El Salvador and Mexico: Christians seen as threat to gang survival

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Mexico | 13 September 2018

In El Salvador: According to government sources tweeting on 27 August 2018, a Christian was shot dead by gang members while praying in an evangelical church in La Paz. In Mexico: On 27 August 2018 Aleteia reported that a Roman Catholic priest had been found dead in Michoacan, nine days after he was reported missing. The priest had helped run the Nazareth Child and Youth Family Training Center. According to official Mexican records released in August 2018, every month in 2018 there have been well over two thousand cases of "˜deliberate murder" in Mexico. Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "In Latin America, El Salvador and Mexico are both countries with very high levels of violence due to the presence of criminal networks. There is no doubt that this context of violence affects the security of Christians living in areas co-opted by criminal gangs, as illustrated in the murder of the priest (reported above) who was running Christian-based programs for young people. These programs aim to equip young people with basic Christian values, job skills and employment perspectives that will lead to fewer of them joining the ranks of gangs involved in drug trafficking and other illegal activities. Such Christians are a threat to gang stability and survival and are hence at high risk of being targeted for intimidation and assassination."