Syncretistic Catholics shoot
at, expel and imprison evangelicals.
MEXICO CITY,
February 9 (Compass Direct News) – Persecution of evangelical
Christians in the southern state of Chiapas “is accelerating daily in the
indigenous regions,” according to the National Bar of Christian Lawyers.
Most of the problems stem
from small town leaders’ insistence that evangelicals pay quotas for the
festivals of “traditional Catholics” – a blend of native “traditional”
religions and Catholicism – or else they will be expelled from their homes
and their properties seized, said Alfonso Farrera, director of the bar.
The organization directed by
Farrera has told the government it has records of 200 cases of unresolved
religious intolerance in Chiapas, including “threats, intimidation, and
robbery or expulsion from their communities, or death.”
Last January 31, three
evangelicals from San Juan Chamula municipality were driving home from San
Cristobal de las Casas when they were ambushed and shot at, requiring
hospitalization. Authorities concluded that it was a case of religious
persecution. Also on January 31, Reynaldo Gomez Ton, representative of the
Alas de Aguila (Eagle Wings) church denomination, lamented that
several evangelical families in Los Pozos, municipality of Huixtan, had not
only had their water cut off but also lost the cash benefits of a government
program to help small farmers called PROCAMPO merely for religious reasons.
Local leaders took heavy
tools to destroy their water pipes, disrupting the service of 40
evangelicals. Later, on January 21, authorities forbade them to chop wood.
La Jornada
newspaper also reported that another 10 evangelicals in Los Pozos were denied
PROCAMPO (Program of Direct Rural Support) benefits because of their faith.
In December, government agents intervened in the town to keep all
evangelicals from being expelled from their properties, but that did not
bring lasting results for those who had accepted a “new religion.”
In Chiepetlan, Tlapa de
Comonfort municipality, three evangelical families are threatened with
expulsion because of their faith. A similar problem exists in San Luis
Acatlán, where leaders claim that evangelicals do not do their share in
community affairs led by traditional Catholics.
In both places, state
government representatives have met with local leaders insisting that
evangelical families are backed by the law and should not be expelled.
Evangelicals say they cooperate in community projects, often far beyond what
is asked of them, but do not feel right about paying for religious festivals
involving drunkenness and immoral behavior.
In another case, Fortunato
Velasco Pérez had to flee with the eight members of his family from the town
of Campo Grande after he became a Pentecostal Christian. The family
cooperated with community obligations but refused to help pay for Catholic
festivals, and in October authorities cut off their water and electricity.
Two of their children were imprisoned for three days, Fortunato was nearly
hanged, the family was threatened, and town leaders ordered them to pay a
huge fine.
As a result, Fortunato and
family had to leave their property behind and seek refuge in a community of
evangelicals named Betania, in Teopisca municipality. His case, like many
others, is still pending.
In a statement in
Mexico City’s La Jornada newspaper published yesterday (February 8), the
Roman Catholic bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Felipe
Arizmendi, declared his church had no relationship with the “so-called
traditional Catholics, who do not depend on our diocese, do not take into
account the Bible nor the laws of this country, but are governed by their own
agreements and traditions.”
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