By Robert J. Bunker, Ph.D.

... The cult appears to have more European than Aztecan origins, with some individuals describing Santa Muerte as a new age Grim Reaper-type goddess, a bad-girl counterpart to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Her imagery includes that of a robed skeleton carrying a scythe and globe or scales. Part of her popularity results from her characterization as nonjudgmental (amoral) and a source of supernatural intervention for her followers who engage in the correct rituals and provide the proper offerings and sacrifices. Over half of the prayers directed at her include petitions to harm other people via curses and death magic. Still, many Santa Muerte followers appear benign — typically poor, uneducated, and superstitious individuals who practice a form of unsanctioned saint worship mixed with varying elements of folk Catholicism ... http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/2013/february/santa-muerte-inspired-and-ritualistic-killings-part-1-of-3

... Having only four documented (three confirmed) Santa Muerte homicide related incidents is encouraging, particularly because the Mexican cartels have operatives in over 1,000 U.S. cities. Methodological issues pertaining to the possible underreporting of such killings — because authorities misidentified them or the media did not report them — and the crossborder potentials of the Santa Muerte-linked killings still pose concern ... http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/2013/february/santa-muerte-inspired-and-ritualistic-killings-part-2-of-3

or maybe one of the other tribes in the region.

It's perfect for young narco traffickers who don't hold out much hope for life expectancy between the cops, their own bosses, and competing gangs. Oh, and they're likely sampling the product and these days it's meth rather than heroin.

You can stay sane and functional on heroin. Not so for meth.

so I expect all cultures have notions and depictions of death, and syncretism always occurs in cultural evolution

Magical thinking is natural at a certain stage in psychological development, and depending on personal and social factors it may require varying time to fade. If one regards drug use as a method of dealing with psychological conflicts, one might expect drug use to prevent psychological growth, and so it could delay loss of magical thinking

Death here is one of the last major taboos, which is why people are so uncomfortable with things like doctor assisted suicide for terminal patients who are utterly miserable and don't want to go on.

Around here, I'm exposed to Dia de los Muertos and it's a much healthier way to look at things, show up at the grave with marigolds and beer and maybe tequila, pour a glass for the deceased, and spend the evening telling stories about them and singing their favorite songs, a way to make sure they live on in their memories. It's rather like a boozy Irish wake but farther after the event.

Clad in black nun’s robe and bearing a scythe, some believers pray to Santa Muerte to get ‘help’ fighting off those seeking vengeance. They also ask for help finding jobs, keep away cops and safely ship illegal narcotics.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday, March 4, 2013, 10:38 AM

... U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte in West Texas said he has testified about La Santa Muerte in at least five drug trafficking cases where her image aided prosecutors with convictions. Last year, Almonte testified that a Santa Muerte statue prayer card, found with a kilogram of methamphetamine in a couple’s car in New Mexico, were “tools of the trade” for drug traffickers to protect them from law enforcement. The testimony was used to help convict the couple of drug trafficking ...

The origins of La Santa Muerte are unclear. Some followers say she is an incarnation of an Aztec goddess of death who ruled the underworld. Some scholars say she originated in medieval Spain through the image of La Parca, a female Grim Reaper, who was used by friars for the later evangelization of indigenous populations in the Americas ...

Oscar Hagelsieb, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said agents have found that most members of the Gulf and Zeta Cartels mainly pray to Santa Muerte while those from the Sinaloa and Sonora Cartels honor folk saint Jesus Malverde ...

The association with cartels and denunciations by some priests has resulted in some non-devotees destroying makeshift roadside altars. Recently, assailants smashed a life-size statue of La Santa Muerte in a South Texas cemetery. Police in Pasadena, Calif. recently found human bones at a home with a Santa Muerte altar outside. The owners say they bought the bones online ...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/la-santa-muerta-skeleton-saint-popular-drug-trade-gaining-popularity-u-s-article-1.1278774

AUTHOR: Jan-Albert Hootsen
POSTED: Dec 23, 2013 07:24 EDT

... Though traditional Roman Catholicism is still by far the dominant religion in Mexico, the Santa Muerte is the fastest growing belief system in the country. It boasts between 5 million and 10 million followers, and even more if you count Mexican immigrants in the United States. The Santa Muerte has become so popular that Holy Death paraphernalia now outsell those of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s traditional Catholic patron saint ...

The shrine in Tepito, considered the principal sanctuary of Holy Death, was founded 12 years ago by Enriqueta Romero, a kind, elderly woman who is always dressed in an apron and never wanders far from the sanctuary. “Holy Death is our savior, our light. It’s very difficult to explain what she means to us,” she says. “She protects those no one else will protect” ...

Accusing Holy Death of being satanic may be an exaggeration (Romero’s shrine and others are completely devoid of any references to devil). There is, however, a certain link between Mexico’s violent drug cartels and Holy Death. Altars devoted to her have frequently been found in the houses of drug smugglers and hit men, who pray to her for success. Not being an official religion (the Mexican government prohibited Holy Death churches from being consecrated in 2005), the cult of the Santa Muerte has no official moral guidelines. Apparently she does not discriminate against anyone who shows devotion.

That can’t be said for the Catholic Church, says Romero: “The Catholic Church has lost touch with its followers. The average Mexican does not feel the church is acting in his best interests, and then there are the scandals of child abuse. Holy Death fills a spiritual void. She listens to us and she truly loves us. That’s why more and more people ask her for help” ...

http://www.vocativ.com/culture/photos/santamuerte/

Church official makes first statement on the Mexican cult of Holy Death
Alma Guillermoprieto for National Geographic News
Published May 12, 2013

... On May 8, a high-ranking Vatican official made what amounts to the Catholic Church's first public statement regarding the cult ...

At the Santa Muerte's most famous shrine in downtown Mexico City, traditional rosaries are said and young men crawl on their knees for blocks, cradling the holy skeleton in their arms. Instead of lighting incense, they exhale smoke from marijuana cigarettes for the Muerte to inhale ...

... The arrest last year of eight people charged with murdering two children and a woman in the course of Holy Death worship served to confirm that the Niña Blanca (White Girl), as she is sometimes known, can be invoked in dreadful ways ...

The statement by Cardinal Ravasi is not an official condemnation; it's a condemnation by an official. It makes the Catholic Church's position clear, but it doesn't force the faithful away ...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130512-vatican-santa-muerte-mexico-cult-catholic-church-cultures-world/