36 ICSA TODAY
Correspondents
,
Reports
34
There are very few cult awareness
centers in Slovakia. The association
Integra, which operates in Banská
Bystrica, is the only one mentioned. The
association’s representatives estimate
that there are 25 to 40 communities in
Slovakia that they call destructive.
Report From Spain and
Latin America
Luis Santamaria
Translated by John Paul Lennon
Groups of Christian Origin
In September, a judge in Asunción
(Paraguay) authorized the lawyers of
the Hospital de Clínicas to use blood
transfusions for a woman suffering
from serious anemia due to cysts
in her ovaries she was refusing the
transfusions because she is a member
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The hospital
director stated that “the constitution
guarantees right to life” above and
beyond her beliefs.
A court in the Dominican Republic
allowed a clinic to order a blood
transfusion for a 2-week-old baby
whose parents, members of the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, were refusing
that treatment. According to the
country´s laws, the judge considered
the transfusion necessary to protect the
baby’s life.
Groups of Asian Origin
Guru Swami Jyothirmayah, close
collaborator of “His Holiness” Sri Ravi
Shankar, leader of The Art of Living
Foundation, was in Spain in September,
where he took part in a personal-
growth festival in Marbella (Málaga) he
was also at a conference organized by a
Catholic school in Madrid.
Church of Scientology
In August, the Church of Scientology
presented a request to the General
Directorate of Religious Associations
of Mexico to become a legal religious
association. To this end, the Church
handed in its statutes that state its aim
is to “seek the religious freedom and
salvation of its members by means of
amplifying the individual’s spiritual
conscience” the Church also provided
proof that this request is widely
accepted among the populace.
Esoteric Groups and Afro-American
Cults
Last July, a pregnant 26-year-old
woman, Fernanda Pereyra, was
murdered in Rincón de los Sauces
(Neuquén, Argentina), and her corpse
was burned during a ritual. Three
suspects who are involved in drug
trafficking and who practice Satanic
and Afro-American rites were accused
of the crime. Investigators point to the
sacrificial cult of Santa Muerte (“Holy
Death”), an Argentine version of the
Mexican Santa Muerte, and to the
worship of Destranca Rua, a Quimbanda
cult.
In the month of August, the Argentine
lawyer Héctor W. Navarro lodged
a complaint in Madrid against the
Peruvian citizen Felix Steven Manrique
on the grounds of falsifying a public
document, usurping titles and honors,
and making aggravated threats.
Manrique is the leader of a small
Gnostic sect founded by himself in
Lima, Peru, in which he calls himself
“Prince Gurdjieff” he is guilty of having
kidnapped a young 18-year-old Spanish
woman through the Internet who fled
her home to join the Prince. On the
Internet, Manrique has published a
multitude of falsified documents, in one
of which he proclaims himself successor
to the Spanish throne.
At the beginning of September, Lima
(Peru) city authorities searched a few
esoteric centers and found medications
not suitable for human consumption
that are used by warlocks to “return
sexual prowess” to clients. They also
found two human hearts in a freezer.
A 19-year-old woman was murdered
in an Umbanda temple in Billinghurst
(Buenos Aires, Argentina) in September
of this year. A pai (Umbandan priest)
was detained together with other
accused. The victim was found inside
the temple with a knife sticking in her
neck.
Chilean media have reported on the
disappearance of Natalia Guerra, a
member of the sect led by Antares
de la Luz: Guerra stands accused of
parricide (murder of a parent or other
close family member) and has not
been incarcerated yet. In November
2012, Guerra had given birth to a child
fathered by the group leader, and the
group sacrificed the infant a few days
after birth because the end of the world
was drawing near.
New Age, Shamanism, and
Pseudotherapies
Spanish psychologist Enric Corbera,
founder and leader of Bioneuroemoción
(a pseudotherapy that garners three
million Euro a year) has brought a
lawsuit against the national platform
for sect prevention, RedUne, and one
of its spokespersons, Emilio Molina,
for the association’s information and
prevention work, and particularly for a
dossier the organization put together
and published on the Internet about
Bioneuroemoción. Corbera describes
RedUne’s actions and dossier as “a
campaign of slander and defamation.”
In Ecuador, a Shaman of the Tsáchila
indigenous people has been accused
of an alleged sexual assault on a young
female tourist who was participating in
a healing ritual that included drinking
ayahuasca (a vegetable hallucinogenic
substance). The center where the
alleged aggression took place has been
closed until the events are investigated
and clarified.
A court in France has convicted the
owners of a tourist center in Peru of
voluntary homicide. In 2011, a 43-year-
old French woman was found dead in
the center after consuming ayahuasca
in a Shamanic ceremony. The trial
was carried out in the absence of the
accused. n
Note:
References for specific sources cited in
Correspondents' Reports are available
at icsahome.com/elibrary/icsatoday/
references
Correspondents
,
Reports
34
There are very few cult awareness
centers in Slovakia. The association
Integra, which operates in Banská
Bystrica, is the only one mentioned. The
association’s representatives estimate
that there are 25 to 40 communities in
Slovakia that they call destructive.
Report From Spain and
Latin America
Luis Santamaria
Translated by John Paul Lennon
Groups of Christian Origin
In September, a judge in Asunción
(Paraguay) authorized the lawyers of
the Hospital de Clínicas to use blood
transfusions for a woman suffering
from serious anemia due to cysts
in her ovaries she was refusing the
transfusions because she is a member
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The hospital
director stated that “the constitution
guarantees right to life” above and
beyond her beliefs.
A court in the Dominican Republic
allowed a clinic to order a blood
transfusion for a 2-week-old baby
whose parents, members of the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, were refusing
that treatment. According to the
country´s laws, the judge considered
the transfusion necessary to protect the
baby’s life.
Groups of Asian Origin
Guru Swami Jyothirmayah, close
collaborator of “His Holiness” Sri Ravi
Shankar, leader of The Art of Living
Foundation, was in Spain in September,
where he took part in a personal-
growth festival in Marbella (Málaga) he
was also at a conference organized by a
Catholic school in Madrid.
Church of Scientology
In August, the Church of Scientology
presented a request to the General
Directorate of Religious Associations
of Mexico to become a legal religious
association. To this end, the Church
handed in its statutes that state its aim
is to “seek the religious freedom and
salvation of its members by means of
amplifying the individual’s spiritual
conscience” the Church also provided
proof that this request is widely
accepted among the populace.
Esoteric Groups and Afro-American
Cults
Last July, a pregnant 26-year-old
woman, Fernanda Pereyra, was
murdered in Rincón de los Sauces
(Neuquén, Argentina), and her corpse
was burned during a ritual. Three
suspects who are involved in drug
trafficking and who practice Satanic
and Afro-American rites were accused
of the crime. Investigators point to the
sacrificial cult of Santa Muerte (“Holy
Death”), an Argentine version of the
Mexican Santa Muerte, and to the
worship of Destranca Rua, a Quimbanda
cult.
In the month of August, the Argentine
lawyer Héctor W. Navarro lodged
a complaint in Madrid against the
Peruvian citizen Felix Steven Manrique
on the grounds of falsifying a public
document, usurping titles and honors,
and making aggravated threats.
Manrique is the leader of a small
Gnostic sect founded by himself in
Lima, Peru, in which he calls himself
“Prince Gurdjieff” he is guilty of having
kidnapped a young 18-year-old Spanish
woman through the Internet who fled
her home to join the Prince. On the
Internet, Manrique has published a
multitude of falsified documents, in one
of which he proclaims himself successor
to the Spanish throne.
At the beginning of September, Lima
(Peru) city authorities searched a few
esoteric centers and found medications
not suitable for human consumption
that are used by warlocks to “return
sexual prowess” to clients. They also
found two human hearts in a freezer.
A 19-year-old woman was murdered
in an Umbanda temple in Billinghurst
(Buenos Aires, Argentina) in September
of this year. A pai (Umbandan priest)
was detained together with other
accused. The victim was found inside
the temple with a knife sticking in her
neck.
Chilean media have reported on the
disappearance of Natalia Guerra, a
member of the sect led by Antares
de la Luz: Guerra stands accused of
parricide (murder of a parent or other
close family member) and has not
been incarcerated yet. In November
2012, Guerra had given birth to a child
fathered by the group leader, and the
group sacrificed the infant a few days
after birth because the end of the world
was drawing near.
New Age, Shamanism, and
Pseudotherapies
Spanish psychologist Enric Corbera,
founder and leader of Bioneuroemoción
(a pseudotherapy that garners three
million Euro a year) has brought a
lawsuit against the national platform
for sect prevention, RedUne, and one
of its spokespersons, Emilio Molina,
for the association’s information and
prevention work, and particularly for a
dossier the organization put together
and published on the Internet about
Bioneuroemoción. Corbera describes
RedUne’s actions and dossier as “a
campaign of slander and defamation.”
In Ecuador, a Shaman of the Tsáchila
indigenous people has been accused
of an alleged sexual assault on a young
female tourist who was participating in
a healing ritual that included drinking
ayahuasca (a vegetable hallucinogenic
substance). The center where the
alleged aggression took place has been
closed until the events are investigated
and clarified.
A court in France has convicted the
owners of a tourist center in Peru of
voluntary homicide. In 2011, a 43-year-
old French woman was found dead in
the center after consuming ayahuasca
in a Shamanic ceremony. The trial
was carried out in the absence of the
accused. n
Note:
References for specific sources cited in
Correspondents' Reports are available
at icsahome.com/elibrary/icsatoday/
references
