Leyvas Velazquez, Chiapas

[kmaaj]

A small village populated by @500 indigenous natives in a remote part of southern Mexico. It is being reported by International Christian Concern that evangelicals are being jailed and losing property after refusing to renounce their faith. Secondary sources are paraphrasing the ICC reports and inferring on their own that it is Catholics that are persecuting the evangelicals. And the rumor mill is running hog wild with it.

As best as I can tell, in the village of Leyvas Velazquez in Chiapas, there is no running water, just enough electricity to power 24 TV’s, no autos visible via Google Earth, and the nearest Catholic mission, parish, or cathedral is a 7 hour hike away. The bishop is on record stating these people do not recognize his ecclesiastical authority and are not Catholics. And the rumor mill is adamant that Catholics are responsible for the persecution.

persecution.org/2015/12/18/seven-evangelicals-jailed-after-refusing-to-convert-to-catholicism-in-mexico/

persecution.org/2016/01/06/30-evangelical-protestants-expelled-homes-destroyed-in-mexico/

Thoughts?

 

[Path_Finder]

A small village populated by @500 indigenous natives in a remote part of southern Mexico. It is being reported by International Christian Concern that evangelicals are being jailed and losing property after refusing to renounce their faith. Secondary sources are paraphrasing the ICC reports and inferring on their own that it is Catholics that are persecuting the evangelicals. And the rumor mill is running hog wild with it.

As best as I can tell, in the village of Leyvas Velazquez in Chiapas, there is no running water, just enough electricity to power 24 TV’s, no autos visible via Google Earth, and the nearest Catholic mission, parish, or cathedral is a 7 hour hike away. The bishop is on record stating these people do not recognize his ecclesiastical authority and are not Catholics. And the rumor mill is adamant that Catholics are responsible for the persecution.

persecution.org/2015/12/18/seven-evangelicals-jailed-after-refusing-to-convert-to-catholicism-in-mexico/

persecution.org/2016/01/06/30-evangelical-protestants-expelled-homes-destroyed-in-mexico/

Thoughts?

Las Margaritas, Chiapas
In January 1994 it was one of the cities seized by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) during their uprising. The village of La Realidad, headquarters of the EZLN military command, is located in the municipality.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Margaritas,_Chiapas

A guess:

Maybe that is in an area of Mexico, the Leftist guerillas control. This may well not be the official Mexican Federal Government did from little we know but at the least, the local government. Perhaps Marxist types frown on Evangelicals.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapatista_Army_of_National_Liberation

 

[Path_Finder]

Looking into it, I don’t think we can tell who is doing the persecution except the Federal Government of Mexico is most likely not involved and is worried about bigger issues. I’m not able to copy excerpts of the articles but it sounds like it says “local community officials” have done the alleged harms.

 

[Path_Finder]

christiantoday.com/article/mexico.persecution.forces.30.christians.from.their.homes.because.of.their.faith/75901.htm

This seems to be a link to one of the stories in question by a more of a news source, this article seems to add some to what was in the other links:

Two men, the commissioner of the community, Jimenez Hernandez, and the municipal agent, Francisco Jimenez Santiz, are thought to be responsible for inciting the violence.

This is not an isolated incident in the village. According to ICC, seven Protestants were arbitrarily imprisoned when they refused to renounce their faith in December 2015.

Protestants are a minority religion in Mexico and “in the rural areas where we see persecution, many villages and their councils are dominated by adherents to syncretistic Catholicism,” ICC’s advocacy manager, Nathaniel Lance, told Christian Today.

Syncretistic Catholicism is a religion formed of components of Catholicism and indigenous beliefs and rituals.

The victims of persecution are “on the fringe of Mexican society”, Lance said.

“As non-Spanish speaking, rural, Protestant Christians, they have no access to the financial, legal, or political resources necessary to end the persecution they suffer.”

Persecution is likely to continue “as long as the Mexican government continues to ignore [it], and refuses to prosecute those responsible”, Lance added. He said the government is unlikely to engage with the persecution as “there is no political incentive to take action”.

Despite Mexico’s consitution protecting freedom of worship, the government uses the Law of Uses and Customs – which states that indigenous culture and customs should be protected – as an excuse not to act.

“They use this to say that the persecution in these areas are part of the indigenous culture,” Lance said.

“There is little media or governmental attention paid to these cases both internationally and in Mexico, which is why raising awareness of persecution is vital.”

ICC staff visited Mexico last year and conservatively estimated that there were over 70 open cases of religious persecution against minority Christian communities, with between 20 and 100 victims each, in the states of Chiapas, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero. This equates to thousands of victims and only represents incidents that have been reported.

So it sounds like these are all indigenous persons that are going through this and the local community governments doing this.

 

[kmaaj]

christiantoday.com/article/mexico.persecution.forces.30.christians.from.their.homes.because.of.their.faith/75901.htm

This seems to be a link to one of the stories in question by a more of a news source, this article seems to add some to what was in the other links:

So it sounds like these are all indigenous persons that are going through this and the local community governments doing this.

Check out this video, especially the 1:48 mark:

info.persecution.org/fightformexicospersecutedchristians

Protestant news sources are claiming that these in collusion with practices of Sante Muerte are Catholics, yet the bishop says they are not. The diocese has no mission, parish, or cathedral within a 7 hour hike to Leyva Velazquez.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Check out this video, especially the 1:48 mark:

info.persecution.org/fightformexicospersecutedchristians

Protestant news sources are claiming that these in collusion with practices of Sante Muerte are Catholics, yet the bishop says they are not. The diocese has no mission, parish, or cathedral within a 7 hour hike to Leyva Velazquez.

I watched the video, and it is very sad what is happening. I didn’t hear anything about Catholics persecuting these Christians.
I don’t agree that Mexico is concerned about its reputation on human rights do you?

 

[kmaaj]

I watched the video, and it is very sad what is happening. I didn’t hear anything about Catholics persecuting these Christians.
I don’t agree that Mexico is concerned about its reputation on human rights do you?

I am troubled by the fact that those that -hate- the Catholic faith are, based on one word in one article, inferring that it is Catholics that are the ones doing the persecuting, when the existing evidence plainly indicates that it is anything but “Catholics”.

Here is the body of my email sent to the ICC:

*There are literally dozens of secondary articles that make inferences based on your choice of words, and inferences are being made on top of those inferences. This is leading to a full blown explosion of rumors, and the rumors are stemming from one word used in one article.

If the persecutors are indeed Roman Catholic, then please plainly identify them as such and include the bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas along with the state and national government authorities when you call for action. Also, please prove that those being persecuted are being coerced into “converting to Catholicism” by actual Roman Catholics. A copy of the actual document would be nice.

If this is not the case, then a correction of the wording of the title of the article along with it’s contents in the first paragraph is in order.

I love your work; I consider it holy. But this article is just plain shoddy journalism. *

If you agree with I have said, please email Olivia Miller at press@persecution.org and tell her.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I am troubled by the fact that those that -hate- the Catholic faith are, based on one word in one article, inferring that it is Catholics that are the ones doing the persecuting, when the existing evidence plainly indicates that it is anything but “Catholics”.

Here is the body of my email sent to the ICC:

*There are literally dozens of secondary articles that make inferences based on your choice of words, and inferences are being made on top of those inferences. This is leading to a full blown explosion of rumors, and the rumors are stemming from one word used in one article.

If the persecutors are indeed Roman Catholic, then please plainly identify them as such and include the bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas along with the state and national government authorities when you call for action. Also, please prove that those being persecuted are being coerced into “converting to Catholicism” by actual Roman Catholics. A copy of the actual document would be nice.

If this is not the case, then a correction of the wording of the title of the article along with it’s contents in the first paragraph is in order.

I love your work; I consider it holy. But this article is just plain shoddy journalism. *

If you agree with I have said, please email Olivia Miller at press@persecution.org and tell her.

that concerned me also. thanks for the e-mail address.