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Influenced by Cuba,  the Venezuelans  Turn to Santeria Many in Catholic Nation Seek New Path.
This initiation ceremony, seldom witnessed by outsiders, has become increasingly common in Venezuela, as the Afro-Cuban traditions of Santeria and other folk religions gain followers.

The rituals have become an attractive option for Venezuelans seeking a unique spiritual path, including healing ceremonies aimed at curing everything from illness to heartache. Some even believe certain gods will offer protection from Venezuela's rampant violent crime.

It's a familiar pattern. Santeria has grown in popularity in New York, Miami and Puerto Rico in the past following influxes of Cubans, according to Margarite Fernandez Olmos, a professor at City University of New York who has researched the religion.

In overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Venezuela, many shops have sprung up in recent years selling roosters, goats and other animals to be sacrificed in Caracas' working class barrios. In the city's churches, believers can be seen in head-to-toe white, praying to their gods before statues of Catholic saints.

Santeria was born in Cuba among Yoruba slaves from West Africa. They were forbidden to practice their own religion, so they fused their beliefs with the Catholicism of their masters, starting a tradition that has spread throughout the Americas. Catholic leaders consider the rituals idolatrous, but have come to tolerate the popular practice.

Santeria has been present in Venezuela for decades, though some experts say it is more out in the open now due to the political situation.

"The current political ambiance created by a populist government with its emphasis on nationalism has made Santeria more visible," said Leslie Desmangles, a religion and international studies professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

Along with Santeria, Venezuela is home to other folk religions, such as the sect surrounding the Indian goddess Maria Lionza, which has also been flourishing.

Believers in Maria Lionza make quick dashes through highway traffic in Caracas to reach a statue of the goddess in a highway divider. They lay offerings of flowers, liquor or coins at the foot of the statue, which depicts the naked goddess riding a tapir, a jungle animal.

The Santeria movement nowadays cuts across racial groups and class lines, and includes lawyers and other professionals as well as the unemployed among its adherents. In spite of rapid economic growth propelled by Venezuela's oil industry, people here face problems, from crime to inflation.

"Santeria is on the rise because there are many people who need the help of higher powers to overcome their problems," said Belkis, a 51-year-old "santera" who declined to give her last name, saying true followers prefer anonymity.

She was among hundreds of white-clad believers who recently crowded into a Catholic church, praying before a statue of the Virgen de Las Mercedes, a manifestation of the Virgin Mary, who they said represents Obatala, a patriarch in the pantheon of Yoruba gods.

Some pay up to $7,000 for the years-long initiation process to become "babalaos," or Santeria priests. The Followers of Ifa, a Santeria association, says it objects to charging such sums, saying the religion is based on "humility, brotherhood and honesty."

One santero, a 40-year-old named Wilfredo who would not give his last name, said that while Santeria attracts many for positive reasons, there are those who use it for black magic "because they think they can go kill and rob and nothing will happen to them."

Black magic practitioners known as "paleros" are known to gather human bones from cemeteries in order to seal pacts with the dead, to call upon their spirits for vengeance. At least some of the grave-robbing that plagues Caracas' main cemetery is thought to be due to the paleros, who according to some Santeria followers offer up to $5,000 for a skull.

In contrast, those seeking enlightenment and healing often visit the mountains of Sorte in rural north-central Venezuela, a key site for followers of the Maria Lionza sect.

(AP)


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