Obama has the support of Peruvian faith-healers

[October 30, 2008]  LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Barack Obama apparently can count on the support of a majority of Peruvian faith healers. Each of the 11 shamans in a Peruvian faith-healing organization said Wednesday that they have foreseen victory in the U.S. presidential race: nine for Democrat Obama and two for his Republican rival John McCain.

Blowing incense over a sacred llama fetus perched on a bed of coca leaves next to posters of the leading candidates, the shamans shook rattles, chanted "up, Obama, up!" and threw flowers at their images.

"Obama is growing stronger, I've seen that he has the spiritual support of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy to protect him," Juan Osco, president of the Apus-Inka healers association, told The Associated Press. "He's going to win."

Mary Gomez, a healer from the city of Chiclayo, said she has seen that Obama "will win and he will change history ... he is going to help all the Latinos living in the United States."

The shamans whistled, chanted and rubbed both posters with Andean spirit-totems, crucifixes, a statue of a dark-skinned Jesus and other idols to scare away bad spirits and negative energies they said might prevent a fair and democratic election.

"We are cleansing both of them so that on Nov. 4 the person that the U.S. really deserves wins," Osco said. "We have seen that if the election is not fair, there will be another global economic crisis, war and despair."

[Associated Press; By ANDREW WHALEN]

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