{"id":30698,"date":"2021-01-26T11:36:59","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T16:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=30698"},"modified":"2021-01-26T11:36:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T16:36:59","slug":"tragedy-indigenous-panama-sparks-potentially-dangerous-anti-cult-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/tragedy-indigenous-panama-sparks-potentially-dangerous-anti-cult-legislation\/","title":{"rendered":"Tragedy in Indigenous Panama sparks potentially dangerous anti-cult legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cult.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-30699\" src=\"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cult.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cult.jpg 700w, https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cult-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In response to deaths linked to a cult called \u201cthe New Light of God,\u201d the Panamanian government has proposed new legislation aimed at criminalizing cult activity. The broad scope of the legislation may have consequences for minority faiths and new religious movements within the Central American nation, as similar legislation has done in other countries.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Dina Blanco survived the horrific extermination of seven individuals in the remote town of Alto Terr\u00f3n, which is within the Indigenous region of Ng\u00e4be-Bugl\u00e9, by the New Light of God cult. Among the cult\u2019s victims was her nine-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2020, Blanco\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-01-21\/panama-survivor-recounts-chaotic-cult-rite-that-killed-7\/11885124\">recounted her experiences\u00a0<\/a>from her hospital bed. She described how she was ordered by religious leaders to keep her eyes closed. She and 13 other survivors were beaten, blindfolded, and, at times, left naked in rooms.<\/p>\n<p>The New Light of God had come into Alto Terr\u00f3n three months earlier, and Blanco had been going to their prayer meetings since their arrival. When she attempted to stop going to the meetings, her neighbor confronted her and said she would go \u201cwhether she liked it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blanco and her family, including her daughter Ins, her 15-year-old son, and her father, went to a prayer meeting and were forced to pray with their eyes shut. Ins was, in addition to her youth, epileptic. Some people in attendance were forced to strip and walk over coals; Blanco herself reports that she was hit in the forehead with a heavy object and knocked unconscious. \u201cI felt something hit my head,\u201d she said, \u201cand then I don\u2019t know what happened to me. I dropped to my knees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When she woke up, still unable to see, she heard a voice saying that her daughter had died during the ritual. \u201cThe birds of the fields shall dispose of her body,\u201d said the voice, with no further explanation.<\/p>\n<p>The rituals appear to have been exorcisms, according to police that arrived in the remote village days later. Alto Terr\u00f3n has no police presence, electricity, or healthcare facility.<\/p>\n<p>The police were able to rescue 15 people still held by the cult. Mr. Rafael Baloyes, the senior prosecutor of the Bocas del Toro province of western Panama said that the bodies of seven individuals were recovered from a mass grave. Among the murdered were Blanco\u2019s daughter Ins, as well as Bellin Flores, 33, who was pregnant, and her five children. All had been beaten, burned, and dismembered.<\/p>\n<p>Flores\u2019s six year old son managed to escape and inform his father. He then contacted the district\u2019s\u00a0<em>cacique,\u00a0<\/em>or leader, Evangelisto Santo, who alerted the authorities after waiting for the following sunrise to embark on a one-hour hike and two-hour canoe trip to get help.<\/p>\n<p>Baloyes said that when police arrived, \u201cthere was a naked person, a woman,\u201d inside the building, where investigators found machetes, knives and a ritually sacrificed goat. Another 14 were tied and beaten in a stable that was used as a church.<\/p>\n<p>Baloyes said that the multi-day ritual, apparently meant to purify sin from the community, likely resulted in other murders. \u201cAll of these rites,\u201d he said, \u201cwere aimed at killing [members of the village] if they did not repent their sins,\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ten cult members were arrested, including Mario \u201cPl\u00e1tano\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez, an Evangelical preacher and the leader of the New Light of God.<\/p>\n<p>The government of Panama has said it will prioritize access to services for Indigenous communities.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2020\/mar\/28\/panama-sect-massacre-indigenous-official-neglect\">The Guardian reports<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cfive soldiers are billeted in one of the village\u2019s basic wooden houses, and a gleaming new satellite dish, providing free wifi, stands next to the overcrowded school house, which caters to 80 pupils between the ages of four and 13.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This week, May\u00edn Correa, MP and deputy of the Cambio Democr\u00e1tico party, has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prensa.com\/impresa\/panorama\/ley-busca-ponerle-un-freno-a-sectas-y-ritos\/\">introduced legislation<\/a>\u00a0to the Government and Constitutional Affairs Commission of the National Assembly that will include those \u201cacting on behalf of or as part of an allegedly religious cult\u201d as an aggravating circumstance to certain criminal activity.<\/p>\n<p>Correa has explained that the rule is intended to prevent false leaders of religious sects from abusing their congregations. The legislation has not been opposed by the Panamanian Supreme Court nor by independent counsel Juan Diego V\u00e1squez, a member of the commission overseeing the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation, however, contains uncertain language that introduces a distinction between a \u201cgenuine\u201d religious order and a group that is \u201cpretending to be religious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The legislation is consistent with a broad and growing anti-cult movement worldwide. Last year the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, \u201can independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad,\u201d released its annual report, expanding the list of countries designated as being of \u201cParticular Concern\u201d and those to be added to the \u201cSpecial Watch\u201d list.<\/p>\n<p>Panama was not among them. However, in an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscirf.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2020%20Anti-Cult%20Update%20-%20Religious%20Regulation%20in%20Russia.pdf\">addendum<\/a>, the USCIR described how anti-cult movements and legislation can potentially be used to suppress religious liberties. The USCIR noted the Russian government\u2019s ban on Jehovah\u2019s Witness in April 2017.\u00a0 But the report also noted how powerful established religions and denominations can use anti-cult movements to suppress new religious movements.<\/p>\n<p>While not explicitly stated in the report, the term \u201cnew religious movements\u201d includes practically all branches of Paganism, including Wicca.<\/p>\n<p>This pattern has been seen before. The Order of the Solar Temple is a cult that combines evangelical Christianity with occult freemasonry. After a number of murder-suicides by Order members during the mid-1990s in Quebec, France, and Switzerland, several European nations passed anti-cult legislation. The Order has made a comeback since then, but scholars continue to warn that the laws protecting against mental manipulation by cults can easily turn against legitimate minority faiths.<\/p>\n<p>As noted Tina Rodia noted in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/penntoday.upenn.edu\/news\/it-cult-or-new-religious-movement\">Penn Today:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The word \u2018cult\u2019 originally designates a practice of religious veneration and the religious system based around such veneration\u2014for example, the cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe,\u201d says Robin Clark, a linguistics professor in the School of Arts and Sciences. \u201cHowever, the word was co-opted in the first half of the 20th century by sociology, and has come to denote a social group with \u2018socially deviant\u2019 beliefs and practices, like a UFO cult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cults versus new religions is a matter of perspective, says Ori Tavor, a senior lecturer in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, who teaches a class on new religious movements. \u201cNew religious movement\u201d is a new term from academic discourse, and is applied to religious movements from the 19th century onwards. \u201cRemember,\u201d says Tavor, \u201cthat the religious landscape of the U.S. was about freedom of religion. Anyone can create a new religion, and can appeal to the government for new religion status and get protections and recognition from the government.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Correa, the sponsor of the legislation in Panama, insists that the new legislation does not degrade protections against religious liberty, but given that similar legislation has been used to oppress minority religions elsewhere, this law bears continuing scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>The new legislation will be voted on at the end of February.<\/p>\n<p>Stay Safe!!<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wpcf7 no-js\" id=\"wpcf7-f16536-o1\" lang=\"\" dir=\"ltr\" data-wpcf7-id=\"16536\">\n<div class=\"screen-reader-response\"><p role=\"status\" aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\"><\/p> <ul><\/ul><\/div>\n<form action=\"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30698#wpcf7-f16536-o1\" method=\"post\" class=\"wpcf7-form init\" aria-label=\"Contact form\" novalidate=\"novalidate\" data-status=\"init\">\n<fieldset class=\"hidden-fields-container\"><input 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has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[242,12,241,39,248,34,33,62,280,42,219,11,249,243,7,246,244,281],"class_list":["post-30698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-articles-panama-perpsective","tag-boca-chica-real-estate","tag-boquete","tag-boquete-real-estate","tag-buenaventura","tag-casco","tag-casco-antiguo","tag-casco-viejo","tag-coffee-in-panama","tag-disinfetion-services-safety-in-panama-panama-real-estate-bocas-del-toro","tag-estate-homes-in-panama","tag-move-to-panama","tag-offshore-real-estate","tag-panama-offshore-real-estate","tag-panama-papers","tag-panama-real-estate","tag-relocate-to-panama","tag-rum-in-panama","tag-travel-to-panama-rent-in-boquete-expat-tourism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - 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