COLOMBIA
Latin Times
By Cedar Attanasio | Jun 07 2015
Neo-Shaman and ayahuasca ceremony leader Édgar Orlando Gaitán Camacho has been charged on suspicion of assaulting eight women while serving as their spiritual guide, Colombian prosecutors announced on Thursday. Suspecting multiple assaults over a period of decades, authorities calculate that Camacho drugged and raped as many as 50 women while serving as an ayahuasca priest. Ayahuasca, also known as yagé, is a hallucinogenic tea traditionally used by indigenous peoples of the Amazon. Authorities allege that Camacho, also known as “El Taita,” added sedatives to the ayahuasca he administered, allowing him to prey on women who attended his ceremonies.
Participants in ayahuasca ceremonies report significant improvements in mental well’being, along with life-changing epiphanies as a result of taking the drug. Western anthropologists and biomedical researchers working in Amazonian communities have long supported these claims. A recent small-scale study in Brazil suggested that ayahuasca could be an effective treatment for depression. Larger-scale clinical studies are expected in the future. Regardless of the drug’s potential benefits, ayahuasca imbibing requires leaders to guide participant’s “trips.”
According to regional Colombian prosecutor María Soledad Franco, Camacho took advantage of his position as a spiritual leader to assault dozens of women seeking physical and emotionally healing, including at least one minor.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.