A t-shirt with a message and an image of The holy dead has generated controversy in Mexican politics. After the head of the Public Radio and Television System, Jenaro Villamil, showed a garment with a figure of a skull and the message “a real man does not speak badly of López Obrador”, the opposition and the president himself “have given him “flight” to the topic.
Questioned in the morning conference about this official’s shirt, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador indicated that in Mexico there is freedom of religion.
“I have no opinion, I am very respectful of what citizens do, they have the right to do, it is as if contradictory or it has to do with even religious freedom, which talks about death, but it is ‘Holy Death’, let’s not get into it.” That, this issue has been resolved for some time in Mexico and it is called religious freedom and it has to do with freedom in general,” the president said at the conference on April 23.
López Obrador, who considers himself a non-Catholic Christian, said he was “very respectful of what citizens do” and argued that “they have the right to do it.”
“We must be respectful of believers and non-believers, and that is the secular State, religious freedom. Nothing more than because of the (electoral) season now everything becomes noticeable, but that’s fine, because it is debate and it is controversy and that is inherent to democracy,” said the president.
During the Senate session this Thursday, PAN legislator, Lilly Télleztook advantage of a large tarp that his group took down in the venue, to take out a crucifix and shout “stop the devil.”
Church criticizes cult of Santa Muerte
The Mexican Catholic Church On Wednesday, April 24, he criticized “distorted cults” such as the figure of Santa Muerte, after a t-shirt with her image went viral in support of the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who defended the fact as “religious freedom”.
“We cannot ignore the worrying reality that our society faces with the implementation of a culture of death and violence through ‘narcoculture’ that spreads on social networks, violent images, distorted cults such as that of “Santa Muerte and digital intimidations”he said in a statement.
The Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM) warned that “the spread of this harmful content is distorting the fundamental values that have characterized” the country “as a nation and eroding the social fabric.”
“As a Church we strongly denounce this glorification of violence and we call on all sectors of society to join in a total rejection of these destructive practices,” he added.
The origin of Santa Muerte
In Mexico the cult of death dates back to pre-Hispanic times, hence the origin of the Day of the Dead celebration; However, beliefs and faith in the figure changed over the years and was associated with different origins and purposes.
Only in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, the church of Santa Muerte in Tultitlánand the altars within the Tepito neighborhood became famous at the beginning of the century.
“It is not easy to determine the origin of the cult of Santa Muertewhat is a fact is its enormous growth in recent years in which it is no longer hidden, and its followers begin to express their devotion
openly on private altars, wearing medals, scapulars or tattoos with their image, or in the emergence of street altars and oratories such as those on Alfarería Street, or like the Santuario de la Santa Muerte, both in the Morelos neighborhood,” says Claudia. Reyes Ruiz, professor-researcher at the National School of Anthropology and History of the UNAM.
Much of the problem with the cult of Santa Muerte is that it is associated with the devotion of people who are dedicated to illegal activities. Professor Reyes Ruiz recalls in an article from the UNAM, in this regard, that the relationship of the Crime with this faith became relevant when the capture of the kidnapper Daniel Arizmendi, ‘El Mochaorejas’, Well, it had an altar of the ‘White Girl’ with several figures.
“The contemporary cult is of dubious origin: it is said that it appeared in Hidalgo in 1965. That it was brought by the Cuban santero cult. That Santa Muerte was presented to a shaman witch from Córdoba, Veracruz, who he asked to propagate her cult to help humanity, but there are antecedents of this cult from the Colony.
“Holy Death is placed on an altar where the border between the sacred and the profane is delimited, a point of view from which she takes care of the family clan or business. She is generally alone and in fewer cases next to Jesus Christ or the Virgin, although she can also be seen among elements of other religions,” he explains. Katia Perdigón Castañeda in the INAH magazine.
The topic is extensive, and the origin and worship of Santa Muerte has been addressed in films, series, television programs and books, such as that of Homero Aridjis, and, this Thursday, even in the highest gallery of the Senate.
With information from EFE
