Sawt Falasteen - Ecuadoran drug gangs turn to death saint for protection

The eerie statue of a skeleton shrouded in a cape -- a scythe in her right hand and a globe of Earth in her left -- is the latest in a fast-growing number of Santa Muerte shrines found in criminal hideouts in the western city of Duran.

Offerings of money, tobacco, alcohol, figurines and religious paraphernalia were piled up at her feet by gangsters seeking the saint's protection.

"The belief is that when they entrust themselves to this Santa Muerte, they will not be caught or they will achieve their goal because Santa Muerte takes care of them," Duran police colonel Roberto Santamaria told AFP.

Sometimes the offerings are more sinister.

A former gang member told AFP some colleagues have been known to make human sacrifices too.

"They stole children from other towns and sacrificed them in front of her (Santa Muerte) when they wanted to land a big hit," the man said, refusing to give his name.

- Surging popularity -

Also known as The Skinny Lady or The White Girl, Santa Muerte is a guardian saint of healing and protection, and thousands of Latin Americans pray to her for safe passage to the afterlife.

Believed to date back to 18th century Mexico, the saint gained a following of drug lords there and was more recently adopted by Ecuadoran traffickers and hitmen in Duran -- a city overrun by drug gangs that extort and terrorize locals.

In addition to making offerings at altars, gang members tattoo the saint's likeness on their arms and wear amulets bearing her image around their necks.

Santamaria said Santa Muerte came over from Mexico about six years ago when members of the Ecuadoran gang Los Choneros received training from the infamous Sinaloa cartel, which also transferred its otherworldly beliefs.

Police in Duran estimate they had found altars to the saint in about six out of every 10 busts carried out in 2024.

Los Choneros is one of 20 criminal gangs declared "terrorist groups" by Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa, seeking re-election Sunday as he leads a war on drug gangs blamed for a surge in violent crime in the once-peaceful South American country.

Noboa has declared a state of emergency and deployed troops in the streets and violence-riddled prisons, resulting in a slight dip in homicide rates in 2024 from the previous year.

Duran and the nearby city of Guayaquil are at the epicenter of Ecuador's violence, due in part to their proximity to the port increasingly used to send cocaine to Europe and the United States from neighbors Peru and Colombia -- the world's top producers of the drug.

- 'They get headaches' -

Like Mexico, Ecuador is a largely Catholic country, and the Church condemns the practice of portraying death as a personality like in the case of Santa Muerte.

However, most Ecuadorans have no problem reconciling the two, and Santa Muerte is being adopted by broader society as well, with depictions sold at markets or even online.

This has prompted observers to worry that people with Santa Muerte items in their possession may be wrongly labeled gangsters amid the government crackdown.

"People are already being criminalized because of their race, because they are impoverished, now they will also be criminalized for popular customs," Ecuadoran social studies researcher Cristina Burneo told AFP.

In further testimony to the saint's reach, Santamaria said many of his officers are scared to work around the altars.

"Police have told me that after the operations, they get headaches, begin to feel sick and feel dizzy," he said -- though he personally does not believe in the powers attributed to the saint.

Police investigating crime scenes or conducting searches do not destroy Santa Muerte statues they come across, unless there is evidence they contain drugs or ammunition.

"In Ecuador there is freedom of worship and anyone can have it, it's not a crime," said Santamaria.

E.Aziz--SF-PST