Christian Persecution – Americas

Terrorists now pose a serious threat in Peru, and one Peruvian mission leader is asking that Christians everywhere band together in prayer to protect God’s people from violence.

A heated debate over freedom of religion in Brazil has gone to court. Legal representatives of Umbanda and Candomble spiritist groups are pressing a lawsuit against Baptist pastor Joaquim de Andrade, 41, and Aldo dos Santos Menezes, 33, a deacon of the Anglican Church, in connection with an annual evangelistic outreach on the beaches of Sao Paulo state.

Twenty-five armed men entered a rural church in northern Colombia Tuesday night, May 6, and murdered its 80-year-old evangelical pastor and three other believers, confirmed the head of the nations evangelical alliance.

Traditionalist Catholic “caciques”(village leaders) in Chiapas, Mexico, accused evangelical Christians of provoking a violent confrontation that left seven people wounded by high powered rifles. However, the 27 evangelical Christian families left homeless for two weeks following the shooting say they are not at fault.

Since the armed attack on indigenous Mexican evangelicals in the southern province of Chiapas in 1995, the situation has not changed in favor of the persecuted Christians. (Pictured: Indian Christian woman and her child in Chiapas).

Seventeen innocent men and women in Peru, some of whom had been imprisoned for over ten years, will be freed from prison this weekend.

Juan Carlos, a blind Christian human rights activist imprisoned since March 2002 has learned that he could face up to six years in prison. His wife Maritza has been told that he will be charged with ‘acts of disrespect towards Fidel Castro, public disorder, resisting authority, and disobedience’, according to the Coalition of Cuban American Women. The prosecutor’s office in Ciego de Avila is recommending that he be given a six-year prison sentence. Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, President of both the Cuban Human Rights Foundation and the Brotherhood of the Independent Blind People of Cuba, was arrested along with several … Read more

Alvaro Uribe won May’s presidential election on a promise to step up the war against the country’s Marxist rebels, but at least one of Colombia’s mission leaders doesn’t think it will make much difference.

AUSTIN, Texas, May 16 (Compass) — Guerrillas snatched Juan Carlos Villegas on his way back from a baptismal service near Medellin, Colombia, on April 28. A few days later, they sent a demand to Family Christian Church: hand over $25,000 or their assistant pastor would be killed.

Guerrillas manning a roadblock near Medellin kidnapped an associate church pastor as he returned with a group of church members on Sunday, April 28, from an afternoon baptismal service, reported the head of that city’s pastoral alliance.

Guerrillas snatched Juan Carlos Villegas on his way back from a baptismal service near Medellin, Colombia, on April 28. A few days later, they sent a demand to Family Christian Church: hand over $25,000 or their assistant pastor would be killed.

In mid April, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) forced 11 evangelical Protestant churches in Arauquita, a town near Colombia’s border with Venezuela, to suspend public worship services.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, a blind human rights activist who was arrested and imprisoned on March 4th, is demanding proper medical attention.

A blind Christian human rights activist has been beaten and imprisoned in Cuba following a crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights workers.

“The work of the Lord is growing beautifully in the midst of a ferocious and diabolical war that affects our country,” reports a Colombian missionary leader.