(NewsNation) — The Colombian national police director who spoke about using exorcism and prayer to fight crimes and the cartels has been removed, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced this week.
Gen. William Salamanca will replace the previous director, Gen. Henry Sanabria, Petro announced in a tweet Wednesday. The president did not elaborate further, but Interior Minister Alfonso Prada said Sanabria’s replacement wasn’t tied to his religious beliefs, The Associated Press reported.
In an interview with Semana magazine before his departure, Sanabria said “behind every evil action there is a presence of evil,” and said he believes prayer and exorcism can help fight organized crime and cartel violence.
Sanabria told the magazine about a prior exorcism “against Pablo Escobar,” and amulets that kept criminals alive after their pulses stopped.
“The existence of the devil is certain,” Sanabria said during the Semana interview. “I have seen it, I have perceived it. For many, it is a fable and others do not believe. And that’s OK because, let’s say, the devil says so, he denies himself.”
Sanabria said he believes some criminals are possessed or influenced by what he called evil spirits, and he recalled pulling out crucifixes to protect officers during protests. Before some operations, police weapons are blessed and officers are told to “shoot but pray,” the police told Semana.
The former national police director was outspoken about his Catholic beliefs and was openly opposed to abortion and the use of contraceptives.
Colombia, which also uses modern policing and prosecution, isn’t alone in occasionally relying on religious ceremonies to combat crime or social unrest.
In 2020 in Portland, Oregon, Archbishop Alexander Sample led a procession of more than 200 people to a city park and offered a prayer before conducting a Latin exorcism rite to purge the community of evil, The Associated Press reported.
That same day, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed an exorcism outside a Catholic church in San Rafael, where protesters had knocked down a statue of Father Junipero Serra, the AP reported.