{"id":29499,"date":"2021-10-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/protestant-and-catholic-churches-destroyed-in-arson-attacks-5449\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:04:31","slug":"protestant-and-catholic-churches-destroyed-in-arson-attacks-5449","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/protestant-and-catholic-churches-destroyed-in-arson-attacks-5449\/","title":{"rendered":"Protestant and Catholic churches destroyed in arson attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two churches in the central Biob\u00edo Region of Chile were completely destroyed in the early hours of 12 October, in the latest in a series of arson attacks against Protestant and Catholic churches in the country which began in 2015.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Pedro Liguenpi of the \u201cNuevo Pacto Pentecostal Cristiano\u201d (New Covenant Pentecostal Christian) Church, based in the Bajo Quilantahue sector of Tir\u00faa Commune, Arauco Province, told local media that his church was attacked at approximately 2:20am, and that it was demolished by the flames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Catholic church in the Primer Agua sector of Tir\u00faa Commune, Arauco Province was attacked at 3:10am and was also destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the end of 2015, over 40 organised arson attacks<\/a> have been recorded<\/a> against a variety of religious buildings in the regions of Biob\u00edo and La Araucan\u00eda, which have a long history of activity by militant Mapuche indigenous separatist movements. While the perpetrators of the 12 October arson attacks have not yet been identified, pro-autonomy or separatist movements have been implicated in the majority of the attacks on churches over the past six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Archbishop of Concepci\u00f3n issued a statement<\/a> condemning the attacks on both churches: \u201cWe condemn these acts and regret the damage done to those who profess the faith, this in turn, wounds a fundamental aspect of the human being, freedom of religion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local sources believe that the attacks may have been in reaction to the declaration of a 15-day state of emergency in the provinces of Malleco and Caut\u00edn in La Araucan\u00eda region, as well as in the provinces of Arauco and Biob\u00edo in the Biob\u00edo Region, by Chilean President Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era. The order followed other violent attacks<\/a> targeting public and private infrastructure in the regions, and included mobilising the military in order to protect security and public order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Head of Advocacy Anna-Lee Stangl said: \u201cWe are deeply concerned by the latest arson attacks on Catholic and Protestant churches in Biob\u00edo, Chile, and the wider violence in the region. We call on those responsible, whatever their motive, to cease targeting places of worship and to respect religious freedom. We also encourage the government to continue its investigations while respecting the human rights of the population, and extend our solidarity to the members and leaders of all affected churches who have suffered devastating losses.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two churches in the central Biobo Region of Chile were completely destroyed in the early hours of 12 October<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43636,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[138,137],"class_list":["post-29499","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-chile","regions-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40083,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29499\/revisions\/40083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29499"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}