Mexican authorities have discovered a peculiar sex-slavery cult where members had sex with their cult leader, who proclaimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Fox News Latino reported on Wednesday. The cult, called the Defensores de Cristo or "Defenders of Christ," operated across the border from Laredo, Texas in the town of Nuevo Laredo.
According to Fox News Latino, the cult recruited women to have sex with Spanish cult leader Ignacio Gonzales de Arriba. The National Immigration Institute told reporters that cult followers were subjected to forced labor and sexual services, such as prostitution. Followers were also forced to pay "tithes" to sect leaders in money or forced labor.
A institute official said that federal police and prosecutors joined the institute to raid a house earlier in the week and found cult members, children included, living in deplorable conditions. Fourteen foreign nationals were arrested, including six Spaniards, two people each from Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela, and one person each from Argentina and Ecuador.
Fox News Latino also reported that another 10 Mexican nationals were found at the home, mostly women, and are believed to be the victims of the sex cult. According to the Attorney General's Office, investigators are still trying to determine which of the detainees are the abusers and while were the victims.
While the institute issued a statement naming Venezuelan national Jose Arenas Losanger Segovia as the cult's leader, the sect's website names Spaniard Ignacio Gonzales de Arriba. It was reported that he settled in Mexico about three years ago, after traveling in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. Neither man was available for comment, Fox News Latino said.
Myrna Garcia, an activist with the Support Network for Cult Victims, told CBS News that Gonzales de Arriba first offered courses on "bio-programming" but later claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Garcia said that the Spaniard "mixed bio-programming, Christian and New Age doctrines and fears about the end of the world...to control followers, to keep them terrorized."
She added, "He made them believe he was Christ. Like Christ they have to adore him, if not they will lose their souls...they have to give their lives for him." Garcia said that her organization filed a complaint against the cult with Mexican authorities about a year ago.
According to the Interior Department, "Defenders of Christ" were not a registered religious group in Mexico, which is required by law. Garcia told reporters that separate cells of the cult may still be active in Peru and Argentina.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
