Crime Cults in Mexico

For John, BLUF:  This will like spread, as has the Gang MS13, to our area.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Mexican Gangs Create ‘Narco Saints’ to Moralize Crime

This is from The Epoch Times, by Reporter Joshua Philipp, 17 August 2017.

Here is the lede plus three:

Drug cartels and street gangs in Mexico are creating their own religions and altering beliefs in existing Catholic saints, in a move to create a new “narcoculture” that tries to morally justify crime and violence.

Some of these new figures of worship are existing Catholic saints, most of which have had their meaning altered for the narcoculture. Some are pulled from Aztec gods worshipped through human sacrifice, while others are new creations altogether.

The two most popular figures of worship in Mexico are products of this new narcoculture. The most popular is St. Jude Thaddeus, also called “Saint Judas,” while the second most popular is a newly created folk saint called Santa Muerte, “Saint Death.”

What is taking place in Mexico is a form of “spiritual appropriation,” whereby the existing religion is being altered to justify a criminal insurgency, according to Robert J. Bunker, adjunct research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute at U.S. Army War College.

This interview is based on the 2016 book, Blood Sacrifices.

Regards  —  Cliff