SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) -- Local authorities in three small towns in
different Mexican states have told
evangelical Christians to change their religion to traditional Catholicism
or suffer the consequences --
threatening them with jail, expulsion, the removal of public services
such as water and drainage, and even death.
In San Nicolas, Ixmiquilpan, in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo,
a June deadline is fast approaching on an
ultimatum given to 230 evangelicals to renounce their faith or be
expelled from their homes and community.
State and federal government officials have been unable to resolve
the conflict.
Meanwhile, the evangelicals must obtain water from private sources and have no drainage services. The case has attracted wide publicity in the Mexico City press.
In the more southern state of Oaxaca, the town of Arroyo-Arena San
Lorenzo La Lana, Choapa, reported
similar problems.
On March 4, two recent evangelical converts -- Roberto Antonio Martinez
and Domingo Alavez Sanchez -- were jailed for 36 hours and asked to deny
their new faith. Then on April 3, four evangelicals were imprisoned for
24 hours, including the two previous victims plus Cornelio Antonio Martinez
(father of Roberto) and Simon
Antonio Manzano.
Roberto's mother, Cristina, wife of Cornelio, was fined 15,000 pesos
($1,600) "for damages to the town and
authorities of this community for having made them work for questions
regarding their evangelical roots." In
other words, Cristina was fined for "making them put people in jail,"
a local source explained.
Six families, a total of 40 church members, are affected by the hostility
against evangelicals. Local authorities, all members of the local Catholic
church, have ordered that the electricity and drinking water be cut off
to
evangelicals and that the evangelical's houses and animals be burned.
Evangelicals have also been threatened
with death unless they change their religion.
State and federal authorities have been asked to intervene to try
to solve the problem, says Pastor Hector
Astorga Martinez of the Interdenominational Christian Church. Meetings
were held May 9 and 18, but no
solution was reached. Town leaders refused to attend the meetings.
"Their position is intransigent, not wanting
any evangelicals in the community," said Martinez.
In Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas, where religious persecution
has been a well-known problem for
decades, a new case surfaced in the town of Los Llanitos, Teopisca.
On May 19, town authorities met to formally declare that evangelicals would
be expelled unless they agree to participate in all Catholic festivals.
On May 3, two members of the Pentecostal church were jailed for 48 hours
for refusing to take part in the Santa Cruz celebration, said Presbyterian
pastor and lawyer Abdias Tovilla.
Many of the religious conflicts in Mexico stem from evangelicals'
refusal to participate in town festivals -- an
important source of income for local authorities. The festivals
usually include activities that evangelicals find
unacceptable. In some cases, town leaders have allowed evangelicals
to cooperate in community projects of equal economic value.