Inside Mexico's 'Holy Death' cult

[Judi Lynn]

1. From the article, examples of connections to the U.S.:

Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, a Cuban-American drug lord, was found after his death in a shoot-out to have ritually sacrificed at least eleven men, women and children to Santa Muerte at the altar at his ranch in Tamaulipas. Among them was a University of Texas student, Mark Kilroy, kidnapped while in Mexico for spring break.

The cartels’ embracing of Santa Muerte as their own has not been limited to Mexico. US law-enforcement agencies now view signs of veneration to the cult, whether a tattoo, necklace or prayer card, as enough to undertake further investigation into a suspect’s drug links. An altar to her was found in New Jersey when officers stormed a brothel being used as a drug den. In Wisconsin, images of her were discovered guarding a dealer’s cocaine stash. In Tennessee, shrines helped hide pounds of marijuana.

“Mexican drug traffickers have embraced the narco-culture in a similar manner to which American street gangs like the Bloods and Crips historically embraced gangster-rap music and culture,” Tony Kail, author of Magico-Religious Groups And Ritualistic Activities, has explained. For some of them, believing Holy Death is on their side gives them the courage to kill. “Santa Muerte is embraced as a ‘literal angel of death’ that can comfort those on the fringes of society who might otherwise lack the spiritual courage to commit acts of crime or violence.”