Chiapas - Unidentified gunmen burst into the home of an
alleged practitioner of witchcraft in the southernmost state of Chiapas and
shot to death four adults and wounded five other people, including two
children.
The attack occurred Sunday as the victims slept in their home near the village
of San Juan Chamula, a community that has seen recurring religious violence
over the last three decades.
Several other accused witches have been murdered in Chiapas over the last
decade.
Killed in the shooting attack was Diego Hernandez Lopez, who local residents
had accused of practicing witchcraft, police reported. The injured - most of
whom were listed in serious condition at hospitals in the nearby colonial city
of San Cristobal - included a seven-month-old baby and a two-year-old girl.
Police are still trying to identify the attackers, a task made difficult by the
prevailing level of violence in San Juan Chamula, where dominant Catholics have
long attacked or expelled converts to Protestant faiths.
San Cristobal Bishop Felipe Arizmendi, whose diocese includes San Juan Chamula,
condemned the attacks, reminding residents that "taking justice into one's
own hands could spark a spiral of violence that nobody can stop."
Several other accused witches have been murdered in Chiapas over the last
decade. In 1996, a mob beat and hanged a man they accused of drawing his
victims' souls into bottles and hiding them in a cave. As many as 12 other men
were hacked to death with machetes in Chiapas in the 1990s, reportedly as
punishment for practicing witchcraft.
While faith-healing and pre-Hispanic rituals are common in Chiapas, many of the
state's largely indigenous residents also have a strong belief in, and fear of,
reputed practitioners of black magic who allegedly provoke illness or death
among their neighbors.