Last month, after a horrifying execution, police in Chile arrested four members of a bizarre cult last month for allegedly burning a three-day-old baby alive on a ritual bonfire. The cult members celebrated the murder, believing that the end of the world was near and that the infant baby was the “Antichrist” and in a position to trigger the destruction of the world. The baby was killed with the approval of her 25-year-old mother, a member of the cult.
According to the Police Investigative Unit (PIU – Chile’s equivalent to the FBI), the baby was taken to the top of a hill for the execution:
“The baby was naked. They strapped tape around her mouth to keep her from screaming. Then they placed her on a board. After calling on the spirits they threw her on the bonfire, alive.”
The alleged murder took place November 21, 2012, in the region of Colliguay, near Quilpué, in Valparaíso. The sacrifice involved eight cult members, one of which was the infant’s mother, under the leadership of 36-year-old Ramón Gustavo Castillo Gaete. Police noted that the cult members, by all appearances, were everyday, average people.
“People who join cults are not stupid, weird, crazy, weak-willed, or neurotic. Most cult members are of above-average intelligence, well adjusted, adaptable, and perhaps a bit idealistic. In relatively few cases there is a history of a preexisting mental disorder. In this instance, we have someone who was a veterinarian and who worked as a flight attendant, we have a filmmaker, a draftsman. Everyone had a university degree.”
The cult’s leader, Gaete, taught that the end of the world is near and claimed that he was a God (with the privilege of being allowed to have sex with any female cult member of his choosing). Members referred to him as “Antares of the Light” and contributed monies to the cult which were used to purchase and build a sizable cache of properties.
According to one captured cult member:
“The whole community knew that my son had to be killed after birth and had to obey light Antares (Gaete Castle), because he was God.”
Attorneys for the cult members are claiming that their clients were victims of the manipulation of Castle Gaete. Gaete was later found hanging, dead, in Peru. Three of the cult members are still on the run.
