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A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 20 February 2019

Brazil’s #metoo moment: Spiritual guru accused of sex abuse

By DIARLEI RODRIGUES patients a week. It was gium, Bolivia, the United into question the veracity During a first consultation,
MARIO LOBAO there that de Faria, who States and Holland. of their abuse claims. she said he placed her
PETER PRENGAMAN over the decades came De Faria’s victims were of They argue their client, who hands on his penis, and in
Associated Press a second encounter pen-
ABADIANIA, Brazil (AP) — etrated her from behind.
For over 40 years, spiritual After remaining silent for
healer Joao Teixeira de four years, she detailed her
Faria drew people from all accusations in a Facebook
over the world to this small post last year and told her
city in central Brazil, offering story on the show. Con-
treatment for everything tacted since then, Mous
from depression to cancer. has declined to be inter-
His work was both praised viewed. Two other alleged
— Oprah Winfrey called de victims reached by the AP
Faria “inspiring” while visit- have also declined to give
ing in 2012 — and heavily interviews.
scrutinized. Now, de Faria, In Abadiania, where many
who goes by the name express surprise at the al-
“Joao de Deus,” or “John legations against de Faria,
of God,” is in trouble with the married guru was seen
the law. around town as a lady’s
Since December, more man. Norberto Kist, another
than 250 women including inn owner who often assist-
his daughter have come ed de Faria, said the man
forward to allege abuse he considered a “father”
that ranged from being was attractive to women.
felt up during treatments “He had an energy,” said
to rape. The mounting ac- In this Jan. 4, 2019 photo, a woman places her hands in prayer on a wooden triangle, between Kist, waving his hands for
cusations are turning the framed images of spiritual healer Joao Teixeira de Faria and Jesus Christ, inside the Casa de Dom emphasis. “And that gen-
77-year-old spiritual guru Inacio, in Abadiania, Brazil. Associated Press erated fascination in wom-
into Brazil’s first major figure en.” “A lot of things that
to go down in the #metoo under sharp scrutiny from all ages, and he would of- has been arrested, should happened, and others that
era, which has been slow critics who deemed him a ten begin by turning off the be released before a trial. are being presented in a ri-
to take off in Latin Ameri- charlatan, performed “psy- lights and asking for a mas- They have called on Brazil- diculous way (in the press),
ca’s largest nation despite chic” surgeries that he said sage, Miranda said. ians to know all the facts happened because of that
myriad problems with gen- could heal a wide range of “The biggest fear of victims before judging. strength, that energy, that
der equality. maladies. was not being believed,” “Lynchings are always po- magnetism, which is fasci-
Meanwhile, the people in Sometimes treatments Miranda added. He said tentially unjust and lead a nating,” Kist said.
Abadiania, about a two- were based on prayer, and some of the women said society to find scapegoats Inside de Faria’s spiritual
hour drive west from the sometimes they involved they held off talking pub- in individuals,” lawyers Al- hospital is a picture of Jesus
nation’s capital of Brasilia, minor cutting into the body. licly about it for years be- berto Zacharias Toron and Christ next to one of de Far-
are in disbelief. They also In 2012, Winfrey visited de cause of worry they “could Luisa Moraes Abreu Fer- ia. Signs in English and Por-
fear for their futures without Faria’s center and inter- lose their husbands.” reira wrote in a December tuguese give instructions
de Faria. viewed him for her talk The scandal erupted when op-ed in daily Folha de S. like, “Crystal bed in session.
“All of Abadiania depend- show, writing about the ex- several women talked Paulo. Silence please.” Inside the
ed on the work of Joao,” perience of seeing him cut about their experiences on The accusations against center, both workers and
said Claudio Pruja, the into the breast of a woman the show “Conversa com de Faria come as cases tourists dress in all white.
owner of a small inn who without anesthesia. Bial” in December, leading of alleged abuse have By all accounts, the num-
also sometimes worked as “An overwhelming sense to an avalanche of similar emerged in several Latin ber of visitors is way down,
an assistant to de Faria. of peace” is how she de- accusations in the weeks American countries. In Ar- but the flow hasn’t stopped
“We don’t have a beach. scribed the experience in a that followed. gentina, a well-known ac- entirely.
This isn’t Copacabana.” column that has since been The U.S. Embassy in Brazil tor, a senator and a legisla- “The energy is more pure.
Indeed, de Faria’s pull was deleted on oprah.com. published an alert asking tive chief of staff have been It’s as strong as ever, if not
so strong that the much Winfrey has issued a state- Americans to contact Bra- accused of sexual harass- stronger,” said Tammy Pen-
more affluent “new” part of ment saying she sympathiz- zilian authorities if they had ment to assault. In Costa nington, an American from
the town, built in the years es with the alleged victims been abused by de Faria. Rica, a criminal complaint California recently in Aba-
since the healer opened and hopes they get justice. De Faria’s adult daughter, alleging sexual assault was diania for spa treatments.
his clinic in 1976, stands in According to more than Dalva Teixeira, told Brazil- filed against former presi- Of the more than 250 cases,
sharp contrast to the old- 250 women, it was during ian magazine Veja that her dent and Nobel peace at least 112 have passed
er, run down part of town: the healing sessions that father frequently raped her laureate Oscar Arias, lead- the statue of limitations,
There are brightly colored de Faria molested them or between the ages of 10 ing other women to come said Miranda, the public
houses, swept streets, ho- began grooming them for and 14, all on the pretense forward with accusations. prosecutor. In such cases,
tels with ATM machines what would lead to forced of spiritual treatments. Of the women who made it’s normally 20 years, but
inside — a rarity in small sexual contact outside the “My father is a monster,” the initial accusations on de Faria’s advanced age
Brazilian cities — as well as clinic. she told the magazine. “Conversa com Bial,” only reduces the statute of limi-
specialty boutiques that Luciano Miranda, a public De Faria’s lawyers have one agreed to be identi- tations to 10 years.
cater to tourists and police prosecutor, told The Asso- noted that many of the al- fied. Zahira Lieneke Mous, No trial date has been set,
constantly patrolling. ciated Press that his office legations are decades old, a Danish choreographer, but regardless of what hap-
By some estimates, his had received testimony and in some cases involved recounted how she visited pens, it’s unlikely de Faria
“casa spiritual,” or “spiritual from women from six coun- women who repeatedly de Faria to deal with sexual will ever be able to prac-
house,” attended to 10,000 tries: Brazil, Germany, Bel- visited the healer — putting abuse in her past. tice again.q