terrible exorcism sessions in this sect in Panama

The police were deployed in an Amerindian locality in western Panama where seven corpses, most of them children, were discovered in a mass grave, presumably sacrificed by a sect during exorcism sessions, authorities.

“Law enforcement units are leaving“For the town of Terron, a mountainous region difficult to access about 250 km from the Panamanian capital, announced to local media the police chief of the province of Veraguas (west), Enrique Martinez.

It’s about ensuring “the security and tranquility of this poor community where people are terrorized“, added the manager.

Several helicopters with police and soldiers on board took off on Friday from Santiago de Veraguas, the capital of the province.

A mass grave with the remains of six minors, aged one to 17, and a pregnant woman, was discovered on Wednesday during a police operation that led to the release of fifteen kidnapped people, including seven children and two pregnant women.

“The intervention (…) of the national police prevented 15 other people from being murdered“said the prosecutor’s office on Thursday that announced the arrest of ten members of a sect called La Nueva Luz de Dios (The New Light of God).

Suspicious parents

From the Native American community, the ten suspects are suspected of having tortured and sacrificed the victims during exorcism sessions.

According to a source close to the investigation, one of the suspects is the father of the pregnant woman and grandfather of five children discovered in the pit.

Domingo Gonzalez, a witness to the sessions who managed to escape, told local TVN-2 how he saw a man beat his own naked son.

“They started to beat him with the Bible and their fists. They grabbed him by the neck and said to him, ‘Get rid of the demon that is in you’“He said. He also explained that a woman had admitted that her daughter had been killed because” she did not accept Christ “.

“We are facing a region whose population is particularly vulnerable and where the State is not very present to prevent this type of situation“said Claire Nevache, a political scientist at the International Center for Political and Social Studies, to AFP.

According to her, Panama has a “fairly permissive legal framework for the installation of new cults, with very few controls”, where the limit is “respect for Christian morals“and not so much”respect for human rights“.

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