( COMPASS() -- The seven families of evangelical Protestant Christians in 20 de Noviembre, a village in the troubled state of Chiapas, Mexico, were about to go to bed on June 22 when hundreds of their Tojolabal-speaking neighbors surrounded their modest farmhouses. The mob, armed with sticks, stones and machetes, had a message to deliver to the evangelicals inside: stop clamoring for religious liberty or we will hang you from the rafters of your own homes. According to an account published in the Chiapas newspaper Cuarto Poder, the evangelicals recognized the men leading the mob. They were the same caciques (community bosses) who had joined them in a meeting earlier that day with Víctor Sánchez of the Department of Religious Affairs in the township of Las Margaritas. The mob was composed of traditionalist Catholics who oppose the spread of evangelicalism in Chiapas. Although the traditionalists refer to themselves as “Catholics,” their religious practices are more akin to the animism of their Mayan forebears than to the Roman Catholicism followed by the majority of Mexicans. Traditionalist caciques have proven especially vehement enemies of Christians because they see Protestant Christianity undercutting their control over local villagers. Ten months ago, caciques forced another group of evangelical families to leave 20 de Noviembre, taking with them only the clothes on their backs. According to sources in Chiapas, the meeting with Sánchez had been called to persuade the caciques to allow the first group of evangelicals to return to the village and collect their personal belongings. During the course of the discussion, evangelical representatives asked the government officials to ensure that “freedom of worship be respected” and “we might live together peacefully in our community.”
