Gustavo Serrano (5 January 1950-), better known as El Cardenal, was an excommunicated Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and the leader of the cult of Santa Muerte in Bolivia.
Biography[]
Gustavo Serrano was born in Mexico in 1950, and he was motivated to join the Roman Catholic Church due to its social mission. He became a cardinal of the Catholic Church, but his dedication to the cult of Santa Muerte led to his excommunication. Nicknamed "El Cardenal", he became spiritual advisor to the Santa Blanca Cartel leader Rodrigo Carlos Pérez Morales, often serving as his conscience. After the cartel's takeover of Bolivia, Serrano broadcast prayers and propaganda about Santa Muerte to the Bolivian peasantry, hoping to convert them to his faith. He also persuaded Pérez to write his own bible and to create charitable organizations to make good of his cartel's control over thousands of lives. He was captured by American special forces during Operation Kingslayer in 2019.
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