CBS News reported Thursday that 50 people died after being forced to consume herbal beer during an anti-witchcraft ritual.
Authorities reported that 50 people died after being forced to drink a possibly dangerous herbal mixture. prove They weren’t witches. according to Go to CBS News. The deaths occurred in the central Angola town in January and February, police and local authorities said. This poisonous substance, locally known as ‘mbulungo’, is administered by traditional healers. Death after ingestion is believed to support the defendant’s guilt of witchcraft.
Around 50 people have died in Angola after being forced to take herbal medicine to prove they were not magicians, police and local authorities said Thursday. https://t.co/gJnk4ROiAf
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 14, 2024
Luzia Filemone, the region’s lawmaker, shared details on Angolan national radio, suggesting traditional healers were involved in distributing the lethal drugs. CBS News said, “More than 50 victims were forced to drink this mystical liquid that, according to traditional healers, proves whether a person is practicing witchcraft.” . (Related: ‘Under the Cover of Being Woke’: Fox Guest Compares Cancel Culture to the Salem Witch Trials)
Belief in witchcraft persists in some rural areas of Angola, where Catholicism is the predominant faith. Despite strong opposition from the church, the practice of determining guilt by toxic substances remains widespread, the newspaper said.
State Police spokesperson Antonio Hossi expressed concern about the increasing number of such acts. “Forcing people to drink supposedly poisonous substances because of their belief in witchcraft is a widespread practice,” Hossi said, according to CBS News.
Angola has no laws against witchcraft, so communities resort to traditional methods to deal with these problems, often with fatal consequences, CBS News reported. In response to the ongoing crisis, religious leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, who visited in 2009, have called on Angolans to reject witchcraft.
