Ten Baptist families have been expelled by an indigenous community in Mexico for refusing to recant their Christian faith.
The 18 adults and 10 children from Tuxpan de Bolaños in Jalisco state were put in a pick-up truck and driven to nearby mountains where they were abandoned, according to International Christian Concern.
The charity reports that Omar Rodriguez, regional president of the Baptist community, has made arrangements for the expelled families to be housed in Guadalajara, the nearest large city. The city has also been asked to dispatch police patrols to transport them to safety.
Tuxpan de Bolaños is one of five centres of the Wixárika indigenous people, who have become subjects of academic study.
ICC says the incident is just the latest incident in years of persecution of evangelical Christians in rural Mexico.
"Despite the lack of interest by the Mexican federal government to address this alarming trend, there are those in the United States government who are working to end this persecution," ICC reports.
Last summer, Republican presidental candidate Senator Marco Rubio challenged Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State and the current nominee for next US ambassador to Mexico, on how she would take it up with the Mexican government.
Nate Lance, ICC advocacy manager, said: "ICC is disturbed to learn of another instance of religious minorities being expelled by local governments on the basis of their faith. It is equally disturbing that despite being notified of multiple cases of persecution throughout rural Mexico, the state and federal government refuse to protect their religious minorities or prosecute perpetrators. As a result, these families are now religious refugees in their own country. In the strongest terms, we demand that the government of Mexico intervene and reinstate the freedom of worship that their constitution is meant to guarantee."
Next month Pope Francis will visit Mexico, where Catholic Christianity is the dominant religion, followed by more than eight in ten of the population. However Protestant and Mormon churches have grown rapidly and now make up eight per cent of the population. There are more than six million Protestants and more than 1.3 million Mormons. About two per cent of Mexicans adhere to non-Christian religiouns, including at least 30,000 who follow "native" religions.
