Mayan Priests to purify site after Bush visit

[Valentina]

Maya Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit

Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit

By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
The Associated Press
Friday, March 9, 2007; 12:20 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030900076_pf.html

GUATEMALA CITY -- Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological
site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next
week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant
brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is
going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan
people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan
nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and
political leaders, said Thursday.

Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning
late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit
the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a
region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.

Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it
would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after
Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also
said the rites _ which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs
and candles _ would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin
American Indians March 26-30.

Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin
America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours
before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on
Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and
small homemade explosives.

The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the
United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising
influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has
called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."

Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded
as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish
conquest in 1524.

[DaveMoff]

Sounds like a fine idea....now if we could just dispatch a team of exorcists to Washingon, D.C.

[haswtch]

exactly!

[Valentina]

Yes, we would need a HUGE team

[deb]

I heard this on the news and thought how much it makes sense to do this... They do need to cleanse the space of evil spirits after Bush leaves...

Deb

[haswtch]

So will we! wonder if they'd send along a couple of helpful hints when the time comes?

[Wingy]

Too bad we can't do the same, now, all over the United States...cleanse turtle Island now, why wait til he leaves????

[DaveMoff]

Didn't the Transcendental Meditation people once try to levitate the Pentagon? Perhaps something of the sort would be a good start.

[marchtwenty3]

Yes this is an important message I "hear" our Mayan Elders, a cleansing most definitley is appropiate. Thank you Valentina for sharing the story.

[nimuay]

Well, good to know that there's one place on earth that is free of him!

[DaveMoff]

Perhaps if we all marched on Washington with smudge....

[Valentina]

well we should march on washington with something....

[DaveMoff]

Hmmm....true, though I fear the sort of resources required to accomplish much are not available to the average American civilian. And the last thing this country needs is its own Tiananment Square. You think Bush would hesitate to roll tanks over people if he felt threatened? I certainly don't.

[Valentina]

He'd roll over us in lieu of a golf game most likely

[marchtwenty3]

HA! I like your comment nimuay...(smile)!

[Wingy]

good point Dave

[haswtch]

They've definitely got us outgunned, outlawyered, and out-moneyed (with apologies to Warren Zevon)