A group of 47 displaced Protestants from Chiapas State were refused re-entry to their village in January, despite state government promises that village leaders had agreed to uphold religious freedom.
The Protestants, who were forcibly expelled from Buenavista Bahuitz village in Chiapas State in 2012, were initially told that they could only return to their homes if they converted to Roman Catholicism and participated in Roman Catholic religious activities.
Government promise
According to Luis Herrera, director of the Co-ordination of Christian Organisations of Chiapas (COOC), the group later received assurances from the state government that they had negotiated the return of the displaced group and that their religious freedom would be protected. The government promise of action came after a month-long peaceful sit-in in front of the state government palace in Tuxtla Gutierrez by the Buenavista Bahuitz group and other communities of forcibly displaced Protestants. The sit-in ended on 1 December 2014 after the state government made verbal commitments to address their situation.
