NISHNAMTIC, Mexico — Chiapas state officials arrested 14 “traditionalist Catholics” July 22 following the destruction of an evangelical church near San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico’s Chiapas state. State public security officers arrested the traditionalist Catholics, who practice a blend of traditional Mayan religion and Roman Catholicism, for tearing down Prince of Peace Pentecostal Church in Nishnamtic, evangelical pastor and attorney Esdras Alonso Gonzalez told Compass Direct News.
In retaliation for the arrests, Nishnamtic “caciques,” or village bosses, jailed five evangelicals; the village bosses, in turn, were arrested early July 23 and the Christians freed. The same day, in response to the rescue, Nishnamtic traditionalist Catholics illegally locked up seven evangelical women, including one carrying her 9-month-old baby, in the municipal jail of San Juan Chamula. Authorities then rescued the women and infant.
At the same time, in Los Pozos village, which is also near San Cristobal, evangelicals continue to go without water and federal food aid that town bosses have denied them but had signed an agreement to restore to them more than three months ago.
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