Thousands of Christians forced out of homes in Mexico for rejecting traditionalist church

A human rights organization in Mexico has accused the government of having a "policy of denial" regarding thousands of Christians who were forced out of their homes for leaving the "traditionalist" church.

Pedro Faro Navarro, director of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre, said that the Mexican government was "making up figures" of people who were displaced because they decided to leave the "traditionalist" church, which is a blend of indigenous paganism and Catholicism, according to World Watch Monitor.

The Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights has reported that there were more than 287,000 cases of forced internal displacement in the last five years. However, the U.N.-accredited National Human Rights Commission puts it at around 35,000.

Faro, who disputed both figures, said, "There are some who speak of more than a million people. For the time being, what we know for definite is that the lowest number is always the official one."

He noted that there are many families who were forced to leave their homes, but nobody came to count them.

The human rights advocate believes that the problem could escalate because the government is not taking any action against those who are responsible. He noted that some local governments, such as the states of Chiapas and Guerrero, had created their own laws to resolve the problem, but it is not being implemented.

"A project for a federal law is currently being discussed; it is an initiative by several senators and representatives, but it is not making any impact in government," he added.

Faro felt that the Mexican government has ignored the problem, so he reported it to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a body that promotes human rights across the Americas.

The situation of evangelical families is compounded by the celebrations of Halloween and the Day of the Dead. Some families have said that their children were forced to participate in the celebrations in their schools against their will.

Last June, World Watch Monitor reported that more than 100 Protestants were forced by local authorities to leave their village because they refused to participate in local festivals.

In La Piedad, Chiapas, 26 families had to leave their homes after authorities cut off their water and electricity supply and forbid them from collecting firewood.

A spokesperson for the families, Genaro Jimenez Lopez, said, "the community did not expel us. But, since we have no water and we are not allowed to collect firewood, 130 people moved to the city of Comitán, where we shall stay as refugees."

He said that they were told to pay 5,000 per family before their basic services can be restored.