Mexico: Catechist shot dead in church attack

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Mexico | 04 July 2019

Aciprensa reported on 16 June 2019 that a Catholic instructor was killed in a small church in San Marcos Evangelista, Chiapas. Two men entered the church and opened fire just as the catechist had brought the class on religious instruction to a close. ‚ Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "Mexico is facing a great crisis of insecurity. According to the Index of Peace 2019, Mexico dropped 4.9% in 2018, mainly due to a rise in the number of murders. There is no short-term solution to this crisis and it is too early to know how the new government"s Security Plan (published in November 2018) will be executed and if it will have the expected results. Previous plans to counteract crime have tended to intensify violence rather than reduce it." ‚ Rossana Ramirez continues: "Christians are easy prey for attack, especially in areas co-opted by criminal groups. By killing Christian leaders - who in some places are also representatives of authority - criminal groups are able to put pressure on whole communities and force them to submit to their control."