As El Tiempo reported on 26 July 2018, a Roman Catholic priest has been found
murdered in his apartment in Medellin in Colombia. The authorities claim his death was part of a violent robbery. On 28 July 2018, the news-platform El Salvador reported that an Evangelical pastor had been
shot dead by an armed group in Santa Tecla, El Salvador. According to the El Salvador Times (reporting on 25 July 2018), the
killers were gang members disguised as policemen who tried to abduct the pastor from his church premises. Finally, according to Tiempo Digital reporting on 28 July 2018, an Evangelical pastor was
murdered inside the church he led in San Marcos, Ocotepeque, Honduras.
Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, points out that increasing insecurity and violence is a trend in the whole region: "In Colombia, El Salvador and Honduras, gangs and criminal networks represent a serious problem. The risk of Christians being chosen as a target depends on the level of violence in a particular country. However, church leaders in the three countries named are perceived as being a threat to criminal groups and the risk of pastors and priests becoming victims of abduction, robbery, death-threats, extortion and assassination is much greater. Church leaders who become known for encouraging their local communities to reject any form of collaboration with criminal groups and their activities are likely to be targeted."
