A Protestant pastor in Mexico was detained and ultimately exiled by his uncle from his community in the state of Oaxaca after refusing to kneel and pray to a Roman Catholic saint during a local festival in mid-January.
Last year, Mariano Velásquez Martínez, pastor of the 25-member Iglesia Camino Nuevo y Vivo, was assigned the role of mayordomo, the person tasked with organizing and facilitating religious rites in a community. The role is traditionally held by adherents to Roman Catholicism, the predominant religion in Mexico.
According to the U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Martínez begrudgingly agreed to take on the role with the understanding he would only be required to provide candles and flowers. However, on Jan. 15, he was reportedly ordered to light candles and then kneel before an image of St. James the Apostle.
The evangelical pastor refused to do so on religious grounds, explaining it would violate his Protestant beliefs, which led another mayordomo to report Martínez to local authorities, who jailed the preacher — a native of Oaxaca — for five days.
After his detention, Martínez was bound with rope and taken before an assembly of roughly 180 men — including his uncle and his cousin — where he was forced to sign a vaguely worded document confirming his expulsion from the community. The pastor was not given a copy of the paper and fears it could be used in the future to suggest he left the community of Santiago Malacatepec voluntarily.
Martínez, his wife, and their 3-month-old baby have since fled the area and are living with relatives in Oaxaca City.
Pablo Vargas, CSW country director for Mexico, told CBN News this case is part of a “culture” and “pattern” in Mexico of religious persecution against evangelical Christians.
“Some persons, they decide to not follow the majority religion, and they suffer the consequences,” he explained. “For the community, it’s more important, the uniformity, than actually the practical right for the persons to believe [as they choose].”
Vargas asserted that, even if Martínez seeks legal recourse, it would not be safe for him and his family to return to Santiago Malacatepec. In fact, in cases like this, he said, the vast majority of those who face persecution never return home because local outrage against them makes living there too perilous.
“His life is gonna be at risk,” he said.
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What complicates Martínez’s case even more is his uncle and cousin were reportedly responsible for his expulsion from the community, and the pastor does not want to see violence plague them or other family members in the area. The pastor’s mother and four brothers live in the community.
Nevertheless, there are now calls for legal justice for Martínez.
Porfirio Flores Zúñiga, an attorney and representative with the Fellowship of Pastors, is calling on the Oaxaca attorney general’s office as well as the secretary of government of Oaxaca to apply the newly approved Forced Displacement Law in this case.
The law, just passed in September of last year, criminalizes forced internal displacement as an act of compelling one or more persons to leave their homes due to threats to their safety, lives, or freedoms. Individuals found to have forcibly displaced others without legal basis for doing so can face financial penalties as well as 10-18 years behind bars.
One of the first in Mexico, the law grants legal recognition to various causes of forced displacement, such as violence, social and political conflict, disputes over land and resources, and discrimination.
The local newspaper El Universal Oaxaca reported Zúñiga filed a criminal complaint against Santiago Malacatepec officials Melquiades Castro and Andrés Retes, accusing them of arbitrary actions and abuse of authority against Martínez.
However, authorities have yet to take any significant action on the case.
Vargas, it should be noted, told CBN News municipal leaders spoke this week with state government officials and said both parties seem to be “open to decrease, to stop the increasing of violence in the community.”
“It’s very complicated, the solution for Pastor Mariano,” he said.
Please be in prayer for Martínez and his family as they navigate this difficult and tragic situation. You can watch our full conversation with Vargas in the video above.
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