Cartels, indigenous authorities fuel religious freedom abuses in Mexico: report

Organized criminal groups and indigenous community leaders operating outside constitutional limits are driving systematic violations of religious freedom in Mexico, while the government at every level is failing to protect those at risk, according to a new report by a United Kingdom-based human rights organization.

The report released by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, titled “Protection on Paper: The Situation of Freedom of Religion or Belief in Mexico,” found that religious freedom violations fall into two overlapping categories: those committed by criminal organizations and those occurring in villages governed under “uses and customs,” a system that grants indigenous communities the right to exercise traditional laws and authority structures.

In communities governed under uses and customs, leaders frequently believe it is their right to compel residents to participate in religious events and contribute financially to activities associated with the majority religion, typically Roman Catholicism, the report states.

Those who refuse can face denial of birth and burial rights, loss of the right to vote and work, blocked access to water and electricity, arbitrary detention, violence and forced displacement.

CSW documented more than 130 cases of serious religious freedom violations in recent years. In Oaxaca State alone, the state government has recognized more than 60 cases over the past three years.

Among those documented is the case of Pastor Mariano Velásquez Martínez, a Protestant Christian who was forcibly displaced from his community of Santiago Malacatepec, San Juan Mazatlán Mixe Municipality, in January along with his wife and infant daughter. He had been ordered to perform Roman Catholic religious rituals, including kneeling before and praying to a religious image. When he refused, he was detained for 48 hours before a community assembly ordered his expulsion.

That same month, 11 members of a Seventh-day Adventist minority community in Pinal Salinas and Tzajalnabin, Zinacantán Municipality, Chiapas, were assaulted and detained after declining to contribute financially to Roman Catholic festivities. Local authorities initially demanded 100,000 Mexican pesos, about $5,000, for their release before backing down after state officials intervened.

On the organized crime side of the equation, criminal groups establish curfews and control movement in regions where they operate, making religious gatherings restricted or physically impossible. Religious leaders who publicly condemn violence are frequently threatened or subjected to violence, and sometimes disappear or are killed.

The report documents the case of Benito Guevara Arcos, a 79-year-old Protestant Christian missionary who disappeared in Guerrero State on March 31, after armed men forced him into a car following an objection to his preaching.

A criminal group claimed to have released him on April 4 in Amojileca, 18.6 miles from where he was taken, but his family has been unable to locate him. They filed a missing person report with the National Search Commission for Missing Persons in Guerrero State on April 13, but have not filed a complaint with the Guerrero prosecutor’s office for fear of reprisals.

In September 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council warned that structural impunity and a weakening of the rule of law have made Mexico one of the most dangerous environments in Latin America for the defense of human rights.

Human rights defenders quoted in the report say authorities routinely classify attacks on and killings of religious leaders as common crimes rather than investigating them thoroughly.

The Catholic Multimedia Centre was cited in the CSW report as recording the killings of a cardinal, 62 priests, a deacon, four church employees, 23 lay leaders, and a Roman Catholic journalist between 1990 and 2025, with two priests forcibly disappeared in the same period.

Pablo Vargas, National Director for Impulso18, was quoted as saying that Mexico’s government must ensure independence of the state from any religious organization and cultivate values that reflect respect for life and human rights, “thereby safeguarding the rights of all individuals regardless of their religion or belief.”

Anna Lee Stangl, CSW’s director of advocacy, called on Mexico to address the culture of impunity surrounding those responsible for violations, adding that victims must have confidence that reporting will result in government protection.

A 2022 government-commissioned survey found that more than 3 million people belonging to religious minorities in Mexico suffer discrimination to some extent.

A recent report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States, found that disappearances in Mexico have increased by more than 200% over the past decade. The IACHR said state actors are often implicated, either directly or by allowing organized criminal groups to operate without accountability.

Mexico recorded the world’s highest number of verified abductions and assaults against Christians between late 2023 and 2025, with 376 incidents documented during that period, according to persecution monitor Global Christian Relief.

The organization noted that drug cartels frequently target pastors and Christian community workers because anti-drug and youth outreach efforts are seen as threats to criminal control.

Watchdog Open Doors, which tracks religious persecution globally, says criminal groups operate all over the country, putting Christians at risk, especially church leaders and those engaged in community outreach. In indigenous regions, Christians who leave local beliefs face fines, beatings, imprisonment and displacement, and authorities have mostly failed to provide any protection or accountability.