A Protestant pastor in Mexico has been detained and then forcibly expelled from his hometown after refusing to kneel and pray to a Roman Catholic saint during a local festival.
Pastor Mariano Velásquez Martínez was assigned the role of mayordomo in 2025 in the community of Santiago Malacatepec, Oaxaca State, where he leads the Iglesia Camino Nuevo y Vivo. The role, typically held by members of the majority Roman Catholic community, involves organising and funding traditional religious festivals.
According to the Christian persecution watchdog CSW, Pastor Velásquez Martínez agreed to take on the role on the understanding that his involvement would be limited to providing candles and flowers.
However, on 15th January, during a festival, he was ordered to light candles and kneel before an image of Saint James the Apostle. After he refused on religious grounds, another mayordomo reported him to local authorities, who detained the pastor for five days.
He was later bound and taken before an assembly of around 180 men, where he was forced to sign a document confirming his expulsion from the community. He was not given a copy and fears it could be used to claim he left voluntarily.
Pastor Velásquez Martínez, his wife and their young baby have since fled the area and are now staying with relatives in Oaxaca City.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Porfirio Flores Zúñiga, a lawyer and representative of the Fellowship of Pastors, called on the Attorney General to apply Oaxaca State’s newly approved Forced Displacement Law, which carries prison sentences of up to 18 years for those responsible.
CSW’s director of advocacy Anna Lee Stangl described the case as “unconscionable”.
She said: “His case demonstrates how both state and federal governments are failing to meet not only their international human rights obligations, but, even more fundamentally, their commitments to uphold basic rights in Mexico's own constitution and laws.
"This case is unfortunately not unique, and it is past time that the Mexican government, at every level, implements policies to uphold freedom of religion or belief for all, including in communities governed under Uses and Customs.
!We call on the government of Oaxaca to take swift action to hold those responsible for the forced displacement of this family to account under the law, and to take steps to make it clear that freedom of religion or belief must be upheld for all."