FLASH NEWS from COMPASS DIRECT Global News from the Frontlines

********** REFUGEES FACE CHARGES IN MEXICO Arrest Warrants Issued for 11 Evangelical Christians Targeted in November Attack by David Miller

MIAMI, January 15 (Compass) –Two months after a violent shooting incident drove them from their native village in the Chiapas highlands, 27 Tzotzil-speaking Christian families remain homeless and in hiding for fear of reprisals from powerful caciques (traditional village leaders). Adding to their plight, authorities in San Cristobal de las Casas have issued arrest warrants for 11 of the refugees.

The Tzotzil peasant farmers face charges ranging from battery to attempted homicide and illegal arms possession. Caciques accuse the evangelical Christians of firing high-powered rifles at them during the November 14 confrontation in which seven persons sustained bullet wounds and other injuries.

But the 109 men, women and children of the village of Los Pinos who sought asylum in the district capital following the violence say it was the caciques themselves who fired the lethal shots after provoking a violent confrontation with evangelicals.

One of the men being sought by authorities, Juan Lopez Patishtan, told Compass in late November that a group of 25 assailants forcibly took him from his home the day of the shooting and were leading him to the school house in nearby Tzetelton for a “trial” before local caciques. When Lopez’s neighbors intercepted the group about 100 yards from the building and appealed to them to release Lopez, the attackers began beating the evangelicals with sticks. Suddenly shots rang out from the school.

“We immediately fell on the ground to keep from being shot,” Juan Lopez said. “But the caciques’ men kept standing and beating us with the sticks. That’s how they got hit.”

During the ensuing confusion, the evangelicals crawled into the surrounding woods. They spent the night there with their families in order to avoid cacique search parties and later fled on foot to San Cristobal to seek asylum. Presbyterian pastor Salvador Lopez has helped provide shelter and food for the Los Pinos refugees since their arrival in the city.

A native Tzotzil from San Juan Chamula, Rev. Lopez was himself expelled from his ancestral village 26 years ago when his family converted to evangelical Christianity. He says the caciques’ local political influence grants them virtual impunity for crimes committed against evangelicals.

“The government cannot control the caciques,” Salvador Lopez said. “Things have been out of hand, from 1976 until now. There always seem to be problems when it comes to believing in the Word of God.”

Observers say the Tzetelton incident is but one of several cases of religious persecution that has occurred in the Chiapas highlands since the beginning of last year, when a new municipal government composed of caciques openly hostile to evangelicalism assumed power in Chamula.

In another case, a group of caciques abducted Mariano Lopez and his 16 year-old son, Manuel, while the two were walking on a rural road near Los Pinos on November 3. The caciques took the pair to the Tzetelton schoolhouse for “questioning” and beat them. Manuel Lopez suffered bruises, his father sustained cracked ribs and abrasions.

Their assailants then arranged for Chamula municipal police to arrest the Lopezes and hold them several days in the town jail. Mariano Lopez said that authorities filed no formal charges against them, nor did they give reasons for the mistreatment he and his son suffered.

Mariano Lopez and his family are now among the 109 refugees living in a churchyard in San Cristobal, fearing more mistreatment from caciques.

According to human rights attorney Abdias Tovilla, Chiapas caciques have used harassment tactics against Tzotzil Christians for years in order to discourage them from practicing their evangelical faith. Once conflicts occur, such as in Los Pinos, caciques manipulate information reported in the local press to place blame on evangelical Christians.

“Right now the judicial authorities believe the caciques version, that the Christians fired high powered weapons at the traditionalists, causing serious injuries,” Tovilla said. “So now they are facing legal accusations which, if substantiated, will lead to incarceration without bail.”

At press time, Tovilla was seeking a federal injunction against the arrest warrants, hoping to buy time for the 11 evangelicals and present evidence in their favor.

END

***Photos of Juan Lopez, Salvador Lopez and the 27 Los Pinos families are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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