A government secretary in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico, claimed in December that there are no cases of religious intolerance in the Huasteca region. This came despite evidence from Protestant Christians who were forcibly displaced and others who are currently under threat because of their faith.
One Mexican believer said in December: ‘They took all of the government benefit programmes from us, they took everything from us. They get their benefits and they don’t let us know and they deliver them, but not to us. That is how we are left, with nothing.’
This believer recently had an operation and the village delegate threatened to cut off community members’ access to services if they visited her during her recovery.
Simón Vargas Aguilar, a government secretary of Hidalgo, denied that there are any cases of religious intolerance in an interview to a local media outlet.
But violations of freedom of religion or belief, including cutting access to water and electricity, blocking religious minority children from attending school, arbitrary detention and forced displacement, are common.
