<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/1fdec122-395e-4ca2-a45c-1cef95a29552/A2910CDF-8FC3-4C78-A467-5CB3665667C9/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/22/me-priest-fights-for-santeria-followers/" href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/22/me-priest-fights-for-santeria-followers/" style="font-size: 11px;">www2.tbo.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/22/me-priest-fights-for-santeria-followers/"><P>But before he could finish the ritual sacrifice, Coral Gables police swarmed the house where he and about 20 other followers of the Afro-Cuban religion had gathered to worship.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/22/me-priest-fights-for-santeria-followers/"><P>The officers, Suarez recalls, pointed their guns at the devotees and screamed at them to freeze. Suarez could hear a couple of worshippers in the front yard yelling, <I>"No dispare!" </I>Don't shoot!</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/22/me-priest-fights-for-santeria-followers/"><P>Soon there were TV vans on the street. Suarez counted 25 police cars.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/22/me-priest-fights-for-santeria-followers/"><P>"Why are you violating our civil rights?" Suarez asked them.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/22/me-priest-fights-for-santeria-followers/"><P>Soon thereafter, word of the raid made its way to the great defender of Santeria in the United States. That would be Ernesto Pichardo: high priest, physical extension of the fire spirit Shango and co-founder of the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, the first incorporated Santeria church in the nation.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/22/me-priest-fights-for-santeria-followers/"><P>If officials in this upscale city were expecting to confront a serene mystic in flowing robes, well, that isn't Ernesto Pichardo.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/A2910CDF-8FC3-4C78-A467-5CB3665667C9/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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