EFE, Aug. 17, 2002
http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=33043
A Mexican shaman confessed he raped and killed a young woman in a black-magic ritual aimed at securing the release of a jailed drug trafficker who paid him to cast a spell.
Enrique Sanchez was arrested Tuesday night in Catemaco, a village in the southeastern state of Veracruz famous for its annual convention of self-styled witches, sorcerers and shamans.
After giving a statement to authorities, Sanchez told the local media Thursday night that he traveled on Aug. 11 to the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo to meet with Patricia Elizabeth Sanchez, 19, who was seeking supernatural help with her love life.
The shaman told the woman to meet him at a local residence, where he raped her, strangled her and slit her throat to collect her blood in a jar.
On Tuesday, Sanchez returned to Catemaco with his victim’s blood to perform a ceremony on the islet of Cocodrilo aimed at helping to free his client, a jailed drug trafficker facing homicide charges in Nuevo Laredo.
According to witnesses, Sanchez coldly related the events, saying he met his victim at a shopping center, where “I sniffed her blood like the shaman I am and knew it would do for the sacrifice.”
“I did what I did and it was done well, according to the science I practice,” said Sanchez, who acknowledged to reporters that his life was in danger because “I’m not wearing the amulets that protect me.”
Sanchez, 49, carried out his activities in Nuevo Laredo under a false name. He claimed to be employed by organized crime and called himself the second-best “professional” shaman in Mexico.