BELIEVERS IN RURAL BOLIVIAN TRIBE FACE INCREASING PERSECUTIONSIM workers say that believers among Bolivia’s Aymara people are being persecuted for their faith. Tribal leaders such as Felipe Quispe are working to unify the Aymara communities against the Bolivian government and the Spanish minority which control the country’s resources and wealth. The Aymaras say they have been downtrodden for 500 years and want to throw off the rule of what they consider to be ”foreigners” in their land. Aymara leaders are pressuring local communities throughout the region to reject evangelicals and Catholics alike and to return to the animistic beliefs of the ancient Incas. Pastors report an increasing resistance by the Aymara leadership against their work of evangelism, discipleship and even ministry inside the churches. One Aymara pastor was preaching in a rural evangelical church on a recent Sunday morning when Quispe happened to be in the same town spreading political propaganda. After hearing that some of the villagers were attending an evangelical church service, he tracked down the church and interrupted the pastor’s sermon. He grabbed the Bible out of his hands and threw it on the ground, stating, ”This is American propaganda. We do not believe in this book. We believe in the Inca gods. That is what Aymaras believe. We reject this book.”Frome the news flow of Intercessors Network
