Mexican drug smugglers embrace bandit as patron saint
In these dark times, the faithful still come to worship in the chapel of Jesus Malverde, Mexico's patron saint of drug traffickers.
They kneel in front of his statue, dip flowers in water and wipe them tenderly over his face. They leave cryptic notes of thanks on the altar. They slip offerings into a donation box and buy talismans that say: "Malverde, bless my path and permit my return."
Here in Culiacán, where about 20% of the economy depends on the illegal drug trade, the flow of worshipers has not diminished even as drug turf wars rage in other parts of the country, said the chapel's caretaker, Jesus González.
"People need faith more now than ever," González said. "We're getting more people here because they want to be protected."
The veneration of Malverde, a Robin Hood-style bandit who died in 1909, shows how deep the tradition of drug smuggling runs in Mexican culture — and how hard it will be to stamp out, said Tomas Guevara, a sociologist at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa....
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They kneel in front of his statue, dip flowers in water and wipe them tenderly over his face. They leave cryptic notes of thanks on the altar. They slip offerings into a donation box and buy talismans that say: "Malverde, bless my path and permit my return."
Here in Culiacán, where about 20% of the economy depends on the illegal drug trade, the flow of worshipers has not diminished even as drug turf wars rage in other parts of the country, said the chapel's caretaker, Jesus González.
"People need faith more now than ever," González said. "We're getting more people here because they want to be protected."
The veneration of Malverde, a Robin Hood-style bandit who died in 1909, shows how deep the tradition of drug smuggling runs in Mexican culture — and how hard it will be to stamp out, said Tomas Guevara, a sociologist at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa....