Son Gotleu residents denounce black magic rituals

"We don't attach a great deal of significance to all this. We know that Nigerians and South Americans have been practising these rituals, witchcraft and black magic for many years. They're all typical of their countries," says Ginés Quiñonero, president of the Orson Welles of Son Gotleu Residents Association. "The Nigerian leaders control their people through witchcraft. The best way to have total control is to frighten them through voodoo rituals."

In June last year the National Police broke up a criminal organisation which had been taking pubic hair from prostitutes operating in Playa de Palma in order to threaten the women with voodoo rituals if they disobeyed orders. The women had been taken in by false promises of jobs but tribal rituals were used to force them to become prostitutes. The rituals involved the sacrifice of an animal.

Meanwhile, the Son Gotleu neighbourhood in Palma is a priority, says the mayor, José Hila, who adds that this priority is being made a reality by a new social services centre and an investment of 300,000 euros for improvements to buildings. Hila said this following a visit during which he was accompanied by the councillor for welfare and social rights, Mercedes Borrás, and the councillor for the Levante district, Juan Ferrer, to the social services centre which had started operating on 10 December.