How Revelation Became Violence at Alto Terron

Introduction

The killings at Alto Terrón in January 2020 were not an example of mass hysteria across an Indigenous community. They were a case of extreme coercive religious violence carried out by a small group that claimed divine authority to torture and kill people it accused of being possessed by evil. The crimes shocked Panama because of their brutality, but they also exposed how isolation, weak state services and authoritarian religious leadership can combine to leave vulnerable communities at risk. The case remains important because it demonstrates the danger of treating such violence as a product of an entire culture or religion rather than the actions of a specific coercive group.

For anyone studying cults, religious violence or collective belief in Panama, Alto Terrón is best understood as a criminal episode in which claims of revelation and spiritual warfare became tools for domination, abuse and murder rather than an instance of widespread communal delusion.[The Guardian]theguardian.comThe GuardianHow Panamanian villagers were left at the mercy of a murderous sect | Panama | The GuardianMarch 28, 2020…Published: March 28, 2020

The killings and the beliefs used to justify them

The events unfolded in the remote community of Alto Terrón (also referred to in official documents as El Terrón), within the Ngäbe-Buglé Indigenous territory in western Panama. Authorities were alerted after villagers escaped and reported that neighbours had been kidnapped and subjected to violent religious rituals.

When police eventually reached the settlement, they found survivors tied up inside a church building. Investigators reported that victims had been beaten with machetes, sticks and even Bibles. Some had their tongues burned with hot embers during attempted exorcisms intended to drive out supposed demons. Nearby, officers discovered a shallow grave containing the bodies of a pregnant woman and six children.[The Guardian]theguardian.comThe GuardianHow Panamanian villagers were left at the mercy of a murderous sect | Panama | The GuardianMarch 28, 2020…Published: March 28, 2020

According to prosecutors, those responsible belonged to a small group calling itself the “Church of God” (“Iglesia de Dios”). Witness testimony and the criminal investigation indicated that members believed they had received divine revelations requiring them to purge the community of evil. Individuals who failed to demonstrate that demons had supposedly left their bodies were treated as deserving death. These claims of revelation transformed ordinary disagreements into absolute spiritual judgments in which questioning leaders became equivalent to opposing God.[Procuraduria General de la Nación]ministeriopublico.gob.paProcuraduria General de la NaciónMinisterio Público realiza diligencias y recaba nuevos elementos por homicidio de 7 personas en El Terró…

This pattern is familiar to scholars of coercive religious groups. Violence was not simply an accidental consequence of intense belief. Instead, alleged supernatural authority became a mechanism for removing normal moral restraints, demanding obedience and legitimising extreme abuse.

How isolation and weak state services increased vulnerability

The Alto Terrón community lies in a mountainous rainforest region that is difficult to reach even under normal conditions. Access often requires long journeys by road, river and footpaths, while communications and public services have historically been limited.

These practical realities shaped the tragedy in several ways.

First, isolation allowed the group to operate with relatively little outside scrutiny. Religious meetings and escalating abuse occurred in an environment where external intervention was difficult.

Second, emergency response was delayed. Survivors reported that authorities lacked the immediate capacity to enter the area after the alarm was raised. By the time police reached the village, several victims had already been killed.[The Guardian]theguardian.comThe GuardianHow Panamanian villagers were left at the mercy of a murderous sect | Panama | The GuardianMarch 28, 2020…Published: March 28, 2020

Third, longstanding shortages of police, healthcare and other state services contributed to broader vulnerability. Reporting after the killings argued that the massacre reflected not only the actions of the perpetrators but also decades of official neglect affecting remote Indigenous communities. Limited institutional presence made it harder both to detect escalating violence and to provide rapid protection once it began.[The Guardian]theguardian.comThe GuardianHow Panamanian villagers were left at the mercy of a murderous sect | Panama | The GuardianMarch 28, 2020…Published: March 28, 2020

None of these conditions caused the crimes. Many isolated communities experience hardship without producing comparable violence. Rather, remoteness reduced opportunities for intervention once an authoritarian religious movement began exercising coercive control.

Criminal accountability

Panamanian prosecutors pursued an extensive investigation involving witness testimony, forensic evidence and searches of the church where the abuse allegedly occurred. Nine people were initially charged with offences including aggravated homicide, femicide and unlawful deprivation of liberty. Investigators concluded that the killings occurred during religious ceremonies conducted by members of the group.[Procuraduria General de la Nación]ministeriopublico.gob.paProcuraduria General de la NaciónMinisterio Público concluye etapa de investigación en el caso de la secta de El Terrón - Procuraduria Ge…

In 2021, a jury found seven defendants guilty. They received maximum prison sentences of 50 years for the murders of six children and a pregnant woman. Two additional defendants had already accepted plea agreements resulting in lengthy prison terms. Prosecutors argued that the evidence demonstrated coordinated participation in the assaults and killings carried out under the group’s religious claims.[Procuraduria General de la Nación]ministeriopublico.gob.paProcuraduria General de la NaciónPena máxima para siete personas por las muertes en El Terrón - Procuraduria General de la NaciónDecember…

The legal outcome reinforced an important distinction: the case was treated as a series of serious criminal offences committed by identifiable individuals, not as the criminalisation of a religious or ethnic community.

Why the crimes should not define an entire Indigenous community

One of the most persistent misconceptions following the killings was the tendency in some international reporting to blur the line between the perpetrators and the wider Ngäbe-Buglé population.

That interpretation is not supported by the available evidence.

The perpetrators represented a small, self-described religious group rather than the Indigenous community as a whole. Many local residents were themselves victims, hostages or witnesses. It was community members who escaped, alerted authorities and later cooperated with investigators. Survivors described the group’s leaders as increasingly isolated and authoritarian, separating themselves from other villagers and claiming exclusive access to divine truth.[The Guardian]theguardian.comThe GuardianHow Panamanian villagers were left at the mercy of a murderous sect | Panama | The GuardianMarch 28, 2020…Published: March 28, 2020

Local Indigenous leaders also publicly rejected the group and stressed that its actions violated the community’s religious and social values. Their response illustrates that the violence emerged from a fringe movement rather than reflecting accepted Ngäbe-Buglé beliefs or practices.[The Guardian]theguardian.comThe GuardianHow Panamanian villagers were left at the mercy of a murderous sect | Panama | The GuardianMarch 28, 2020…Published: March 28, 2020

For historians of religion and social conflict, this distinction is essential. Labelling an entire Indigenous population through the actions of a violent minority risks replacing one misunderstanding with another.

What Alto Terrón reveals about coercive religious violence

The Alto Terrón killings illustrate several warning signs that appear in studies of coercive religious movements around the world.

These characteristics are better understood as features of authoritarian control than of religion in general. Many religious traditions include beliefs about revelation, exorcism or spiritual warfare without encouraging violence. The critical difference at Alto Terrón was the combination of absolute authority, coercion and the willingness to inflict lethal harm on those who resisted.

Within Panama’s wider history of unusual belief and collective fear, Alto Terrón therefore stands apart. It is not primarily a story of mass psychogenic illness or nationwide moral panic. It is a documented example of how claims of supernatural authority, when concentrated in a small coercive group and combined with social isolation, can be used to justify torture and murder.

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Endnotes

1. Source: theguardian.com
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/28/panama-sect-massacre-indigenous-official-neglect

Published: March 28, 2020

2. Source: ministeriopublico.gob.pa
Link:https://ministeriopublico.gob.pa/notas-de-prensa/ministerio-publico-realiza-diligencias-y-recaba-nuevos-elementos-por-homicidio-de-7-personas-en-el-terron/

3. Source: ministeriopublico.gob.pa
Link:https://ministeriopublico.gob.pa/notas-de-prensa/fallo-de-jurado-de-conciencia-a-peticion-del-ministerio-publico-declara-culpable-a-7-personas-por-homicidio-femicidio-y-privacion-de-libertad-en-el-terron/

4. Source: ministeriopublico.gob.pa
Link:https://ministeriopublico.gob.pa/notas-de-prensa/ministerio-publico-concluye-etapa-de-investigacion-en-el-caso-de-la-secta-de-el-terron/

5. Source: ministeriopublico.gob.pa
Link:https://ministeriopublico.gob.pa/notas-de-prensa/pena-maxima-para-siete-personas-por-las-muertes-en-el-terron/

6. Source: prensa.com
Title: siete personas son declaradas culpables por la masacre de el terron
Link:https://www.prensa.com/judiciales/siete-personas-son-declaradas-culpables-por-la-masacre-de-el-terron/

7. Source: ministeriopublico.gob.pa
Link:https://ministeriopublico.gob.pa/notas-de-prensa/fijan-fecha-de-juicio-oral-para-nueve-personas-vinculadas-a-la-secta-de-el-terron/

8. Source: ministeriopublico.gob.pa
Link:https://ministeriopublico.gob.pa/notas-de-prensa/a-peticion-del-ministerio-publico-elevan-a-causa-compleja-investigacion-por-homicidios-relacionados-a-secta-en-el-terron/

9. Source: prensa.com
Link:https://www.prensa.com/judiciales/juez-de-garantias-eleva-a-causa-compleja-la-investigacion-por-los-homicidios-en-el-terron/

10. Source: defensoria.gob.pa
Title: Comunicado ante los graves hechos ocurridos en El Terrón, Comarca Ngobe Bugle
Link:https://www.defensoria.gob.pa/comunicado-ante-los-graves-hechos-ocurridos-en-el-terron-comarca-ngobe-bugle/

11. Source: prensa.com
Title: el lider de la secta crecio a la sombra del olvido y del mal
Link:https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/el-lider-de-la-secta-crecio-a-la-sombra-del-olvido-y-del-mal/

12. Source: prensa.com
Title: seis menores y una mujer embarazada asesinados en un culto
Link:https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/seis-menores-y-una-mujer-embarazada-asesinados-en-un-culto/

13. Source: ministeriopublico.gob.pa
Link:https://ministeriopublico.gob.pa/notas-de-prensa/nueve-personas-seran-imputadas-presuntamente-por-muertes-en-la-comarca-ngabe/

14. Source: theguardian.com
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/16/panama-burial-pit-children-exorcisms-religious-sect

Additional References

15. Source: newsroompanama.com
Title: the prophets of fear cults operate in the heart of the ngabe bugle region
Link:https://newsroompanama.com/2025/04/19/the-prophets-of-fear-cults-operate-in-the-heart-of-the-ngabe-bugle-region/

Published: April 19, 2025

16. Source: newsroompanama.com
Title: cult arrests revive memories of 2020 massacre
Link:https://newsroompanama.com/2023/04/14/cult-arrests-revive-memories-of-2020-massacre/

Published: April 14, 2023

17. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5a-byWYWQg

18. Source: youtube.com
Title: Testimony of what was found in the area where the sect operated in the region
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x2SqOHVSlE

19. Source: youtube.com
Title: Víctimas de secta religiosa en Alto Terrón rompen el silencio
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDvICzdudU

20. Source: globalnews.ca
Link:https://globalnews.ca/news/6424321/panama-exorcism-rituals-deaths/

21. Source: independent.co.uk
Link:https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/panama-cult-killings-pregnant-woman-children-sacrifice-new-light-god-el-terron-a9290886.html

22. Source: cbsnews.com
Link:https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/panama-officials-religious-ritual-kills-7-remote-ngabe-bugle-indigenous-jungle-community-2020-01-17/

23. Source: scmp.com
Link:https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3047128/screams-jungle-mystery-panama-cult-sacrifices-children

24. Source: prensalibre.com
Link:https://www.prensalibre.com/internacional/bbc-news-mundo-internacional/la-nueva-luz-de-dios-la-secta-acusada-de-torturar-y-matar-a-una-mujer-embarazada-y-seis-ninos-en-un-exorcismo-en-panama/