33 VOLUME 6 |ISSUE 3 |2015
Correspondents
,
Reports
New Age, the Occult, Syncretism,
and Satanism
In June 2015, three professional
psychological associations in Argentina
published their critique of alternative
therapies, distancing themselves
from techniques such as Reiki, family
constellations, the Bach Flower
Remedies, and others. The provincial
associations involved are those of
Chubut, Salta, and San Juan.
According to a complaint made by
RIES, a group in Spain, as in other
European countries, is using the
Internet and Facebook to promote
“interior growth retreats” and other
“soul-healing” encounters in which
ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic prepared
by Colombian shamans, is used.
Authorities have yet to take action.
In May 2015, a Catholic nun, Sor
Martha Pelloni, gave testimony in
the trial concerning the murder of
Ramoncito, a 12-year-old boy who
was killed during a Kimbanda (also
Quimbanda) ceremony in 2006.
Pelloni stated that an employee of
Superintendent Victor Cemborain
financed the murderous sect.
Five adolescents between the ages of
11 and 15 killed a 6-year-old boy in
May 2015 after torturing him. People
who know the boys say they were
involved with the Santa Muerte (“Holy
Death”) cult. The director of Social
and Historical Studies of the National
Autonomous University of Ciudad
Juarez (Unidad de Estudios Históricos
y Sociales de la Universidad Autónoma
de Ciudad Juárez), Dizán Vázquez Loya,
believes it is important to find out
whether these were isolated devotees
of Santa Muerte, or whether they were
part of a separate formal cult.
Other Groups
The leader of the River Road Fellowship
sect, who is wanted by Interpol,
was detained in Brazil at the end of
February 2015, accused of sexually
assaulting dozens of girls and
adolescents. Victor Arden Barnard, 53,
is accused of 59 sexual assaults and
was tracked down by the police on
the coast of the northern state of Rio
Grande do Norte, in a coordinated
effort with US authorities. Barnard,
who founded the sect in Minnesota,
is accused of a decade-long series of
abuses.
Madrid’s city board has distanced itself
from Humana, a controversial NGO,
which it had hired in 2011 to collect
used clothing in the capital. The city
transferred the contract to Ecotextile
Solidarity for the next 2 years. Humana
had been controversial because of its
ties to the Danish sect Tvind. n
Correspondents
,
Reports
New Age, the Occult, Syncretism,
and Satanism
In June 2015, three professional
psychological associations in Argentina
published their critique of alternative
therapies, distancing themselves
from techniques such as Reiki, family
constellations, the Bach Flower
Remedies, and others. The provincial
associations involved are those of
Chubut, Salta, and San Juan.
According to a complaint made by
RIES, a group in Spain, as in other
European countries, is using the
Internet and Facebook to promote
“interior growth retreats” and other
“soul-healing” encounters in which
ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic prepared
by Colombian shamans, is used.
Authorities have yet to take action.
In May 2015, a Catholic nun, Sor
Martha Pelloni, gave testimony in
the trial concerning the murder of
Ramoncito, a 12-year-old boy who
was killed during a Kimbanda (also
Quimbanda) ceremony in 2006.
Pelloni stated that an employee of
Superintendent Victor Cemborain
financed the murderous sect.
Five adolescents between the ages of
11 and 15 killed a 6-year-old boy in
May 2015 after torturing him. People
who know the boys say they were
involved with the Santa Muerte (“Holy
Death”) cult. The director of Social
and Historical Studies of the National
Autonomous University of Ciudad
Juarez (Unidad de Estudios Históricos
y Sociales de la Universidad Autónoma
de Ciudad Juárez), Dizán Vázquez Loya,
believes it is important to find out
whether these were isolated devotees
of Santa Muerte, or whether they were
part of a separate formal cult.
Other Groups
The leader of the River Road Fellowship
sect, who is wanted by Interpol,
was detained in Brazil at the end of
February 2015, accused of sexually
assaulting dozens of girls and
adolescents. Victor Arden Barnard, 53,
is accused of 59 sexual assaults and
was tracked down by the police on
the coast of the northern state of Rio
Grande do Norte, in a coordinated
effort with US authorities. Barnard,
who founded the sect in Minnesota,
is accused of a decade-long series of
abuses.
Madrid’s city board has distanced itself
from Humana, a controversial NGO,
which it had hired in 2011 to collect
used clothing in the capital. The city
transferred the contract to Ecotextile
Solidarity for the next 2 years. Humana
had been controversial because of its
ties to the Danish sect Tvind. n
