(Photo : Satyajit Ray / Wikimedia / CC) A landscape view of Chiapas, Mexico. A village in Chiapas was reported to have been raided by government officials.
Local government officials raided a field owned by Protestants in the village of Mariano Matamoros in Chiapas to dislodge them, in a drive to wipe out their presence from the region, according to International Christian Concern.
The officials robbed the village of about 15 acres of crops, which left about 158 Christians without food.
Local rights groups have reported that the state level authorities have turned down pleas for action in the case, even though evidence of unlawful treatment was submitted with them. The authorities have also turned down their application to provide restitution for theft and destruction of plot.
"The recent act of aggression by local government officials against the Christian community is yet another example of how unstable the state (Chiapas) is in regards to the religious freedom of minorities," Luis Herrera, director of the Coordination of Council of Christian Organizations, was quoted as saying by ICC.
Reports of widespread intolerance and displacement have emerged from Chiapas and other states of Mexico.
There are over 70 open cases of religious minority persecution in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Hidalgo. The cases report overt discrimination in areas ranging from prohibited access to public schools and cemeteries, and physical violence.
ICC's Advocacy Director Isaac Six said that the incidence shows the extent of religious intolerance in the rural Mexico.
"Perhaps the worst part is that this is happening in almost complete obscurity. Officials at every level of the Mexican government have either been ignorant of or willfully turned a blind eye towards religiously based attacks that clearly violate Mexico's own Constitution and international human rights norms," he continued.
