Page 12 - AT

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 18 January 2020
Panama man pulled 2 children from clutches of killer cult

By JUAN ZAMORANO ñoz, said the "New Light of
Associated Press God" believers had been
SANTIAGO, Panama (AP) "acting normally. It wasn't
— Indigenous farmer Jose a group that was doing
González recalled how his anything against the com-
pregnant wife and five of munity."
his children were taken from "Then one of the members
their home by cult mem- traveled outside the com-
bers in the remote ham- munity, and when he re-
let of El Terrón in Panama. turned a couple of months
González was out working later, he brought back this
his fields of taro and rice idea that anyone who dis-
on Monday when the lay agreed with their beliefs
preachers of the "The New was against them and ac-
Light of God" came for the tion had to be taken."
family and dragged them Things reportedly came to
to an improvised church at a head Saturday, when
a nearby ranch. one of the church mem-
The family had been cho- bers had a vision.
sen by one of the lay "One of them said God had
preachers who earlier had given them a message,"
a vision: everyone in the said local prosecutor Ra-
hamlet had to repent their fael Baloyes. That message
sins, or die. There, the wom- Jose Gonzalez, left, follows his 5-year-old daughter, carried by a police officer, as they leave a apparently boiled down to
an, seven of her children hospital in Santiago, Panama, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020. Associated Press making everyone confess
and a female neighbor their sins or die.
were beaten into repent- kids to be released. he said. By the time au- being beaten by the fanat- Andrew Chesnut, a profes-
ing. If they didn't do so con- The fire reference was thorities arrived by helicop- ics. sor of religious studies spe-
vincingly, lay preachers metaphorical, but authori- ter on Tuesday, it was too While fanaticism sparked cializing in Latin America
holding cudgels, machetes ties reported some of the late for many. They found the tragedy, the area's iso- at Virginia Commonwealth
and Bibles would lay into estimated 20 victims of the 14 bound, beaten towns- lation — and the poverty University, said the sect ap-
them. Gónzalez began a preachers were burned people in the church build- and lack of services for the pears to be a "syncretic
desperate campaign to with embers during the ritu- ing, and a ritually sacrificed indigenous Ngabé and Bu- cult" espousing a "hodge-
save them. Outnumbered, als. goat along with machetes glé peoples — had a role. podge of beliefs stitched
he was able to retrieve two González then dashed to and 10 lay preachers. "I need the government together" with Pentacostal-
children — a girl of five and try to save the rest of his But a mile (2 kilometers) to help people in remote ism at its core but also ele-
a boy of seven — from the family. But the remote ham- away, they found a freshly areas with little access, ments of indigenous beliefs
church. let, nestled in the jungle of covered grave at a local where you have to walk so and even New Age philos-
"I was able to snatch them the indigenous Ngabé Bu- cemetery, from which they far," said González. ophy — it reportedly talked
from the fire they were in," glé enclave of Panama's extracted a total of seven Apparently, the sect is rela- about the importance of
said González, 39, on Thurs- Caribbean coast, is hours bodies — the woman, her tively new to the area, and the "third eye" on a now-
day as he sat, exhausted, from the nearest clinic, or five children, and a teen- had been operating locally deleted Facebook page.
in shorts, with muddied feet police force. age neighbor. only for about three months The ritually sacrificed goat
and plastic sandals, outside "I looked for help from the "They decapitated them," and there were few warn- found at the scene is
a hospital in the neighbor- authorities, but they didn't González said. Only one ing signs. "anathema to any Christian
ing province of Veraguas, respond. When they didn't other son, 15, managed to The Assistant Director of the practice, seen as idolatry,"
waiting for another of his respond, I lost everything," escape on his own, despite National Police, Alexis Mu- Chesnut added.q
Guatemala sends troops to fight gangs in 2 high-crime areas

By SONNY FIGUEROA "The battle begins against Carlos Menocal, a former
Associated Press crime, killings, extortion and interior minister, applauded
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — the organized groups of the measure and said it
Guatemala's new presi- gangs," said Giammattei, targets gangs in two areas
dent announced a state who took office Tuesday. where they have near-total
of alert for two municipali- The Defense Ministry said control over the communi-
ties with high crime rates to 1,000 soldiers were as- ties and extortion has been
combat gang activity Fri- signed to the operations. on the rise.
day, a measure that allows Under Guatemalan law, "But you also have to pro-
the deployment of military the measure allows for mote a culture of denounc-
troops. the militarization of public ing (crime) on the part of
Alejandro Giammattei said services, restricting public the population so that the
it will remain in place for gatherings, prohibiting the gang members can be
seven days in Mixco and circulation or parking of ve- captured," Menocal said.
San Juan Sacatepequez, hicles in determined areas On the campaign trail and
both of which are on the and barring the carrying of at his inauguration, Giam-
outskirts of the capital, and firearms. The decree was mattei, a conservative phy-
A police stops a motorcyclist to search him at a security check- the army and National Civil signed by all of Giammat- sician said he would pres-
point in the El Milagro area of the Mixco municipality on the Police will be tasked with tei's Cabinet ministers and ent a bill to lawmakers that
outskirts of Guatemala City, Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. arresting gang members took effect with its publica- would declare gangs to be
Associated Press operating in the area. tion in the official gazette. terrorist groups. q