Over the past few years, protestant Christians in certain areas of Mexico have been encountering persecution and censorship, particularly in the state of Hidalgo, located in Southern Mexico, the Christian Post reports.

On April 26, 2024, 150 Christians, who are members of the Great Commission Baptist Church were driven from their homes after they refused to bend the knee to government officials and support Catholicism.

This included forced attendance at Catholic festivals and as well donations to the Catholic Church. Previously, government officials had tried to pressure these Christians into participating by denying them access to public services.

However, their continued refusal to comply resulted in the government taking more extreme actions. In his article for the Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar provides more details:

In December 2022, a church member was hospitalized in critical condition after being tied to a tree and beaten by village leaders, according to a previous report by CSW. Other community members have faced arbitrary detention, beatings, denial of medical care, job dismissals, blocked access to burial sites, and land confiscation. Since 2018, religious minority children have been barred from attending the local school.

Recently, in March, Pastor Rogelio Hernández Baltazar and other church leaders were arbitrarily detained for 48 hours. In early April, village leaders sanctioned the takeover of five plots of land belonging to church members, destroying crops and removing stones.

Since their displacement at the end of April, government officials have been pressuring the displaced Christians, including 75 children, to sign agreements that would allow most to return to their homes.

Through these signed agreements, government officials would be allowed to violate the group’s human rights guaranteed under the Mexican constitution. This included paying a fine amounting to US$9,000, and discontinuing religious services.

The group has since gone public about their persecution and refusal to sign the agreement.