Mexico’s ongoing struggle against organised crime affects all Mexicans, but especially the most vulnerable groups in rural areas, including minority Christian denominations. Christians who actively engage in transforming society constitute a threat to drug cartels and other criminal groups. In indigenous-heavy regions, those who convert from indigenous traditional beliefs to non-traditional Protestant denominations face persecution. Members of the Catholic Renewal Movement have also been targeted.
Christians easy targets in Mexico’s lawless borderlands
The Governor of Mexico’s northern state of Chihuahua, Javier Corral, admitted last week that his government does not have the means to tackle organised crime, and that he’s asked for federal resources to fight the drug cartels. This came four days after the murder of a local journalist, who’d reported […]
Mexico drug cartels charging churches ‘taxes’ now ‘very common’
A Mexican church leader has provided fresh insight into the ways in which Christians in Latin America come under pressure in areas controlled by drug cartels. The pastor, who wished to remain anonymous, told World Watch Monitor about the “tax” churches can be charged to be allowed to remain open. […]
Expelled Mexican Christians forced to live in wine cellar
Following their eviction on 26 January 2016, the seven families have been surviving in various temporary shelters provided for them by the state government.World Watch Monitor A year after seven Christian families were forced from their homes in a village in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, the 30 […]
Mexico ‘in denial’ over Christians forced out of homes for their beliefs
Twelve of the 30 evangelical Christians evicted from the village of Tuxpan de Bolaños in Jalisco in January. Courtesy Open Doors International Mexico has a “policy of denial” about the thousands of evangelical Christians forced out of their homes because of their beliefs, according to a Mexican human rights activist. […]
Three priests killed, another tortured in Mexico
Three Roman Catholic priests have been murdered and another tortured in Mexico since September, reports the Associated Press. Rev. Jose Luis Sanchez Ruiz was found alive three days after his abduction in Catemaco town, Veracruz state, with ‘visible signs of torture’ according to a Roman Catholic Church statement. His kidnap […]
Religious freedom ambassador visits Mexico
The US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, David Saperstein, is in Mexico to discuss how its federal and state governments are adhering to their international obligations to uphold freedom of religion and belief. As World Watch Monitor has reported, Mexican Christians who branch away from the “traditionalist” village churches, which […]
Mexican Protestants continue to face pressure for leaving ‘traditionalist’ churches
Lauro Pérez Núñez has been arrested and detained several times since leaving ‘traditionalist’ church.Coordinación de Organizaciones Cristianas Mexican Christians who branch away from the “traditionalist” village churches, which blend aspects of indigenous paganism and popular Catholicism, continue to face pressure to return to the fold or leave their villages. […]
Hostile homecoming for Mexican Protestant after exile
Lauro Pérez Núñez has been arrested and detained several times since leaving ‘traditionalist’ church.Coordinación de Organizaciones Cristianas Lauro Pérez Núñez, a convert to the Protestant faith, was ordered to leave his community last year for violating what local authorities claimed was the village’s “custom” of belonging to the “traditionalist” […]
Imprisoned Mexican Protestants allowed home
Two Mexican Protestants who were imprisoned and then expelled from their community for refusing to renounce their faith have been allowed to return to their homes with a guarantee of full religious freedom. Casto Hernández, 31, and his cousin Juan Placido Hernández, 26, of the United Pentecostal Church of Mexico, […]
Another Mexican Protestant suffers
A Mexican Protestant recently detained for the third time by local authorities has now seen his three children banned from attending the local school and his home cut off from the village’s water and electricity services. His crime? Attending an Evangelical church. The state Ombudsman in Oaxaca has publicly condemned […]