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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1989)
come see us in the morning! ATLAS TRANSMISSION • We Deliver • 846-5273 • We Deliver • 846-5273 • ? ASM Steakhocise Page 6 The Battalion Thursday, April 13,1989 Expert: Border killings mix of African, European rituals MEXICO CITY (AP) — The kill ings that shocked both sides off the Mexico-U.S. border appear to be “a Russian salad of rites” containing African and European elements, a leading anthropologist said Wednes day. Although human sacrifices were performed regularly in pre-Colum bian times, “human ritual slayings are unheard of in modern Mexico,” Fernando Winfield Capitaine said in a telephone interview. “Animal sacrifices are very com mon, however, as part of the wide spread superstition and witchcraft that exists in Mexico nowadays,” added the director of the Veracruz Museum of Anthropology at Xalapa. Police in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, have uncovered more than a dozen human bodies, the apparent victims of drug smugglers indulging in Sa tanic rites popularly known as “san- teria.” The smugglers apparently hoped that offering the souls of others, both human and animal, would pro tect them from arrest and harm. Several arrests have been made and police are looking for the al leged ringleader, a Cuban in his late 40s named Adolfo de Jesus Con- stanzo. Police look for suspects in March store robbery Dabbs Oil Store No. 7, 2100 South College Ave., was robbed Thursday March 2 at 1:40 a.m. Three suspects used a baseball bat to smash the glass doors at the sta tion and disable the video cameras. The suspects then loaded a 500- pound, grey Tidal TACCII money dispensing safe into a green, 1979 CMC pickup with an aluminum camper shell on the back and sped off northbound on South College. The truck was recovered in north west Bryan. Witnesses describe the suspects as each being approximately 5-foot-11 and 150-160 pounds with medium build. STOPPER 775-TIPS If you have any information re garding this crime, please contact Crime Stoppers at 775-TIPS. Once called, Crime Stoppers will issue a special coded number to pro tect the caller’s identity. If the call leads to an arrest and grand jury in dictment, Crime Stoppers will pay the caller up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers also pays cash for any information regarding felony crimes or fugitives. U.S. officials say Constanzo ap parently introduced elements of “santeria,” a Caribbean Hispanic version of voodoo influenced by Ro man Catholicism, to the area, where it was previously unknown. Police said the bodies were muti lated, and they found candles and kettles full of body parts and animal bones in the ranch. “I’ll have to have more informa tion and maybe look for myself be fore I can analyze this further, but from what I saw on television last night this doesn’t seem to be any Mexican occult ritual,” said Win field, who specializes in pre-His- panic cultures and their religious in fluence in modern times. “They seem to be a Russsian salad of rites from various satanic cults which the people indulged in, prob ably crazed by drugs,” he said. Winfield said the “lamps” discov ered at the ranch were actually small shot glasses blackened with soot and filled with wax, with a wick stuck in the middle, called “veladoras” in Spanish. “These are quite common in Mex ican witchcraft and are typical of the European-Roman Catholic black magic rites inherited from Europe,” he said. “But other elements like the kettles seem part of the Haitian-Af- rican rituals practiced in many places, including Cuba.” Winfield said the African rituals were brought by slaves from Africa and adapted locally to the Roman Catholic religion. In Brazil it’s called “macumbe,” in the Hispanic Carib bean “santeria.” “They vary from place to place, but the main elements are almost all the same,” he said. One of the freshest looks to emerge this spring, oversized vests in rich patterns and tex tures. By Eber and New Era for junior sizes S-M-L, 24.00-30.00. Junior Woven FOLEY’S ...OF COURSE Cisneros favors keeping elected ag commisioner AUSTIN (AP) — The Mexi- can-American Legislative Caucus and San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros joined the debate over Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower’s job Wednesday, say ing they favor keeping the job an elected position. “The majority of Texans will not stand for any eff orts to take away their right to vote,” said Rep. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, chairman of the caucus. Hightower, a two-term Demo crat, has become highly contro versial in recent months. Having earlier angered the chemical industry by imposing strict new pesticide regulations, he also has angered some cattle men by leading the effort to sell hormone-free beef to European markets. The Texas farm Bureau re cently urged that the elected post be abolished and a commission of gubernatorial appointees be placed over it. The post could be abolished this year because the Texas De partment of Agriculture is under going the periodic “sunset” re view given all state agencies. Republican Gov. Bill Clements hasn’t indicated whether he would sign a bill to continue the department. Hinojosa, joined at a news con ference by other lawmakers and Cisneros, noted that the Mexican- American caucus represents nearly one-third the votes needed in the House to pass the agricul ture department bill that already has won Senate approval. yPjWANTED: Enterprising Self-Starters When business starts booming it's time to think about expanding your operation. Adver tising in the Classifieds for the right person to fill the job not only makes good sense ; it nets results! When you have an item to sell, a message to get across, a product to buy, a service to advertise...en terprising people use our Classi fieds for fast, economical and efifective results! 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