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Specifically, what I was wondering about is the manner in which the narcotraficantes use witchcraft as a part of their business. When I asked her about that, she replied that there was only one name that one would need to mention to sum all of that up, which she then waited for me to supply, and the name was Chuy Malverde. And when I said that name, she quite visibly shuddered. 
The conversation moved pretty much, nevertheless, in the direction of the local “folk saint”, known as the “Anima de Leyva”. People tell the tale associated with him and then, intending on doing the traditional “There is God” gesture, of holding the index finger upwards with the palm out, they, rather, make the ancient “There is John” sign, with the palm in, which was used extensively in the artwork of Leonardo and other occult artists who are alleged to have been members of a secret organization with reported “Johnist” antecedents known as the Priory of Sion. One reason why this involuntary gesture that so many people seem to do seems so remarkable - because in normal circumstances, they use the “There is God” gesture, because the style of converstain that takes place here frequently leads to such events - is that the “There is John” symbol is a secret anti-Catholic sign, in fact. In a manner of speaking, it is saying that Christ is not the Messiah, because John is, so that, in effect it is “anti-Christ”, to coin a phrase. 
Actually, I believe the most accurate version of events was that his compadre caught him in a very compromising circumstance with his comadre (the guy’s wife), and that is why he was killed. It is said that he was a bad person, in any event. 
Eventually, however, his world began to crumble, and he died in a gruesome hail of automatic weapons file at the hands of government commandos who rappelled down from a helicopter at his desert hideout and fired off an estimated 2000 rounds in a few short seconds into the two room adobe shack, killing all of the occupants. 
who is there to help the needy, and cure the sick, for instance. Thus, it was common for women, for instance, to ask him to heal a sick child, and there may be persons who are still doing this, because I saw a votive candle there in the chapel which was probably rather recently placed there. 
Let me start with doña Cuca, or Cuquita, as she likes to say that people know her as, who is alleged to be a “brujita” - which is to say, roughly “a dear witch” - using the diminutive form so as not to say “bruja” - “witch” - which is a dire accusation, and an insult, or, at any rate, a rather pejorative way of putting it. In Mexico, there is no modern interpretation of these terms, such as what has come about with the advent of wicca in the English speaking world. There are mostly rather dark and dreadful associations with the term “bruja”, and there is almost no point in discussing that matter with anyone who finds it disturbing that Mexicans feel that way, inasmuch as defenders of wicca might find these seeming prejudices to be offensive or something. I avoid those exchanges if I can, because they remove my focus from what it is that I am studying, which is the fact of brujeria and curanderismo as it exists today in Mexico, and how it has been from almost time immemorial, both in Mexico, in Mesoamerica, in medieval Spain, in the Roman Empire, in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Babylon from whence these traditions arose in the first place: and how these traditions have come down to be still quite alive in the world today, which surrounds me here in Ojinaga, Chihuahua, where this type of activity is quite rampant. 
Now, if I can move forward to another digression, and describe two Indian women from Oaxaca whom I know - Micaela and Quica - mother in law and daughter in law - who are of the Mixteca tribe, and I buy rebozos (shawls) from them and sell them on the Internet. I really like them a lot - I love them, in fact, and they love me, too, and they confide things in me that I don't think they would be so open about with anyone else. I have known them for years. I only found out recently that Micaela has a “don” - which is to say, the gift of healing in the role of a curandera. And Quica’s father, whom she hardly knew, was a very renowned curandero, who was killed when they brought him up to Tijuana to remove a hex from a person who had been cursed by a witch in the hire of a powerful narcotraficante. When these narcos discovered he had removed a curse from one of their enemies after they had paid a lot of money to have it put on, they had him killed. 
It was with that notion in mind, that I took the opportunity to ask, rather casually, at first, but then quite seriously and in the vein of my research, a person I know who is a twin, if he had heard of “Los Santos Cuates”, and he at first said yes, but it turned out that was not true - what was true was that this turned on a light in his head, a distant memory that was awakened, as he recalled how, when he and his brother were yet very small children, it was shown that they had a “don” for performing cures, over the case of a cow that was gravely ill and about to die. The cow belonged to their uncle, to whom it suddenly occurred to run to the father on the twins and have them come massage it, in the form a cross, with one twin massaging in one direction and the other in the other, forming the image of a cross, after which the cow miraculously recovered. Thus, it was established that the “cuates” had curing powers, albeit that this was the only time that these had been put to the test. 
Having now established an interview mode with the “cuate”, I moved along to my usual questions, including the one where I asked if he had either participated in, or witnessed, a “limpia” - a curing ritual performed by a curandera or curandero. Indeed he had, with none other than doña Cuca. She had performed this remarkable ritual involving having burning coals in a brazier, over which she added some herbs, and sprinkled it with “Perfume de Siete Machos”, and the cuate - Noé - stood over it and allowed the smoke to envelope him, while she chanted secret prayers. I found all of this to be fascinating. 
And at this point, as much as I have been trying to avoid it, I must, once again, launch into yet another digression, because, for those of you who don't know this already, Mexican culture is extremely complicated and full of apparent contradictions. I must now talk about a person whose shadow also moves across this story in her own oblique way, because of her connection with a very uniquely Mexican “Saint”, or goddess, if you will. The “Saint” or “Goddess” - whichever you prefer - is La Santísima Muerte, and the person is 
In my interview with Manuela, whom I talked after I had Cuca, but before I talked to the cuates, I learned something about the prayers of the Santísima Muerte - which, actually, I already knew quite a bit about, and I even had a copy of them of them at the time. But it is interesting that Edgar told me that, in addition to the ritual with the smoke and Perfume de Siete Machos, they were given a prayer to recite for three days at the stroke of midnight, and in the prayer sheet there was a picture of the Santísima Muerte, and this prayer that they had was no doubt a modified version of the one that is normally said. Edgar described how the brothers were going with two sisters, who wanted them to marry them, and, at the instigation of the girls’ mother, they want to see Cuca, who was supposed to help them with their relationship. Whereas Noé was willing to go along with this, Edgar had his doubts. So he watched while Noé went in there first, and the closed the door. Later, they opened it, and invited him to come in. At that point, he said, he felt like a blast of hot air, and he got a feeling as if a cold chill ran up his spine, and he resisted going in, and no amount of entreaties would change his mind. 
Later, Micaela and Quica agreed to be interviewed for this book I am working on about curanderismo and brujeria, and in the course of interview I asked them what they thought about the case of the cuates, and when I described the part about the glass of the water with the egg in it, she absolutely turned ashen gray with fear, she crossed herself, and exclaimed “Holy God!” in a tone of sheer terror. I asked her if she felt competent to remove the hex, if, in fact, he was under one, and she declined to do so, for the question of “amparo” - or spiritual protection - which was something she was sorely lacking, and this is why, for instance, when she massaged someone, she would feel bad afterwards, because all of the ills would be transferred to her. 
I must confess that what I wanted to do was to arrange this limpia, and then photograph it and tape record it - Micaela prays in Mixteca, only she says the names of the saints in Spanish, so it sounds really cool - she recited a small portion of her curing prayers for me at one point. Micaela left town, and I don't know when she will be back. And we were going to take the cuate to see yet another curandero I know, 
