Author: CWN
Publication: Catholic World News
Date: September 13, 1996
URL: http://www.cwnews.com/Browse/1996/09/2202.htm
Catholic natives of San Juan Chamula
in the conflict-ridden southern Mexican state of Chiapas forced their town's
mayor to resign as part of a conflict between them and a group of Evangelical
natives.
The clash between Catholic and Evangelical
Indians goes back ten years, when around 35,000 natives turned to Protestantism
after US Fundamentalist missionaries entered the region. Protestant natives
started a campaign against celebrating religious feasts of the Virgin and
the saints, and in some towns even destroyed religious images in Catholic
churches or public places. Catholic natives, most of them belonging to
the Tzotzil ethnic group, reacted with violence against Protestant natives,
forcing many of them to emigrate to neighboring states such as Tabasco,
Quintana Roo, and Yucatan.
On Monday, Catholic Tzotzils accused
San Juan Chamula's mayor, Enrique Lunes, of "conspiring in favor of the
Protestants," by giving permission for the construction of an Evangelical
church. Lunes was forced to resign and the construction of the church has
been stopped.
Protestant natives complain that
they are being segregated even at state schools, while admitting that Catholic
Church authorities do not support this practice. According to a Catholic
Tzotzil leader, "we are not against other Tzotzils, even if they belong
to other religions. But we don't want a massive presence of Protestants
here. They hate the Virgin, they hate our saints, and they destroy the
churches we have inherited from our ancestors."
