A Protestant pastor and his family were forcibly displaced from the community of Santiago Malacatepec, San Juan Mazatlán Municipality, in Mexico’s Oaxaca State following five days of arbitrary detention after he refused an order to participate in a religious ceremony associated with the local majority religion.
In November 2025 Pastor Mariano Velásquez Martínez, who has led the Iglesia Camino Nuevo y Vivo of approximately 25 people in Santiago Malacatepec since the forced displacement of its previous pastor in 2023, was assigned the role of ‘mayordomo’ within the community – a stewardship role assigned to individuals of the majority religion who are required to lead a traditional Roman Catholic festival and pay for associated expenses.
Pastor Velásquez Martínez accepted the role of mayordomo under the understanding that he would only be required to provide candles and flowers, as part of his duties.
However, on 15 January 2026 Pastor Velásquez Martínez was ordered by a fellow mayordomo to light candles, kneel and pray to the image of Saint James the Apostle. The pastor reminded him that this was not part of the agreement on account of his religious beliefs, however the second mayordomo complained to the village leadership
Ignoring the terms of the original agreement, the local authorities detained Pastor Velásquez Martínez for five days. He was then bound with a rope and taken before an assembly of about 180 men where an announcement was made by the village authorities that he was to be expelled. The pastor was forced to sign a document, forcibly displacing him from the community. He was not provided with a copy and fears it will be used to fabricate the story that he left the community voluntarily. The pastor, his wife and three-month-old baby are now residing temporarily with relatives in Oaxaca City.
The case comes in the context of tightening sanctions for forced displacement in Oaxaca State, with prison sentences of up to 18 years for perpetrators. In a press release issued on his Facebook profile, Porfirio Flores Zúñiga, a lawyer and representative of the Fellowship of Pastors, called on the Attorney General's Office and the Secretary of Government of Oaxaca State to apply the newly approved Forced Displacement Law in this case.
CSW’s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: ‘The arbitrary detention of Pastor Mariano Velásquez Martínez and the subsequent forced displacement of him and his family is unconscionable. His case demonstrates how both state and federal governments are failing to meet not only their international human rights obligations, but, even more fundamentally, their commitments to uphold basic rights in Mexico's own constitution and laws. This case is unfortunately not unique, and it is past time that the Mexican government, at every level, implements policies to uphold freedom of religion or belief for all, including in communities governed under Uses and Customs. We call on the government of Oaxaca to take swift action to hold those responsible for the forced displacement of this family to account under the law, and to take steps to make it clear that freedom of religion or belief must be upheld for all.’
Notes to Editors:
- Santiago Malacatepec is an indigenous Mixe community governed under Uses and Customs, which protects the right of indigenous communities to maintain their cultural and traditional methods of local governance with the caveat that it must be applied in line with human rights guarantees in the Mexican constitution and in the international conventions to which Mexico is party. The Mexican constitution guarantees FoRB and other human rights to all citizens. 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. Oaxaca State has one of the highest incidences of violations of freedom of religion or belief in the country.
- The ‘Law to Prevent, Attend and Redress Internal Forced Displacement in the State’ was approved by the Oaxaca State Congress in September 2025. Prison sentences range from 10 to 18 years, as well as fines of up to 2,000 days Unit of Measurement and Update (UMA) fine. The UMA is an economic reference system used to determine the total payment in pesos provided by federal state laws. This law makes Oaxaca the fifth state to sanction this crime, along with Chiapas, Guerrero, Sinaloa and Zacatecas. Local officials told CSW that they estimate that around half of cases of forced displacement in Oaxaca State can be linked to religious intolerance.