against the Catholic Church. This table serves only as an example. After he bled to death, a female member removed his head and gave it to Santa Muerte as an offering. While such incidentsincluding those with ritualized componentsrepresent a small minority of murders perpetrated by Mexican cartels and gangs, enough allegedly have taken place to generate alarm. Rather than plates of food, beer, and tobacco, in some instances, the heads of victims (and presumably their souls) have served as offerings to invoke powerful petitions for divine intervention. A heart-shaped candy mold can create a beautiful love amulet, or you can flatten the wax and inscribe it with a rune or sigil for power and protection. All Votes Add Books To This List. Such a form of imminent mortality facing adherents makes the worship of Santa Muerte spiritually dark. Hello, I accidentally knocked over one of my Santa Muerte statues. Story provided to a researcher by a local Santa Muerte follower. Warm the candle stub until the wax gets soft, then shape it however you like. Hello, During that same year, the Mexican army destroyed numerous Santa Muerte shrines. Figure in Mexico for approximately a half century and has spread into the United and! 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