Tuesday, January 05, 2016. In Venezuelathe veneration or cult towards the holy thugs or calé court; creating a lot of controversy today. This cult begins with Ishmael Sanchez, a criminal considered to be a kind of “Robin Hood”; who stole from the rich to give to the poor in his community. In the seventies Ismael lived in the El Guarataro neighborhood, San Juan parish in the city of Caracas and was known as «El Terror del Guarataro».
Ismael’s tomb is located in the old cemetery of Caracas, where devotees go to visit him and ask for protection accompanied by candles, tobacco and rum; countless believers have been seen parading to his grave so as not to be robbed in the streets, policemen who seek spiritual protection due to the danger that lurks in their profession, even women assaulted by their husbands.
In esoteric stores throughout Venezuela, you can see the plaster busts of Ismael and all the representatives of the cult such as: Chama Isabel, el Chino, Petróleo Crudo, Félix Azuaje, Cleo, Rigoberto Martínez, Luis, Antonio, Miguelito, el Muelita, among others; the existence of these so-called «saints» being increasingly popular, who help people to vindicate the evil they did in life, and thus find eternal rest.
the psychologist Hermelinda Pichardo, graduated in the Former Soviet Union; She commented that the social groups that have been most neglected are looking for figures to represent them, that idol who cares for them and can solve their problems. “It is logical to think that Venezuelan groups in certain religions can see in a person that despite having been antisocial; part of his life journey has been to favor these less favored social groups ”Pichardo said.
The Venezuelan thug saints can lead to many negative consequences, as expressed by the spiritualist Fernando Marquez stating that “They bring many consequences because when these spirits descend into the body of a person who is “matter”, they leave many sequels. When they get off they start asking for drugs, weapons and alcohol; leaving people drugged or intoxicated”.
Currently, Venezuela lives in a society where crime has been unleashed disproportionately; and the veneration of deceased criminals has gained an important position within the many religious cults practiced in the country. On the one hand, criminals can take refuge and gain courage to do their misdeeds with «divine protections»; and on the other, the common citizen worships the rogue court to be protected from that same crime.