The "traditional Catholics" on Sunday, July 22, allegedly attacked and destroyed the evangelical church in a community of San Juan Chamula, near San Cristobal de las Casas, in Mexico’s Chiapas state.
State Public Security officers arrested several of the traditionalist Catholics, who practice a blend of traditional Mayan religion and Roman Catholicism, for tearing down Prince of Peace Pentecostal Church in Nishnamtic, said Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency.
EVANGELICAL ATTORNEY
The evangelical attorney Esdras Alonso Gonzalez said that in retaliation for the arrests, Nishnamtic village bosses on Sunday, July 22, jailed five evangelicals. However the officials in turn were arrested early Monday morning, July 23, and the Christians freed, Compass Direct News reported.
Nishnamtic traditionalist Catholics on Monday, July 23, then "illegally" locked up seven evangelical women, including one carrying her 9-month-old baby, in the municipal jail of San Juan Chamula, the news agency added, citing sources in the region.
Authorities then rescued the women and infant. At the same time, in Los Pozos village also near San Cristobal, evangelicals continue to go without water and federal food aid that town bosses had agreed to restore more than three months ago.
The latest cases have underscored growing tensions between evangelicals and traditionalist believers in Mexico. (With reporting from Mexico).
