Over 100 Protestants were forced to flee the villages of Coamila and Rancho Nuevo in the state of Hidalgo on 26 April, after village leaders cut off their electricity, vandalised and blocked access to their church and some of their homes, and posted guards at the entry points to the villages.  

139 people, including five infants and 70 children under the age of 17, all of whom attend the Great Commission Baptist Church, sought sanctuary in the municipal seat of Huejutla de los Reyes, where they are requesting government intervention to protect their rights.  

Human rights violations linked to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) have been ongoing and severe in the two neighbouring villages since 2015. Local authorities have repeatedly attempted to force members of the religious minority to participate in Roman Catholic religious festivals, including through financial donations, lighting candles and actively participating in acts of worship. Despite detailed documentation of the case dating back to 2015, the municipal government continues to deny that the incidents in Rancho Nuevo and Coamila are linked to FoRB. 

In December 2022, a member of the church was admitted to hospital in critical condition after being tied to a tree and beaten by village leaders. While she survived the attack, she continues to suffer health challenges related to her ordeal.  Other members of the community have been arbitrarily detained, beaten, barred from accessing medical care, sacked from their jobs, blocked from burying their dead, and had their lands arbitrarily confiscated. Since 2018, religious minority children have been barred from attending the local school. 

In March 2024, the pastor of the church, Rogelio Hernández Baltazar, was arbitrarily detained for 48 hours along with other leaders of the church. In early April, village leaders sanctioned the takeover of five plots of land belonging to members of the church, cutting down trees, removing stones, and destroying their crops.    

The group of displaced Baptists is currently sheltered in the Municipal Presidency building, where they are requesting action from the government to allow them to return to their homes and practice their faith freely. According the news service Milamex, local Protestant churches in Huejutla de los Reyes are providing humanitarian aid to the group and have joined in their call for the government to respond. 

CSW’s Chief Executive Officer Scott Bower said: ‘139 people have been forced out of their village and left destitute and homeless in a situation that was entirely preventable had the government done its job and upheld the law. Freedom of religion or belief is guaranteed to all in Mexico, including those in indigenous communities, and yet the attacks on this right in Rancho Nuevo and Coamila have been egregious and ongoing now for almost a decade. When I met Pastor Hernández Baltazar earlier this year, he expressed his deep concern for the plight of the church and said to me “when you convert from Catholicism you lose all rights and all standing in the village”. CSW calls on Governor Julio Ramón Menchaca Salazar to work to establish a culture of rule of law where the fundamental rights of all are guaranteed, and where swift action is taken to hold those responsible for the criminal acts committed in association with the violations of these rights to account.’ 

Notes to Editors: 

1. Rancho Nuevo and Coamila are indigenous Nahuatl-speaking communities that are governed under the Law of Uses and Customs. The Mexican constitution guarantees FoRB and other human rights to all citizens. However, in practice FoRB violations are common among indigenous communities governed under the Law of Uses and Customs. This law protects the right of indigenous communities to maintain their cultural and traditional methods of local governance with the caveat that it must be applied in line with human rights guarantees in the Mexican constitution and in the international conventions to which Mexico is party. However, the Mexican government on both the federal and state levels does little to ensure that these protections are upheld. As a result, in many communities a religious majority attempts to enforce religious uniformity with consequences ranging in severity for members of minorities who wish to practice a religion or belief of their choosing. 

2. Women from Rancho Nuevo participated in CSW research that was used for Let Her Be Heard, a groundbreaking report on how indigenous women in Mexico experience FoRB violations, published in April 2022. 

3. Julio Ramón Menchaca Salazar took office in September 2022. Under the previous, six-year term of the previous governor of Hidalgo, Omar Fayad, government officials repeatedly and publicly denied the existence of any cases of religious intolerance in the state. CSW’s research has shown that it has one of the highest numbers of such cases in the country.