Cult arrests revive memories of 2020 massacre

In two days, the National Naval Air Service (Senan) has evacuated a total of 32 people possible victims of a religious sect that operates on Peterson Island, Kusapín district, in the Ngäbe-Buglé region, and apprehended a total of three linked to the religious sect, for the crime against life and personal integrity, of five people.

The action occurred after three minors and two women, confined in a hospital, presented multiple injuries from blows and burns.

 Investigations indicate that the blows and burns are the product of a ritual in which 50 people participated. The Homicide and Femicide Section of the Bocas del Toro Prosecutor’s Office moved to the area to establish responsibilities.

On Friday Senan and the Prosecutor’s Office, took 19 people for evaluation by the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. The three apprehended will appear before the Court of Guarantees for imputation of charges and application of precautionary measures.

The Superior Prosecutor of Bocas del Toro, Julio Vergara, does not rule out further arrests.

The people, all indigenous, were found in the Bukori community, belonging to the Bahia Azul corregimiento, about 45 minutes away from Chiriquí Grande, in Bocas del Toro.

 Alto Terrón massacre
In January 2020, the inhabitants of Alto Terrón, Santa Catalina corregimiento, also in the Ngäbe-Buglé,  security forces intervened in an alleged sect, after receiving several complaints of the death of a woman and six minors.

Security forces, located the bodies of the victims, in a common grave. At that time, the National Police and the Senan rescued 15 members of the sect who had been handcuffed and held against their will. They apprehended another 10 suspects, who were prosecuted by the Veraguas prosecutor’s office.