What the Kidnapper Wilson Joseph’s Costume Says About Haitian Politics (Voudou)

foreignpolicy.com...

In a video statement released on Oct. 21, Wilson Joseph, the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang—dressed up as Bawon Samdi, Vodou’s fearsome spirit of death—threatened to kill members of the Haitian government as well as 17 foreign hostages, including five children, in Haiti on a Christian mission trip. They remain his captives. Why did Joseph adopt Bawon’s traits—beard, purple and black clothing, top hat, and silver cross—to make these threats? The answer reveals how Vodou and Christianity remain perpetually entangled with Haiti’s power struggles and politics.

apparently its fashionable now for anti-establishment Haitians to don Voodoo garb and mannerisms


trying to find more info on the influence of Voodoo on contemporary Haitian politics but not finding much

Voodoo is deeply engrained into Haitian culture. It's everywhere over there.

Politically It's not a recent thing either. Papa Doc styled himself purposefully after Baron Samedi.

Who cares about that islands proclivities. If anyone cared about those hostages the USN would have saved them by now. a better question is why have SEALS not been sent.

a reply to: ElGoobero

[i]"It's fashionable now?"

I think it's always been "fashionable" in Haiti.

1983: “Many voodoo priests revere the pope as a repository of power that can be passed on to them,” states the New Jersey Herald. So it was not surprising that they took keen interest in the pope’s actions on his visit to Haiti. In a country where “people interchange Catholic saints with voodoo spirits and praying with church priests while paying homage to the houngans [voodoo priests],” the pope’s ritual was said to coincide with voodoo practice. “It was so close to us, we were so happily surprised and delighted,” said one houngan, a biochemical engineer. “I see no incompatibility in any of the dogmas or doctrines, no incompatibility at all.”

“Did you see how he kissed the ground, following voodoo ritual? Ah, what power!” exclaimed a voodoo priest when he saw Pope John Paul II kiss the ground during his short visit to Haiti on March 9, 1983. Probably the pope did not have that in mind. Nevertheless, to the inhabitants of Haiti, a land described as 80 percent Catholic and 100 percent voodoo, the pope’s action was a sign of the kinship they feel exists between the Roman Catholic religion and voodooism, according to a report in the Californian newspaper Press-Telegram.

In New York City, Roman Catholic Church officials recently admitted to doubts as to whether they should take action against santeria, a cult originating in Cuba that​—like voodoo—​has a mixture of Catholic and African religious beliefs. Santeria practices include such things as altars in the home, special clothing, charms and potions, spiritism and animal sacrifices. Estimates of the number of adherents in New York City run as high as 300,000, according to the Daily News of January 6, 1983. Why the hesitation to act? Admits Catholic Church official Francisco Dominquez: “Some of these are practices that are abberations of the Catholic faith. But if you say it’s junk, you’re getting rid of a lot of people.”

originally posted by: REDMORGAN
Who cares about that islands proclivities. If anyone cared about those hostages the USN would have saved them by now. a better question is why have SEALS not been sent. they probably get drummed out of the navy if they saved them.

Bravo Team is on top of it. hope they get home safe.

maybe the Pope was a distraction?

originally posted by: whereislogic
...

In New York City, Roman Catholic Church officials recently admitted to doubts as to whether they should take action against santeria, a cult originating in Cuba that​—like voodoo—​has a mixture of Catholic and African religious beliefs. . . . Why the hesitation to act? Admits Catholic Church official Francisco Dominquez: “Some of these are practices that are abberations of the Catholic faith. But if you say it’s junk, you’re getting rid of a lot of people.”

Translation of the bolded part at the end and the real answer to the bolded question:

1 Timothy 6:9-11

But those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.

11 However, you, O man of God, flee from these things. But pursue righteousness, godly devotion, faith, love, endurance, and mildness.

a reply to: ElGoobero

take a few marines, let them pick -off the gang members,...
like shooting rats at a garbage dump.

but, i would offer the gang members the reward/ransom money,
to kill their leader , leave his head on a pike, and disband, no questions asked,
pour some ant bait poison on the money too,
so they take it home to their lair ....kills bugs dead