Category: Latin America

‘We go into the streets with fear’: After the murders of two pastors, Christians in northern Colombia no longer feel safe

Posted on by cswpress in Colombia, Latin America

Many Christians in the north-central part of Colombia encompassing the neighbouring regions of Magdalena and Cesar are on edge after the targeted assassinations of two church leaders in the space of two weeks. On 29 December, an entire family of four – Pastor Marlon Lora, his wife Yurlay, and adult children Ángela and Santiago – was shot to death following a Sunday morning service at the service at the Missionary Bible Church in the Villa Paraguay neighbourhood of Aguachica, Cesar Department.

On the evening of 8 January, Iván García, a 28-year-old church leader and husband of a pastor, died after being shot six times, after leaving a religious service. In both cases, the killings were carried out by masked hitmen on motorcycles.

Mr García was followed by the hitmen as he was walking home along a dark, rural road with his 14-year-old stepdaughter and six other individuals following a spiritual celebration at the People of God Christian Vision Church, where his wife, Pastor Karen Nierles, had been invited to lead a Bible study. Pastor Nierles leads the New Rebirth in Christ Church in the village of Garital, in the Banana Cultivation Zone, in Magdalena. According to the witnesses, after being shot the young preacher fell to his knees and raised his hands in thanks to God. The hitmen left the scene without speaking.

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Why don’t they just come here legally?

Posted on by cswpress in China, Mexico, North Korea, Pakistan, United Nations

They are called illegals, migrants, aliens, refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers, invaders, displaced – each word carrying with it a subtext of who they are, what they want, and where they fit. They have been accused of bringing disease, ‘poisoning the blood’ of a nation, participating in a massive invasion that aims to bring about violent anarchy, and even eating people’s beloved pets. In this discourse each of ‘them’ rarely has a face, a name, and much less their own story (unless they do something terrible that pushes their name and face into the headlines).

The question ‘Why don’t they just come here legally?’ is asked over and over. Again, there is a subtext to that question – an implication that if ‘they’ were good people, they would seek out and follow the rules. The question also assumes that there are legal, and presumably safe, channels for those in genuine distress to request and receive asylum in a safe country, as allowed for under international law, primarily under the UN Refugee Convention. However, the reality is that even those countries that recognise and uphold the Refugee Convention, (and there are many which do not), maintain byzantine systems, set up to make it as difficult as possible for someone, especially an asylum seeker, to petition for and be granted the right to start a new life in a safe country.

The vast majority of those ‘safe’ countries require visas for individuals traveling there from much of the world. The quickest way to ensure that a visa is denied, is to respond truthfully – that the motive for travelling is to request asylum upon arrival – and when a visa is denied on those grounds, the individual is almost always put on a blacklist for future requests.

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Every Sunday…

Posted on by cswpress in Cuba, Latin America

Every Sunday, between 12:30pm and 1pm, Berta Soler Fernández prepares herself.  She and her husband, Ángel Moya Acosta step outside their home, a square, two story building painted red, with a light green porch. They have every intention of making their way to a Roman Catholic Church in the Miramar section of Havana, Cuba. The church is named for Saint Rita of Cascia, the patron saint of abuse, loss, peace, desperate cases and lost causes. They will attend Mass and offer up prayers.  

Berta is dressed all in white. 

Every Sunday, between 12:30pm and 1pm, Berta and Ángel open the door of their home and are met by National Revolutionary Police (NRP) officers and Department of State Security (DSS) agents. Mobs of paramilitary members, some holding signs with offensive and insulting messages, hold up mobile phones as they record the couple’s movements. The two are forced into DSS cars with private license plates and, instead of going to Mass, they are taken to an NRP station. They are ordered to undergo an intrusive medical examination. They refuse because they have not asked for an examination and know that they will not be provided with the results anyway. Those will go to the DSS. Berta and Ángel are then sent to semi-dark prison cells where they will be held until the following morning. They will be taken by car and dropped off near their home, which also serves as the national headquarters for the Ladies in White, a dissident group that has been holding peaceful protests in support of political prisoners since 2003. 

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The Cuban Family Code two years on

Posted on by cswpress in Cuba, Latin America

22 July 2024 marked two years since the Cuban Family Code was approved by the National Assembly, and, just as CSW warned, the legislation has extended far beyond equality for the LGBT+ community. Although this aspect was the focus of the government’s efforts to encourage a ‘yes’ vote in the public referendum that followed, only a handful of the 474 articles were relevant to that subject.

Implementation of the legislation has pressured entire families into emigrating, to protect their children and not lose parental custody as is a real possibility under Article 191 of the code. The legislation allows for minors to be transferred into the care of the state, if the parents fail to fulfil the responsibilities detailed in Article 138 of the code including ‘inculcating love for the family, for the homeland, respect for its symbols… the norms of social coexistence [based on the ideology of the Cuban Communist Party] and respect for the authorities’.   Parents are at risk if they demonstrate behaviour that ‘induces their daughter or son to commit a criminal act…’ (191 (c)) and/or ‘[are responsible for] vicious, corrupt or criminal conduct that is incompatible with the proper exercise of parental responsibility…’ (151 (e)).

At first glance the code may appear harmless, however, it is necessary to understand that all the concepts of homeland, family, respect for patriot symbols, criminal act, and vicious or corrupt conduct are interpreted within the framework of the socialist system on which the 2019 constitution is founded. However, continuing protests, such as that of 11 July 2021 and other smaller scale social uprisings since then,1 indicate that the population is rejecting the system that the constitution obligates Cuban citizens to defend, even with their life.2

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A change in government in Venezuela can only benefit the religious sector

Posted on by cswpress in Latin America, Venezuela

Over the past 11 years of President Nicolas Maduro’s leadership, Venezuelan religious leaders have increasingly practiced a form of self-censorship when it comes to preaching or speaking on topics like social justice, peace, poverty, or any topic that might be perceived negatively by the dictatorship. While they may appear to have imposed this censorship on themselves, it comes from a very real fear having witnessed the cruelty that President Maduro has unleashed against those he and his regime identify as political enemies.

Elections are due to be held on Sunday, 28 July. In the run up, the Maduro regime has dedicated itself to attacking the opposition and creating an environment of terror with warnings of a ‘bloodbath’ and ‘civil war’ if Maduro does not win a third six-year term. It has been heavily implied that he could refuse to recognize the victory of Edmundo González Urrutia, the most popular candidate according to several polls.

In response to Maduro’s threats, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) warned that ‘this type of discourse by the highest authority of the State and the security forces has the effect of intimidating and curtailing the political freedom of the electorate… These actions affect democratic institutions and the freedoms of association, assembly, and expression, as they discourage the political participation of opposition individuals, their electorate, and the general public.’

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