Drug traffickers worship ‘Most Holy Death’ - thestar.com
…But there is one group of customers who have continued their patronage: Juárez’s many sicarios, hired hitmen and members of vicious and heavily armed gangs that authorities believe are largely responsible for turning this city into a human shooting range.
That’s because Torres sells all manner of figures and statuettes, including the handsome, mustachioed Mexican folk hero Jesus Malverde, a thief and Robin Hood character who robbed from the rich and powerful and gave to the poor in the early 1900s. He has become a de facto saint of drug traffickers.
But Malverde is not as popular with traffickers as Santísima Muerte, or “Most Holy Death,” a female grim reaper who holds a scythe in one hand and the world in the other.
She comes in all sizes and colours, some gaudy, others modest. Sometimes she comes depicted with half a face.
The sicarios either buy her, or more often, use another of Torres’ services. They step behind a green curtain in the back of the kiosk, where there is an altar of sorts, with Santísima Muerte behind glass, and candles with her figure etched in them. There is also a dried bat pinned to the wall, among other superstitious paraphernalia….
They sell those candles of Saint Death at the local Albertson’s. The design is different, more colorful.