{"id":31723,"date":"2014-10-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/magazines\/country-in-focus-mexico-2355\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:21:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T20:21:03","slug":"country-in-focus-mexico-2355","status":"publish","type":"magazines","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/magazines\/country-in-focus-mexico-2355\/","title":{"rendered":"Country in focus: Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe landlord turns off the electricity at night. I couldn\u2019t see her until the morning. And by then it was too late.\u201d<\/b> Her voice shook as she started to weep quietly. The young mother was telling me about her 18-month-old daughter who died last year, suffocating in the overcrowded conditions the community is forced to live in. The rest of the community looked on, their feelings of helplessness reflected in their faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear for those left behind<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These 40 people had to flee their homes in Yashtin\u00edn Village, southern Mexico, in 2012: forced out by local authorities who orchestrated mob violence against them, simply because they objected to the group\u2019s Protestant Christianity. Catholics who tried to intervene on their behalf were also threatened with eviction. When the Protestants were finally expelled, the government housed them in a cramped shelter\u2013 where they\u2019re still living today. They haven\u2019t received any regular financial aid, and their water and electricity has been arbitrarily cut off. The terrible conditions resulted in the tragic death of the toddler in 2013. And they\u2019re worried about elderly members of their family who couldn\u2019t leave the village, and are still being threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waiting years for justice<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is far from an isolated incident \u2013 and that\u2019s why we decided we had to expand our work into Mexico. All across the country, religious freedom violations are on the rise. Although it\u2019s a secular state, in many parts of Mexico traditional law takes precedence in practice over the constitution. This happens especially where there are large indigenous populations, and Protestant Christians in particular are often targeted. Many victims have now waited years for justice, only to see their cases ignored or even archived by the officials who should be helping them. On a recent visit to Mexico I met many people and communities who told me their upsetting stories. One group has been evicted from their village twice, and they\u2019re currently living in a building on the grounds of a church. The first eviction happened in 2010 after a Catholic converted to Protestantism, but the Protestants went back when the village authorities guaranteed their religious freedom. But after violence against them escalated again, including sexual attacks and arbitrary detention, they fled once more in 2012. The only real support these communities have received has been from local churches and a local activist group, the COOC, which is extremely overstretched with the ever increasing number of cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help turn our vision into reality<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a vision of a Mexico, and indeed a Latin America, where the rule of law is upheld, religious freedom is a reality, and the people I meet don\u2019t face violence, detention, displacement or sexual attacks because of their religious beliefs. And to make that vision a reality in Mexico, I need your prayers. We serve a miracle- working, prayer-answering God! He\u2019s turned around seemingly hopeless countries before and he can do it again for Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please pray<\/p>\n\n\n\n