The Matamoros Affair (was Palo Mayombe: The 'Dark Side' of Santeria?...)
dreadcomber
[reconstructed from a variety of parts in this thread]
E. C. Ballard:
>>> ...the matamoros affair....
>>> Adolfo Constanzo claimed many things, but the fact remains that he
>>> borrowed ideas from a number of traditions and perverted them to his
>>> own murderous ends. He was neither practicing anything approaching
>>> palo nor was he a validly initiated palero.
richard sprigg <kt...@sympatico.ca>:
>> The information gathered by the FBI suggests otherwise.
>> His initiator was accepted as a bona-fide palero by the
>> Cuban community.
is this disputed? it seems to be one of the more important aspects
of the data discussed.
>> That these should indulge in post-hoc damage control is understandable,
>> though it might be more credible had they done so while Adolfo was still
>> alive.
agreed. hindsight is wonderful, but does not replace responsibility.
>>> He was simply a madman and a criminal.
>>
>> Which is an easy way to sidestep the issue. The vastly amusing part
>> of the whole affair was that the media circus branded him as a
>> Satanist, which he certainly was not.
depends on how you define the term ("satanist"). some Christians will
label anything which contains elements of their satanism-egregore
(i.e. worship of non-Christian god or spirit, animal sacrifice,
nonChristian symbolism and iconography, ritual violence) as "satanism"
regardless of the cultural components or context from which it
derives. African-diaspora religious have at times taken up Christian
iconography for the purpose of survival in reaction to precisely
this kind of demonization.
solitary religious sociopaths are prone to eclectic combination,
sociopaths within religious traditions tend to have unusual
'visions' or cosmological 'discoveries' which serve as their
justification for their violence, by my (limited) assessment.
as long as Satanism has its "independents" then should an
individual identify as such it becomes difficult to know more
than whether someone belongs to a Satanist organization and
what kinds of activities they engaged.
whether the Matamoros killings were "satanic" seems to depend upon
who is doing the reporting. I see this kind of thing in the media
all the time (even in court records): ambiguous characterizations,
oblique references to the egregore mentioned above, etc. with
regard to Matamoros I have a couple of sources. one of them is
my wife (sri catyananda, catherine yronwode), who says that she
does not remember Satanism being part of the newspaper accounts
when she was researching the matter for the True Crime Trading
Cards that she was editing and publishing. instead her memory
is that the focus was on Santeria and what Santerians said
about Palo.
my other source is Gary Provost and his "Across the Border:
The True Story of the Satanic Cult Killings in Matamoros,
Mexico", published by Pocket (True Crime) Books in 1989.
it is a competent criminological narrative drawing from
interviews with law enforcement, academic figures, and
family members associated with the case and newspaper
accounts available at the time -- one major flaw in the
book's content is his occasional references to Migene
Gozalez-Wippler's book on Santeria as a reference source,
which may be excusable based on the fact that hers was
apparently one of the only commonly-available sources on
the subject in English available at that time.
Provost indicates in the title and first few pages that
Satanism is ascribed some relation to the crimes, but
later discusses only Santera and Palo Mayombe. thus his
usage of 'Satanic' and 'Satanism' (page 11) seem merely
to be sensationalistic.
Provost quotes the following sources regarding the
the religious elements surrounding the killings:
...the rites appeared to be some imported Afro-
Carribean tradition, something like Santeria,
but not really Santeria, because that religion
does not practice human sacrifice. More likely,
what went on in secret over in Matamoros was part
of Santeria's dark co-tradition of Palo Mayombe,
and an abberrant form of it at that. Especially
characteristic of Palo Mayombe was the evil
cauldron, or nganga, that had been found. The
nganga is the powerhouse of the mayombero, or
Palo Mayombe priest.
[testimony by Dr. Tony Zavaleta, Professor of
Anthropology, Southmost Texas College; City
Commissioner, Brownsville, Texas]
----------------------------------------------
"Across the Border", Provost, p. 17.
______________________________________________
this gives the indication, especially when combined with the
testimony that Constanzo, the leader of the cult which
perpetrated the killings, was sent by his mother at the age
of 14 "to study Palo Mayombe under the tutelage of a mayombero"
that he was a part of this community.
[concerning Oggun, to whom Provost claims there
is some evidence Constanzo was dedicated.]
He eats dogs and is the patron of ironworkers.
Before going to war, the Yorubas used to sacrifice
to him a human victim or a black dog.
[and]
The mayombero waits until the moon is propitious,
and then he goes to a cemetery with an assistant.
Once there, he sprinkles rum in the form of a
cross over a prechosen grave. The grave is
opened, and the head, toes, the fingers, the
ribs, and the tibias of the corpse are removed.
These graves are chosen ahead of time, and the
mayombero usually knows the identity of the
cadaver, which is known as a kiyumba. They are
usually recent graves, as the mayombero insists
on having a head in which the brain is still
present, however decayed. He believes that the
brain of the kiyumba can think and thus 'act'
better. The choice kiyumbas are those belonging
to very violent persons, especially those of
criminals and of the insane, for the purposes
of the mayombery are generally to commit acts
of death and destruction. The bodies of white
persons are also greatly favored, as the
mayombero believes that the brain of the white
person is easier to influence than that of a
black man and that it will follow instructions
better.
[Provost notes that an occult supply house in
Pennsylvania which supplies human body parts,
such that grave robbery need not be involved.]
[Gozalez-Wippler from her book "Santeria: African
Magic in Latin America", Crown, 1973.]
--------------------------------------------------
Ibid., p. 114, 119-20.
_______________________
any truth to these quotes? the latter appears related
because ngangas ("cauldrons" for which Gonzalez-Wippler
was describing a recipe) were found at the crime scene.
Because Santeria does not address a specific
moral code as in the Judeo-Christian tradition,
it is frequently found in association with
criminal activities. Drug dealers, for example,
not infrequently have elaborate statues and other
depictions of Santeria in their homes, and Ochosi
(god of hunting and owner of traps) is propitiated
and honored among some criminal and socially
deviant groups to avoid incarceration or obtain
release from jail. Hence, Santeria, while
predominantly a white or neutral magic religion,
does have a component of malevolent sorcery and
is invoked by criminal elements. This should not
be construed, however, to suggest that Santeria
promotes malevolent or criminal activities, but
that it may simply be used by such persons to
promote their already established intentions.
[and]
Because of the acculturative and syncretic
processes which took place over several centuries,
the rituals and myths of Palo Mayombe are
frequently associated with the practitioners of
Santeria. Indeed, many santeros claim they have
also been "Rayado en Palo" {initiated into the
Palo Mayombe cult}. Religious paraphernalia typical
of Santeria and those characteristic of Palo
Mayombe may be found in the same home, but in
different locatinos of the residence. Despite the
historical and symbolic associations with Santeria,
Palo Mayombe has certain distinguishing features.
Most importantly, the myths and rituals of Palo
Mayombe are centered about the spirit of the dead
(kiyumba). In most instances, the magic is used to
inflict misfortune (insanity, divorce, etc.) or
death upon an enemy or the enemy of a client.
[and]
In contrast to Santeria, which is predominantly
used for good or neutral purposes, Palo Mayombe
is primarily oriented towards malevolent sorcery.
While many depictions and symbols in Palo Mayombe
appear identical to Santeria, devotion to
*brujeria*, the use of human remains, and other
features distinguish this cult from other African-
Caribbean religions.
[from the "Journal of the Florida Medical
Association", August, 1983), authors Charles
Wetli, deputy chief medical examiner for
Dade County and professor of pathology at
the University of Miami and Rafael Martinez,
administrative officer of the Dade-Miami
Criminal Justice Council; Provost claims that
"both men are nationally recognized experts
on Afro-Caribbean religions. (After the bodies
were found in Matamoros, Texas law enforcement
agencies considered the credentials of thirty
experts around the country. Martinez was the
man they chose to help them with their
investigation.)"]
------------------------------------------------------
Ibid., pp. 110-1, 115-6.
_____________________________
any reason to discredit these sources?
It's not correct to say that Palo Mayombe is the
dark side of Santeria. Santeria has a dark side if
the santero chooses, and it is perceived to be just
as powerful as Palo. All African religions can be
used for good or evil. Most of the paleros are good,
law-abiding people. This Constanzo thing takes
place thousands of miles away from Miami. There are
over five thousand paleros in Miami, and they have
never seen anything like this. Certainly some
paleros are linked with drugs or illegal activity,
if you are living on the margin, you are going to
seek protection more than anybody else, and you
can't go to a Catholic church to pray for
protection tonight for a shipload of cocaine. You
can't go to the priest and tell him that I am in
love with my best friend's wife and I want to see
how I can get her over to my place. But that
doesn't mean that all paleros are evil. How come
with five thousand paleros in Miami, this man
Constanzo couldn't even get a following in Miami?
[and]
Constanzo was a sociopath and he would have murdered
people even if he was a Methodist.
[Terasita Pedraza, a professor of sociology and
anthropology at Florida International University,
and an expert on Santeria and Palo Mayombe]
---------------------------------------------------
Ibid., 117-8, 120-1.
______________________
this seems to make a case for the possibility of someone
turning toward crime at least within Santeria and Palo
Mayombe religious traditions. whether physical violence
to humans might once have been involved in Afro-
Caribbean magic seems very unusual at least, and, if the
sources above indicating it are incorrect (e.g. Gonzalez-
Wippler), possibly fictitious.
>> He may well have used bits and pieces of other traditions,
>> but he was certainly also using Palo methods extensively.
this appears to be the case, from Provost's sources, moreso
than that what Eoghan has claimed below.
ebal...@sas.upenn.edu (E. C. Ballard):
> ...the man heard about various religions and borrowed
> scraps from many and then added his own mad murderous part.
this seems extreme, though I would agree with Eoghan when
he characterizes it as
> ...regrettable because it doesn't really have anything to
> do with the normal practice of any religion.
Richard's point was NOT that it had something to do with
"normal" practice of religion (one might say the same of
any sociopath who *is* a participant within an extant
religious tradition who takes it to violence -- this was
Professor Pedraza's point about Methodism). his point
was that Constanzo appears to have been initiated by
a mayombero or someone who posed as such. Constanzo's
mother claimed to be a santero and provided Constanzo
with an initiation into Santeria, but there was no
evidence that she went through the training. unless we
were able to identify by whom Constanzo was trained in
Palo (or clearly able to falsify the story about the
training), other indicators are that he was closer than
just some syncretic poser.
> A madman can claim anything for his basis. Like Rasputan
> however, he has only his madness to blame.
we're not talking about blame here. we're talking about
actually identifying the individual's relation to the
religious culture in question. when a Satanist commits a
murder nobody is helped by attempting to distance the
individual from Satanism. it is far better to identify
how what they did matches up with the religion of which
they are part and identify the normal practices which
constitute the standard from which they were an anomaly.
> In this, as everyone other than the most sensationalist
> "journalists" have already made clear, this man was not
> a legitimate follower or practitioner of any religion.
would training have made him "legitimate"? otherwise,
what disqualifies one who has been trained as a palero
from being considered "a legitimate follower" of either
Santeria or of Palo Mayombe? I'm not asking in order to
pick on anyone here, I'm trying to get a better sense of
what criteria are used to "authorize" practitioners and
see why you are making the claims that you are. thanks.
> Bottom line, Palo and Ocha are like any other responsible
> modern religion in condemning murder and abuse.
this much appears to be very true, and I hope that anyone
contributing to the thread understands it. amongst the
variety of religions, however, there do appear to be
differing notions of what "abuse" includes. it is quite
clear that physical violence is considered 'abuse' within
both these traditions. the line does appear to be more
ambiguous when it comes to other illegal activities (such
as the purchase or sale of controlled substances).
if you dispute this I'd like to know why and on what basis
the sources presented by Provost are found wanting. thanks.
dreadcomber
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catherine yronwode
> First of all, no serious student of academic or practical interest in
> either Ocha or Palo will say anything flattering about Wippler, at
> least not once the half hour laughter fest is over.
Well said, and agreed.
>
> Secondly, Palo is not evil nor dark.
Agreed, in principle.
> That particular discourse came out of
> a combination of the political motives of certain Yoruban derived
> religious leaders who wished to level the playing field by accusing
> the Congo derived religious groups of sorcery while maintaining that
> they were strictly devotional practitioners
Emphatically agreed!
> and the Webberian notions of scholars
> such as Bastide who believed so firm a line could be drawn between
> magical practices and religion that a practitioner of one could not
> be a participant in the other.
This is a new argument to me, but i consider it one that is equally
applied to other religions (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism)and can
be easily dismissed by examining the historical record.
> Neither of these views are accurate or are
> viewed seriously by much of anyone other than the writers for the
> National Enquirer.
Here i think you are going overborad, Eoghan. Gary Provost is hardly a
writer for the National Enquirer. His book on the Matamoros killings was
admittedly compiled from an outsider's point of view, but he is a
respectable jouranilst and he consulted witnesses, survivors, government
prosecutors, anthropologists, and published sources -- and cited them
adequately throughout his book. His standards are certainly above those
of a tabloid journalist.
> As for what the "Cuban" community thought about the man purported to
> have initiated him, all of this was in Mexico. mexico is not Cuba and
> my experience has been that what passes for reputable Palo in places
> like Mexico City and even California are so mixed with Mexican
> traditions as to not be in any realistic way traditional Palo.
Okay, your paragraph above indicates that you are actually less familiar
with the Matamoros case than i had thought.
To bring you up to speed -- Adolfo Constanzo, the "padrino" of this
group of Paleros, was not a Mexican at all. He did not receive
initiations in Santeria or Palo in Mexico City or California. He was
from Miami, where his Cuban-born mother, Aurora COnstanzo, was a
practicing Santeria in the Miami Cuban community (and had a minor
criminal history of her own). The only reason Constanzo was in Mexico
was that his business (drug smuggling) took him there.
For the most part, his followers were Mexicans and American Latinos who
were part of his drug-smuggling operation and he initiated them into
Palo Mayombe. However, for the benefit of his girlfriend, who claimed to
be too sensitive to even witness the sacrifice of roosters, he also
practiced a modified form of Santeria Cristiana.
> Besides, who was the so quoted "Cuban community"? There are plenty of
> Cubans outside of Palo even in places like Habana who would be unable
> to judge accurately whether someone were a validly initated palero or
> not.
I understand what you are saying, but, in fact, this is a point that one
of Provost's informants, Terasita Pedraza, the professor of sociology
and anthropology, made preceisely! Let me re-insert that quotation, if i
may -- and now, knowing that Constanzo was the Spanish-speaking son of a
Cuban-born Santero, Aurora Constanzo, and that he was also was said to
have been initiated in Palo in Miami, the professor's references to
"Miami" will make much more sense to you, i think:
[and]
Now do you see her point? She was saying that although Constanzo was
indeed a Palero from Miami, he was not respected enough in the large
Miami-Cuban palero community to gain a following there, and, as a
sociopath, he might just as well have been a Methodist for all the
validity of a link between his religion and his actions.
This, to me, seems a far more effective defense of Palo than to claim
that Constanzo got some weird ideas about Palo in Mexico or California
or that he learned about Palo from dabbling in books.
By the way, Constanzo retained some connection to the Santeria religion
practiced by his mother after adopting Palo -- and this is brought
forward in an interview with his Mexican-born assistant Sara Aldrete,
who at the time of the killings was an American college student at Texas
Southmost University. (I use the term "assistant" advisedly --
Constanzo, who was gay, mainly used her for drug-smuggling across the
Texas-Mexico border.)
A. I don't believe in any of that [human sacrifice].
I am in the religion Santeria Cristiana [Christian
Santeria]. Adolfo initiated me last year. I was
still learning about it and he was showing me all
these things, and he gave me some saints that I
have in my house, Saint Francis, Saint Barbara,
and the Virgin of Charity, and the Holy Child,
and some others. I really am very confused about
all this. The other part of my religion is Palo
Mayombe. I didn't love Aldolfo, but I followed him.
I feel terrible about all that has happened.
... People don't know that I am a vegetarian, that
I am opposed to killing animals. They don't know
that I belonged to the animal defense league, that
the one thing I could never accept about the
Santeria Cristiana is that you are supposed to
sacrifice roosters.
Q. How did you learn about Santeria Cristiana?
A. Alfonso taught me. [She calls Adolfo "Alfonso."]
And I was fascinated by it. It is a religion that
does not interfere with your being a Catholic, only
the difference is that you can worship the saints in
your home. Build your own altar. You leave little
bits of fruits for offerings, but Alfonso also said
you had to sacrifice a rooster, and I would not go
along wih that."
Police-supervised press interview with Sara Aldrete,
May 7, 1989.
---------------------------------------------------
Ibid., 227-229.
______________________
I find it intriguing that even while distncing herself from animal
sacrifice, Aldrete frankly told interviewers that her "other religion"
(besides Catholicism and Santeria Cristiana") was Palo Mayombe.
> Lastly, Palo is not Yoruba or "santerÃa"
I think Provost deals adequately with this, stating it much as you did,
and also quoting Professor Teresita Pedraza as noted above ("It's not
correct to say that Palo Mayombe is the dark side of Santeria") and
Charles Wetli, deputy chief medical examiner for Dade County and
professor of pathology at the University of Miami and Rafael Martinez,
administrative officer of the Dade-Miami Criminal Justice Council
("Despite the historical and symbolic associations with Santeria, Palo
Mayombe has certain distinguishing features"). Also, to be fair, these
events took place in 1989 -- and to this date no book on Palo exists in
English, as you well know.
> and although Paleros will use
> the names of Orichas such as Ogun or Chango as referents, especially
> for outsiders who are not familiar with the Congo traditions, Ogun is
> a Yoruba deity or Oricha. He is sometimes equated with Sarabanda, a
> Congo Enkise or deity, but they are not the same.
Provost also notes, in a section of the book not quoted earlier, that
Constanzo was devoted to Zarabanda, and he also quotes a Santerian
source who then identifies Zarabanda losely with Ogun.
> Neither Palo nor Santeria sacrifice humans at any time. That is pure
> rubbish.
Is it HISTORICALLY rubbish? Apparently Constanzo believed that the
spirits of the dead would work more assiduously in his favour if he
killed them personally, and he seemed to believe -- rightly or wrongly
-- that human sacrfice had historical precedents in Palo.
He particularly offered Palo to people with troubled pasts as a form of
powerful religious protection. Interviews with other members of his
group indicate that he performed a cutting ceremony on them as part of
the initiation and that their reason for joining was FAITH-based, not a
matter of thrill-seeking:
For instance, Serafin Hernandez Garcia, a 20 year old Texas-born
American citizen who led a double life as a college student at Texas
Southmost University, where he was studying to be a police officer, and
as a member of a family that earned its income from farming marijuana in
Mexico and transporting it to the Unoited States. When Serafino's
grandfather Saul, the head of the family, was murdered, family tensions
escalated to the point that Serafin joined the Constanzo drug-smuggling
operation. He believed that the Palo rrituals Constanzo performed on his
behalf would make him both invisible to the police and, should they see
him, render him invulnerable to their bullets. (Ibid. 59-69)
Constanzo's rituals of protection took the form of Palo initiations, as
evidenced by an excerpt from an interview with the Mexican gang-member
Alvaro de Leon, known as El Duby:
Q. Why did you join the sect?
A. Because I had a problem in Matamoros. I had
killed a person there, and in the ritual I met
some of the people who could help me.
Q. How did it happen?
A. Well, we went into this little temple, a little
house [a large farm shed -- cat], and we stood around
and we saw the padrino place a body in a cauldron.
Q. Why was that done?
A. Because Adolfo said it would go better for us in
the future. He said that we would receive protection.
[...]
Q. How were you initiated?
A. I joined and got this blessing so I would have better
protection and they marked me...
---------------------------------------------------
Police-supervised press interview with El Duby,
May 7, 1989.
---------------------------------------------------
Ibid., 227-229.
______________________
Maria del Rocio Cuevas Guerra, a 43 years old native of Mexico who
practiced brujeria, said, "I was having a run of bad luck, so I went to
him. He made some marks on my backs and killed some chickens." (Ibid.
225)
In addition, an AP/Wide World photo in t==Provost's book shows a police
commandant exposing the cut-marks on Elio Herndandez's shoulder, "made
by Adolfo Constanzo." Elio Hernandez, the uncle or Serafin Hernandez
Garcia, was 23 years old, an American citizen born in Brownsville,
Texas, and co-owner of the ranch in Matamoros where the killings took
place. He was also the childhood friend and former lover of Sara
Aldrete.
---------------------------------------------------
Regarding the markings:
Police also found Constanzo's diary, wherein
he ranked the members of his cult. He was
the "padrino" (godfather). [Omar Francisco]
Orea was "palero mayor" (greatest or main
palero, or follower of Palo Mayombe). Others
were simply "palero." Some were "rayado"
(marked with an arrow on their body) or
"no rayado."
---------------------------------------------------
Ibid., 210.
______________________
The first gang members arrested referred to Constanzo both as "El
Padrino" and as "tata nkisis."
> I can call myself a Buddhist,
> but frankly having a poster I bought at a head shop and burning
> Japanese incense isn't going to make me one.
Now, Eoghan, i know you are angry about this topic, but take a look at
the facts. Constanzo did not buy a book by Whippler that called Palo
"the dark side of Santeria" and then set about killing people. He was
offering a faith-based magical form of protection, mostly to Mexicans
and Mexican-Americans who were ignorant of Palo, who called him "The
Cuban" to distinguish him from themselves, and who believed that he
could help them. As far as the testimony of gang members went, they did
not perform the killings themselves and they certainly did not engage in
alleged "satanic" activities such as drinking blood or eating flesh --
in each case El Padrino performed the ritual murder, the requisite body
parts were taken from the victim and placed in the nganga, and the rest
of the body was buried.
> The so-called experts in this case
> could not have read their way through any serious study of these
> traditions let alone have met any real practitioners. The continued
> discussion of matamoras serves only the purposes of those who wish to
> discredit African derived religions on any pretext they can find.
> Anyone who knows even the simplest amount about the living tradition
> will not take it seriously in that context.
On the contrary, i believe that the Matamoros case served to give many
Santeros a reason to distinguish their religion from media-fueled ideas
of "satanism" and that if Paleros were equally savvy and less defensive
they could admit that, yes, Constanzo was a sociopathic cult-leader --
but it just so happened that he was also a Palero. In this case,
protesting "too much" makes the defenders of Palo seem a bit dishonest.
Claims that Constanzo was ignorant of Palo or that he learned it in
Mexico, or that he got it from books do not serve the purpose of
isolating him from main-stream Palo Mayombe because they can be so
easily disputed.
> It does deserve to be taken seriously as both a tragic event and as a
> stinging indictment of institutionalized ignorance and outright racism
> - both against hispanics and people of African origins.
That statement i cannot agree with, Eoghan. The police and prosecutors
in this case WERE Hispanics, as you ought to know, and although they
went to great lengths to distance "the Cuban" and his religion from
their own local form of folk-magical religion, curandismo, they did not
make any racist remarks that i have seen. Charges of "satanism" and
"voodoo" made as the case first broke in the United States were early
dispersed, as were charges that the rituals, occuring as they did in
Mexico, were a form of "Aztec human sacrifice." Provost's book deals
with all of these media mis-statements and presents a fairly balanced
case for the fact that Constanzo was to Palo what Jim Jones (of the
Jonestown massacre) was to Christianity.
Finally, in reading Provost's account of the Matamoros murders, what
stuck in my mind most strongly was not the fact that a renegade
Cuan-American Palero had ritually killed a series of Mexicans and
Americans in order to provide protection for members of his smuggling
operation -- it was that Juan Benitez, the commandant of the Matamors
branch of the Federal Judicial Police and the officer who arrested most
of the gang members, personally hired a curandero to ritually cleanse
the crime scene shortly after the bodies were removed. This the
curandero and his assistent did by performing traditional limpias,
consulting with a white dove in a box, and then standing by as a group
of devout curandismo-believing Federales burned the Palo nganga shed and
all its evidence to the ground before the trial started -- the whole
ritual witnessed by Tony Zavaleta, the anthropology professor from Texas
Southmost University.
cat yronwode
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