Peru Shaman Murders

[Laban Shrewsbury III]

Recent reports from northern Peru indicate local politicians have engaged in a campaign of assassination against the native curanderos.

Peru shaman murders investigated

Peruvian government sends team to remote Amazon region to look into killing of 14 shamans, allegedly at behest of local mayor

www.guardian.co.uk

The Peruvian government is sending a team of officials to a remote region of the Amazon jungle to investigate the deaths of 14 shamans who were killed in a string of brutal murders.

The traditional healers, all from the Shawi ethnic group, were murdered in separate incidents over the last 20 months, allegedly at the behest of a local mayor.

...

The Roman Catholic church in the area has reported the death of seven other shamans whose bodies have yet to be found, Otta said, adding that territorial disputes and political disagreements also pointed to the mayor being "one of the instigators of the slaughter".

He said that the murder suspects had sought to "legitimise the killings " by blaming the victims for the high level of infant mortality in the area.

 

[DeMenTed]

Shocking

 

[Phantastica]

so sad..

 

[jamie]

do we need more examples to outline why religion is retarted?..it's like a step backwards to the witch burnings..if we all could ditch religion and replace it with these things we have called brains the world might be better off.

 

[Ice House]

Wow, that is soo sad. It would not suprise me a bit if we learned the Catholic church played a role in this, I hope not. There are some truely fukked up people out there.

 

[Laban Shrewsbury III]

Not Catholics, but rather evangelical Christians. In fact probably not even really them, since the orchestrators are likely just cynically clinging to evangelist fervour in the hope of garnering support for their crimes.

The crux of the issue seems to be the local government stifling the curanderos' attempts to organise, which would very likely cost some local panjandrum face and/or money, and hence he's hired in some machete-wielding union busters to send a message.

 

[The Day Tripper]

It could be a number of factions committing these atrocities. Not necessarily the church. If you've seen the documentary Shamans of the Amazon (2002), it shows how a shaman was stabbed multiple times for organizing a protest against the oil companies who were polluting their ancestral lands. It could also be drug/gang related as well. Basically this shaman was using the spirits to tell him how to fight back against the oil companies, and they are like community figures from how i see it.

Basically with the situation the US created down there in the last 50 years, its no wonder atrocities like this happen, and then theres always the ones that don't get reported.

Such terrible sadness to see those who only wish to help heal their fellow man, have their life wasted like it was nothing.

 

[Global]

do we need more examples to outline why religion is retarted?..it's like a step backwards to the witch burnings..if we all could ditch religion and replace it with these things we have called brains the world might be better off.

It seems politicians are more to blame than these healers.

 

[Doodazzle]

I hate to be the one to bump this thread back up, and remind everyone of some serious negativity, but I gotta be a bummer right now, this should not be too quickly forgotten, nor brushed aside.

This is absolutely wretched. the word Atrocity is not an exaggeration. How many preacticing shamans are there anyway, in Peru these days?

There is a disinfo article about this:

Protestant Sect Members Suspected: The prosecutor’s office of Alto Amazonas province stated that the alleged murders were carried out by a man known locally at the “witch hunter,” at the behest of his brother, the mayor of the town of Balsa Puerto. A Peruvian government adviser and expert on Amazon cultures alleges that both are members of a Protestant sect that claims shamans are possessed by demons and must be eliminated. The Peruvian Times reports that the shamans had been planning to form an association to share their knowledge.

I am saddened, by the loss of life, the brutal expression of violence exhibited by some delusional fools, and the loss of knowlege--some of these healers may very well have had special, rare knowlege, perhaps lost for all time.