Persecuted Christians face Wrath from both Governments and Cartels
In recent times it’s become more prevalent that Christian’s in many countries such as Mexico, Cuba and Nicaragua often have to fear more than just one level of persecution. There is pressure from there community along with the governments and bigger gangs and cartels.
Last month there was a discovery of dozens of deceased migrants in the back of a truck, near America’s border with Mexico. This discovery has turned the spotlight on the difficult circumstances that citizens, including Christians, in Latin America live under. If it is not their governments, it’s the criminal groups and gangs that violate their freedoms.
Mexico
Mexico is number 43 on the 2022 Open Doors World Watch List. Since Christians are against criminal operations and violence, they are at constant risk of being targeted for elimination. Christian men are a prime target for intimidation by cartels and other violent groups because it intimidates the rest of their family and their community, as well. Religious leaders in churches are attacked for the same reason or are victims of extortion because they are assumed to have access to church funds.
In rural indigenous communities, anyone who turns from traditional religious beliefs can face rejection and punishment in the form of fines, imprisonment, and forced displacement. Christian girls may be forced to marry non-Christian indigenous men in an attempt to pressure them to renounce their faith. Violence and abuse may also be used against them for the same goal.
In Mexico the number of people who are killed in the ongoing violence by criminal groups and gangs who run drugs and human trafficking networks, is increasing and Christians are not spared.
On Monday June 20th, two Jesuit priests, Javier Campos, 79, and Joaquin Mora, 81, were fatally shot “while trying to defend a man who was seeking refuge”. They served a Catholic community in the town of Cerocahui in the northern state of Chihuahua, an area that is known for clashes between drug trafficking gangs.
In May, a Catholic priest was killed in Tecate, a city in the northwestern state of Baja California. He had been running a home for migrants.
“Criminal groups operate with impunity in many parts of the country,” said Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst with Open Doors World Watch Research. “Those who engage in programs aimed at bringing transformation to society are particularly vulnerable (to be attacked) as they are a threat to groups who operate drugs and human trafficking networks as well as other crimes.”
Cuba
Since 1959, Cuba has been governed by the Communist Party, which seeks to control the church according to its Communist ideology. Cuba is currently placed at 37 on the 2022 Open Doors World Watch List. The government reacts harshly against opposition voices and demonstrators, and so when church leaders or Christian activists criticize the regime, they face arrest, closure of their churches or businesses, prison sentences, and harassment by the government and its sympathizers.
New churches are often denied registration, as the authorities want to control and limit the church’s influence—forcing many churches to operate illegally. This leads to the imposition of penalties, such as the complete refusal to issue licenses, heavy fines, confiscation of property or even the demolition or closure of churches, including house churches. The government controls all media and restricts access from the outside world, so it is very hard for Christians to communicate widely in the country. In Cuba, anyone who voices dissent and is critical of the government, is risking jail.
Protestant pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo of the Monte de Sion Church in Santiago de Cuba province, is currently battling for his freedom.
He had been sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of “disrespect”, “assault”, “criminal incitement”, and “public disorder” after he was arrested during his participation in nationwide peaceful protests in July 2021. Thousands of people, including pastors, took to the streets calling for democracy and economic reforms, but the repercussions were immediate and violant
The court not only upheld the sentence of Pastor Fajardo but also those of 14 others who had been arrested around the same time and convicted of charges relating to last year’s protests.
Nicaragua
Churches and Christians in Nicaragua are not liked by the government, particularly after the 2018 protests against reforms to the public pension system in which the Church was seen as supporting the demonstrators.
A new report says that since then, under the Ortega government, there have been at least 190 attacks on churches, bishops and priests, as reported by the Catholic News Agency.
The regime “initiated an indiscriminate persecution against bishops, priests, seminarians, religious, lay groups and towards everything that has a direct or indirect relationship with the Church,” CNA quoted the report by attorney Martha Patricia Molina Montenegro, a member of the Pro-Transparency and Anti-Corruption Observatory.
There is an uptick in attacks, including “threats and harassment targeting Protestant church leaders as well as the arbitrary cancellation of the legal status of six Roman Catholic and Protestant faith-based organizations.”
In May, Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, Bishop of Matagalpa, who has been a vocal critic of the government, started a hunger strike to protest police harassment.
“The Ortega government does not rest in its persecution against the Church and its hostility becomes more evident and frequent,” said Rossana Ramirez. “And it happens on different fronts – even trying to manipulate religious activities – as the Church remains firm in its social commitment and does not give up in the face of intimidating actions against it”.
Hundreds of civil society organizations have been forced to close by the regime. UN Human Rights Chief, Michelle Bachelet, warned in June of 2022 that the ongoing deterioration of the human rights situation caused an exodus of Nicaraguans “leaving the country … in unprecedented numbers, even higher than in the 1980s”.
Please Pray
- Pray for believers to have wisdom and courage when confronted with organized violence in their communities.
- Lift up those who come to faith in Christ in indigenous communities and find themselves ostracized as a result.
- Pray for resilience, so that churches can keep worshipping God together despite all the restrictions placed on them.
