After destroying lands and burning the church building of Protestant Christians in a village in Mexico’s Oaxaca state earlier this month, local tribal leaders notified the government that they will expel them, according to the state secretary of government.
Jesús Romero López, secretary of government of Oaxaca state, said at a press conference on Tuesday (Aug. 20) that area leaders in the predominantly tribal community of the village of San Isidro Arenal, San Juan Lalana municipality in the northeast part of the state had notified him that they had decided to expel the Protestant Christians.
On Wednesday (Aug. 21), while most of the Protestants were at a meeting with Oaxaca officials, area tribal Catholics looted and destroyed homes of the evangelicals in the Cerro Cajón area of San Isido Arenal, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
“Three women, Maximina Contreras Antonio, an 83-year-old paraplegic, and mother and daughter Esmeralda Antonio and Cristina Hernández, were abducted and had their mobile phone confiscated before being forced onto a truck and later abandoned on a roadside hours away from their homes,” CSW reported.
On Aug. 6, more than 300 village Catholics looted evangelicals’ properties, destroying cacao and mango fields and destroying homes and their church building in Cerro Cajón, according to CSW.
Two pastors, Moisés Sarmiento Alavés and Esdrás Ojeda Jiménez, on Aug. 16 went to the community accompanied by two other men, Pablo Gómez Sosa and Nabor Ojeda, to attend a meeting with the Oaxaca state prosecutor’s office, according to CSW. Pastor Alavés was to interpret for Chinanteco-speaking tribal villagers, and the other three men planned to deliver food to the persecuted families.
“However, the planned proceeding never took place, and the four men were attacked by a mob,” CSW stated. “They were stripped, beaten, arbitrarily detained for over six hours, and forced to sign a document which they did not have the opportunity to read.”
A representative from the state’s prosecutor’s office eventually arrived by truck to San Isidro Arenal but did not take witness statements regarding the Aug. 6 attacks as tasked and departed without any action on behalf of the four men, Pastor Geraldo Hernández, legal representative of the San Isidro Arenal Protestants, told CSW.
“[Catholic] Members of the community blocked the entrances to San Isidro Arenal, preventing anyone else from entering,” CSW stated. “The four men were ultimately freed by the police later that same day.”
Local officials also targeted rights advocates, on Aug. 18 issuing an ultimatum to leave the area in eight days to Lucía Antonio, who is not an evangelical but had expressed support for the Christians’ religious freedom and disagreement with the actions of the local authorities. The previous week, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Oaxaca Pedro Vásquez Villalobos on Aug. 11 had denounced the attacks in his Sunday sermon.
After the Protestants met with state officials on Tuesday (Aug. 20), they were informed that their livestock would be returned to them only on the condition that they pay a daily fee of 1,000 pesos (about $50 USD) for grazing rights, backdated to Aug. 6, according to CSW.
Roots of the aggression go back to November 2023, when local leaders began enforcing a 1993 community accord stating that Roman Catholicism was the only religion permitted in San Isidro Arenal, according to CSW.
“Following this move, 13 families belonging to the Protestant Interdenominational Christian Church (ICIAR) began to experience threats and acts of violence encouraged by community leaders, despite the fact that they were fulfilling all of their community responsibilities, including participating in Roman Catholic activities even though they are not members of that religious group,” CSW stated. “One month later, in December 2023, three religious minority families were forcibly expelled from the community and took refuge in Playa Vicente Municipality, Veracruz state.”
Tribal Mexicans commonly cite the constitutional “Uses and Customs” to justify actions against Protestants who do not practice their blend of Catholic and native beliefs and rituals. The “Uses and Customs” article is meant to protect the rights of indigenous communities to practice their cultural traditions but is frequently misused by local officials such as those in San Isidro Arenal to justify persecution of Protestants.
“The Mexican constitution guarantees FoRB [Freedom of Religion and Belief] and other human rights to all citizens,” CSW noted. “However, in practice FoRB violations are common among indigenous communities governed under Uses and Customs, and the Mexican government at the federal, state and municipal levels does little to ensure that these protections are upheld. As a result, in many communities a religious majority attempts to enforce religious uniformity with consequences ranging in severity for members of minorities who wish to practice a religion or belief of their choosing.”
State Secretary of Government López said talks to resolve the conflict are continuing between officials of San Isidro Arenal and local Christian leaders.
The Ombudsman’s Office of the People of Oaxaca issued a statement on Thursday (Aug. 22) calling on the state secretary of government, the Oaxaca attorney general and the president of San Juan Lalana to protect the human rights of the Protestants of San Isidro Arenal.
“This human rights organization has documented that, because of professing a religion other than Catholicism, residents of San Isidro Arenal, San Juan Lalana, have deprived a group of people of their freedom, including women, children, and an elderly person with a disability, in addition to entering their homes with the aim of destroying them and finally expelling them from the community, under the argument that ‘due to customs and practices,’ it is not permitted to profess any faith other than Catholicism,” the ombudsman’s office stated.
Also in Oaxaca state, on July 20-23 married couple Tito Mariano Méndez and Esther Abigail Pérez Ramírez, were arbitrarily detained in Montenegro village, the San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional Municipality, after local leaders learned they had submitted a complaint to the Oaxaca State Ombudsman’s Office regarding FoRB violations as Protestants, according to CSW.
