Mexican Police Rely on Witchcraft for Protection
03/24/2010
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In Mexico it's not just the bad guys who are partial to spooky magic stuff trending to the dark side, it's also the cops. Such retro beliefs make the failure of the government to win the war against the drug cartels easier to understand.
Mexican police ask spirits to guard them in drug war, Reuters, March 19, 2010

In secret meetings that draw on elements of Haitian Voodoo, Cuban Santeria and Mexican witchcraft, priests are slaughtering chickens on full moon nights on beaches, smearing police with the blood and using prayers to evoke spirits to guard them as drug cartels battle over smuggling routes into California.

Other police in the city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, tattoo their bodies with Voodoo symbols, believing they can repel bullets.

"Sometimes a man needs another type of faith," said former Tijuana policeman Marcos, who left the city force a year ago after surviving a drug gang attack. "I was saved when they killed two of my mates. I know why I didn't die." […]

Small groups of police in the city started turning to strange rituals about 18 months ago, a practice spotted when municipal cleaners found a trail of dead chickens on beaches.

Priests and police say the animal sacrifices release life to rejuvenate spirits that will shield officers against hitmen. They believe the effects are intensified on full moon nights.

Many police see a need to shield themselves from witchcraft used by drug gangs who mix Caribbean black magic and occultism from southern Mexico using things like human bones, dead bats and snake fangs to curse enemies and unleash evil spirits.

Not only is America located next door to a crack-house of a country, Mexico is a superstitious and backward crack-house. Which isn't exactly news, but the cop-voodoo aspect is interesting.
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