Although these incidents have occurred in different states and in different local contexts, evangelical organisations and representatives warn of a recurring pattern of pressure, punishment and expulsion against those who do not submit to the religious practices imposed by traditional majorities.

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The most recent case was reported in Oaxaca, where an evangelical pastor and his family were expelled from their community after refusing to take part in a Roman Catholic ritual.

A pastor detained

An evangelical pastor and his family were forcibly displaced from the Santiago Malacatepec community in the San Juan Mazatlán municipality of Oaxaca state after he refused to participate in a religious ceremony contrary to his beliefs.

Prior to his expulsion, Pastor Mariano Velásquez Martínez was detained for five days without charge by community authorities.

He is the pastor of the Camino Nuevo y Vivo Church, a congregation of around 25 people, which he has served since 2023 when the previous pastor was also displaced for religious reasons.

In November 2025, the community authorities appointed him steward, a traditional role that involves organising and financing festivities for the majority religion.

The pastor accepted the position under the explicit agreement that his role would be limited to providing candles and flowers. However, on 15 January 2026, another steward ordered him to light candles, kneel, and pray before the image of St James the Apostle.

When he pointed out that this would violate his beliefs and was not part of the agreement, he was reported to the local authorities.

The community authorities ignored the agreed terms and detained the pastor for five days. He was then tied up with a rope and brought before an assembly of around 180 men, where his expulsion from the community was announced publicly.

He was forced to sign a document formalising his forced displacement under coercion and without receiving a copy, which makes him fear that it could be used to simulate a voluntary departure.

Currently, the pastor, his wife, and their three-month-old baby are temporarily staying with relatives in Oaxaca.

Calls to apply the law in Oaxaca

The case comes amid a tightening of the legal framework against forced internal displacement in Oaxaca. In September 2025, the State Congress passed the Law to Prevent, Address and Repair Forced Internal Displacement in the State, which includes prison sentences of between 10 and 18 years, as well as financial penalties.

Porfirio Flores Zúñiga, a lawyer and representative of the Fraternity of Pastors, publicly urged the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of the Interior of Oaxaca to apply this legislation to the case of Pastor Velásquez Martínez.

Meanwhile, Anna Lee Stangl, director of advocacy for the organisation CSW, described the events as 'inconceivable' and denounced the failure of the Mexican state to fulfil its human rights and religious freedom obligations. She urged the Oaxaca authorities to act urgently to determine who was responsible.

Arrests and reprisals in Chiapas

The expulsion of the pastor in Oaxaca is one of several recent cases of repression against evangelicals across the country.

In the state of Chiapas, eleven evangelicals were arrested and imprisoned in Pinar Salinas, in the municipality of Zinacantán, in the indigenous region of Los Altos, for refusing to cooperate in a festival organised by traditionalist Catholics.

According to Antonio Vázquez Méndez, the events took place at around 11:00 on Friday 16 January, when community authorities accompanied by a group of people broke into a private home where the eleven people were holding a family worship service. They were forcibly removed, beaten, and taken to the community jail, where they were held for two days.

The authorities demanded a fine of 100,000 pesos for their release.

After a several-hour meeting attended by municipal and state authorities, including the mayor of Zinacantán and the regional government delegate, it was agreed that they would be released without paying the fine. However, after their release, their homes were cut off from drinking water and electricity supplies.

Vázquez Méndez reported that this episode is part of a conflict that dates back to at least 2010 involving arrests, assaults, cuts to basic services, and threats against those who decided to change their faith.

He also stated that several evangelical families have been living without access to basic services or schooling for their children for almost four years, under threat of expulsion and death.

The evangelical representative stressed that the imposition of fines and arrests had no legal basis, and that despite attempts by community authorities to portray the conflict as unconnected to religion, the events occurred during a religious service, confirming that this was religious persecution.

30th in the World Watch List

Mexico is included in the World Watch List compiled by Open Doors, an organisation that advocates for religious freedom worldwide. The organisation's report studies persecution in each country.

"In indigenous communities, evangelical Christians suffer displacement, harassment, and loss of rights at the hands of local authorities who invoke so-called traditional 'customs and practices'", it states in its 2026 report, in which Mexico ranks 30th.

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José Antonio Kast comes to the Executive after receiving the support of several political parties, and his ministerial team is composed mainly of independents and technical experts. Of the 24 people ministers, 16 are not party members.

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“Chile needs decisiveness, character, and a government that acts promptly. That is why today I am presenting a team that will end the inertia. There is no time to lose”, said Kast as he presented the cabinet that will accompany him from 11 March, when he takes office to replace the current president, Gabriel Boric.

“I am grateful for the confidence of the president-elect. I take on this wonderful challenge with great responsibility. We will work for all the women of Chile”, said the now minister on social media.

Evangelical, pro-life and pro-family

The politician will become the youngest minister in the next cabinet at just 30 years of age. She has expressed positions with defined pro-life and pro-family values and has in the past raised the need to evaluate the current approach of the Ministry of Women, which has been more radical in its gender ideology.

Her arrival in the ministry will therefore mark a change from the current administration, which placed the Ministry of Women on the political committee and made it a central part of its agenda.

During 2017, she actively participated in the opposition to the bill on abortion in three cases (in cases of rape, foetal unviability and danger to the mother’s life). This is shown by records from the time, videos of the moment when she was removed from Congress by the Carabineros police.

That same year, Marín — as part of evangelical youth organisations — was one of the signatories of a letter addressed to the National Television Council, after complaints were filed against a television programme for promoting discriminatory discourse. This occurred after a television personality said he had given up homosexuality after a process of religious conversion. The letter signed by Marín called for the complaints against the program to be dismissed and asserted that “it is necessary to show other positions, beliefs, and experiences as a valid and real alternative for others”.

She also reaffirmed her defence of Christian values in society as an evangelical Christian. “Our country is going through a spiritual crisis, a social, moral and political crisis, and more than ever, we, the children of God, must rise up”, she said in a video posted on the PSC’s social media accounts.

Marín is a Spanish teacher with a degree from the University of Santiago (Usach).

In the press material announcing the ministers of the future government, Judith Marín's section highlights that her favourite TV series is The Chosen - about the life of Jesus.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Judith Marín Morales (@judithmarinm)

The opposition, outraged by the appointment

Member of the Chilean parliament Emilia Schneider pointed out on social media that “the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality is in the hands of the Social Christian Party, the most conservative right wing. We will be vigilant, we will not allow setbacks in women's rights and sexual diversity. This is a very bad sign, it seems that Kast will not fulfil his commitment not to touch on ‘values’ issues”.

For her part, MP Javiera Morales said that “Chile has been a secular state for a century. That is why the appointment of Judith Marín as Minister of Women is a mockery of women. We will have an anti-rights minister who wants to take us backwards on abortion and who does not believe her own ministry is necessary. As a small consolation, she should at least defend our right to protest”.

In defence of evangelicals in politics

Christian member of the parliament Francesca Muñoz came to her defence, saying that the left “is showing its totalitarian nature because she has not even taken office and they are already criticising her”.

MP Eduardo Durán said he regretted “this policy of permanent cancellation by the left regarding the appointments made by President Kast. That she is evangelical? No one asks if a minister is Catholic or Jewish”.

Elected MP Benjamín Lorca underlined in an article published on Latin American news website Evangélico Digital the discrimination faced by evangelicals in Chile. He points out that the criticism received — with labels such as “fundamentalist”, “fanatic” or “canuta” — reveals a form of religious prejudice that ignores personal, academic and professional backgrounds.

Lorca emphasises that many evangelicals are first-generation university students and have contributed to the country in various fields, but that their faith continues to be used to delegitimise them in the public and political sphere.

The deputy expresses his disappointment and proposes overcoming the polarisation and “abstract ideologies” that divide society, recalling that “Chilean evangelicals are also Chileans” and are part of a common history marked by the struggle for religious freedom and social integration.

Lorca defends the historical and current contribution of the evangelical world and defends their right to participate in politics: “We want to work for Chileans. Every day, more and more of us are training to serve our country in different spheres of life. We do so through politics, and all we ask for is a space to exercise” this right.

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Raided twice

Last October, two local police officers raided a Sunday worship service of the Council of Churches Baptist community in the village of Balpyk-Bi in the Koksu District, insisting that the church leaders register the church, reported human rights group Forum 18.

Council of Churches Baptists do not seek state permission to exercise their freedom of religion or belief, as is their right under international human rights law.

Weeks later, eight officials, some in uniform and others in civilian clothes raided the church again. "One of them immediately started filming those present", church members said.

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"When the meeting was over, the officials demanded that all those present write statements. They posted a guard on the doors and allowed no one to leave. When the church members refused to write statements, the officials summoned a vehicle and took about ten people to the local police station", they recounted.

There, the officials filed charges against at least nine members of the church for “violating the requirements of the Religion Law for conducting religious rites, ceremonies and/or meetings”.

Cases dismissed

The Taldykorgan Inter-District Specialised Administrative Court recently held the hearings for those nine cases. "The local police officer and religious affairs officials could not prove that the accused had committed an offence", Baptists told Forum 18.

Finally, the judge dismissed all of them due to "absence of the element of an offence".

Police pressure

Police also came to the Council of Churches Baptist church in the Shu district of southern Kazakhstan, to inform church leaders that a woman had written a complaint, stating that the church “was holding lessons for children where church members taught them Bible verses by heart and morality based on the Bible”.

According to church members, “the essence of the problem remained unclear, as the Bible study took place in a church in which meetings of believers have been held for 40 years".

The officers demanded that the pastors write statements, but they refused, because the police could not explain why they had to do it, and "because any signature can become a reason to lodge a fine".

Church members also denounced that the police went to the school where the children of one of the church's pastors study and "questioned the child in the parents' absence", asking "all the questions they wanted to know about church meetings".

"Questioning a child in the absence of parents, especially in a school, on questions unconnected to education is a serious violation of children's rights. Police crudely violated this right", they stressed.

Furtheremore, church members reported that the police have photographs of all the children who attend children's events at the church. "The entire current situation is causing great concern among believers. It seems that someone is very unhappy with the believers' meetings".

The woman who had complained to the police about the church works as a teacher in this school and admitted to the child's father that she had written the complaint "under pressure and dictation from the police".