Remains of voodoo rituals in the form of animal remains and improvised altars with melted candles on them, are springing up all over public parks and gardens across the capital, including the Retiro, Madrid-Río and Casa de Campo.
Municipal cleaners and locals confirm that there has been a huge increase in these remains lately "most of all on Mondays, after the weekend".
"I was walking my dog when I saw a cow's tongue with voodoo needles stuck in it hanging from a tree in the park next to the Cathedral," said Almudena Montero, a local resident who decided to photograph the macabre discovery when she spotted it a few weeks ago.
Luis Victorero, who lives in Chamberí, had a similar experience. He found a "dead hen with its legs tied together and its head missing" and complained that it was "the second time it had happened".
"These are things that affect the locals and people's ability to live together in harmony, so it's important to demand means of exercising control and to increase vigilance in those areas where these practices are going on", said the Regional Federation of Residents Associations in a press release in an open letter to the authorities.
The police - who have also confirmed the increase in these practices - say they know who the culprits are: African and Latin-American immigrants who are trying to scare their victims. "It is very common amongst mafia, they use it for extortion; especially to put the frighteners on Senegalese, Nigerian or Brazilian prostitutes, who believe in voodoo and santería, and its potencial influence over their families", say the police. It is also used as a threat against as anyone who has a debt with the pimps.
According to the experts in voodoo and Cuban santería, the choice of location is no coincidence. Many of these practices require "dead" ground as public parkland is known in these circles in order to bury or display their offal. At other times they choose cementeries or flowing water - there are regular complaints about similar findings along the Manzanares river. Other groups, like those who belong to ancient Celtic cults, meet on nights with a full moon at the Casa de Campo.
Photo, by Almudena Montero, shows cow's tongue with voodoo needles in it nailed to a tree in a Madrid park.
