Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 21 January 2020
Survivor recounts confused, chaotic cult rite that killed 7

By JUAN ZAMORANO hammocks and dumped
SANTIAGO, Panama (AP) in a freshly-dug common
— A survivor of the cult cer- grave in the village cem-
emony that killed 7 people etery.
in a remote village in Pana- Nine of the 10 lay preach-
ma says she was ordered to ers detained last week
close her eyes, was beaten have been charged with
and knocked unconscious murder and kidnapping.
during the ritual. Bibles still lay open and mu-
The account Monday by sical instruments lay scat-
Dina Blanco suggests the tered ov er the weekend in
14 surviving participants the shed where the killings
were helpless, bound, un- took place.
conscious or sightless much Indigenous leader Evange-
of the time. listo Santo has said that dur-
So the truth about what ing the ceremony, "People
happened in the bizarre were dancing and singing
ceremony may only come and nobody paid atten-
out at the trials of the nine tion because we knew that
villagers charged with kill- they were in the presence
ing their neighbors in the of God."
hamlet of El Terrón last But for Blanco, God was
week. not among those present.
Blanco said from her hospi- "For me, it was hate that
tal bed in the nearest city, was there," she said.
Santiago, that she had Dina Blanco show injuries on her back during an interview at Luis Fabrega Hospital in Santiago, El Terron is nestled in the
gone to previous prayer Panama, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020. jungle of the indigenous
meetings at the improvised Associated Press Ngabe Bugle enclave
church in a long wooden on Panama's Caribbean
shed before. But this time, her 9-year-old daughter, the short, dark-haired Blan- across glowing embers. coast, and it is largely cut
the tone had changed, who had epilepsy, her co. But the worst was yet to off from the outside world.
and she didn't go willingly. 15-year-old son and her fa- Authorities say cult mem- come. Late that night or in Its 300 residents must walk
The cult, which had operat- ther. Her father and her son bers used Bibles, cudgels the early morning hours of hours along steep and
ed in the village for about managed to escape; Blan- and machetes to hit the the 14th, a sect member muddy narrow roads to hail
three months, changed af- co and her daughter, Inés, congregants. Blanco still approached and told her boats that can transport
ter a member had a vision, were not so lucky. bears a broad bruise across that her daughter Inés had them along a river to other
telling the lay preachers When they arrived, they her forehead from whatev- died. villages that have electric-
they had been "annointed" were told not to open their er hit her. "The birds of the fields shall ity, telephones, health clin-
to exterminate unbelievers. eyes, and to grab each "When I came to, they kept dispose of her body,"the ics and a police presence.
Blanco, 24, said a neighbor, others' hands and pray; the telling me not to open my voice said. In the city of Santiago,
Olivia, came to call her to worshipers felt they were eyes," she recalled. "I heard In fact, Inés, like Blanco's Blanco must still undergo
the meeting of "the New physically in the presence drums, an accordion, pregnant neighbor and scans to rule out internal
Light of God" sect on Jan. of the Lord. screams, crying. I was tied five of her children, had injuries; she has bruises on
13, saying she would have "I felt something hit my up." been murdered during the her abdomen, back and
to come "whether you like head, and then I don't Authorities say some of the ritual — by some accounts, hands from the beatings.
it or not." what happened to me. I congregants had been decapitated — and their But her what hurts most is in
So she went — along with dropped to my knees," said forced to strip, and walk naked bodies slung into her heart.q

Puerto Rico protesters demand

governor's resignation

Puerto Rico's capital to de- ter Vázquez fired two more supplies dating from when
mand the resignation of the high-ranking officials in her Hurricane Maria hit the is-
U.S. territory's governor and administration, Housing land in September 2017 as
protest the recent discov- Secretary Fernando Gil and a Category 4 storm.
ery of apparently forgot- Department of Family Sec- She ordered an investiga-
ten disaster supplies amid retary Glorimar Andújar, tion into the incident and
ongoing earthquakes. The over the lack of information said those who broke into
scene reminded many of regarding aid collection the warehouse to distribute
the beginning of protests and distribution centers. On supplies to people affected
that escalated over the Saturday, she fired former by a recent 6.4 magnitude
People protest outside the executive mansion known has La summer and led to the emergency management earthquake that killed one
Fortaleza in Old San Juan demanding the resignation of Gover-
nor Wanda Vázquez Garced after the discovery of an old ware- resignation of former Gov. director Carlos Acevedo. person and caused more
house filled with emergency supplies in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, with dem- Vázquez said she had lost than an estimated $200 mil-
Monday, Jan. 20, 2020. onstrators once again vow- confidence in those offi- lion in damage would not
Associated Press ing to remain in the streets cials after the discovery of be prosecuted.
until current Gov. Wanda a warehouse in the south- The investigation was
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) gathered Monday in front Vázquez steps down. ern coastal city of Ponce scheduled to be complet-
— Dozens of demonstrators of the governor's mansion in The protest came a day af- that was filled with disaster ed on Monday.q