Bloody Mexico

 8/8/11 Santo Niño de Atocha: Patron of the Desamparados: Pray for us!

 11/4/11 From A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics:
An interesting note to me is that the conference patron is Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., one of the numerous martyrs of the Cristeros in Mexico of which I have written of late.
¡VIVA CRISTO REY!!!!



Dear Lord, thank you for the precious Grace of Faith given to Blessed Miguel Pro and hundreds or thousands of other Mexican martyrs who gave such beautiful witness to their love for You and the Faith.  May You strengthen our hearts with a fervor and love for You like theirs.  Pray for us.

The Constitution of 1917:
1. Religious property seized by the state.
2. Monasteries forbidden
3. Priest cannot wear vestments in public.
4. Priests and Bishops cannot vote.
On July 12, 1926, the following communiqué appeared in the press:
"International Masonry accepts responsibility for everything that is happening in Mexico, & is preparing to mobilize all its forces for the methodic, integral application of the agreed upon program for this country.
Vicente Fox said this was true.

9/1/11  The True Face of socialism.

Father Francisco Vera, pray for us.

9/10/11 From Tantumergo's Dallas Catholic blog:
don’t know if anyone listens to these sermons from AudioSancto, but I pray you do!  The first is amazing, it’s a recounting of the history of the Christeros, the faithful Mexican Catholics who refused to submit when their socialist government tried to take over, and make impotent, the Church.  Really good history, but I also found it very upsetting.  If you will listen, I think you will understand why:
20111009-The-Cristeros-Will-We-See-Another-Catholic-Persecution.mp3
This is how the faithful Catholics of the Christeros were treated by their enlightened socialist betters if caught:

It is sometimes interesting to reflect on the course of events in nations after persecutions of the Church are allowed or encouraged by the leaders or populace of those nations.

8/11/11
In 2002, Mexican journalist, novelist and essayist Sergio González Rodríguez published Huesos en el Desierto, ("Bones in the Desert") one of the most comprehensive researches on these murders and its social and political causes in book form. Sergio González Rodríguez claims that, during the course of his research for the book, which discovered links between organized crime, local entrepreneurs and local and federal authorities, he suffered death threats, and was kidnapped and tortured.
In 2002, U.S. border journalist Diana Washington Valdez published an investigative newspaper series in the El Paso Times about the murders titled "Death Stalks the Border."

Monument for women in Juarez, Mexico, image

J.J. Schwartz at Diana Washington Valdez blog - 1 month ago

Photo of the new memorial in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, constructed by the Mexican government in memory of the girls and women whose bodies were found in the "cotton field" parcel in 2001, was officially dedicated on Nov. 7. A Juarez activist said the project cost a million dollars. The eight murders have not been solved. The Killing Fields: Harvest of Women, the first investigative book about the Juarez murders by a U.S. journalist.

 10/21 Gunbattles stir panic in 2 Mexican border cities (4:15 a.m.) - Las Cruces Sun-News
By The Associated PressNUEVO LAREDO, Mexico-Mexican soldiers battled gunmen in two cities across the border from Texas on Wednesday, prompting panicked parents to pull children from school and factories to warn workers to stay inside. Assailants in a third city threw a grenade at an army barracks. The U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo warned American citizens to stay indoors. The statement said there were reports of drug gangs blocking at least one intersection near the consulate in the city across from Laredo, Texas. The local city government and witnesses reported several more blockades-a new tactic that has emerged in northeastern Mexico, where violence has soared this year amid a split between the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs. Read more...
The Cristero War (also known as the Cristiada) of 1926 to 1929 was an uprising and counter-revolution against the Mexican government of the time, set off by religious persecution of Catholics[1], specifically the strict enforcement of the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 and the expansion of further anti-clerical laws. Regarding this period, recent President Vicente Fox stated, "After 1917, Mexico was led by anti-Catholic Freemasons who tried to evoke the anticlerical spirit of popular indigenous President Benito Juárez of the 1880s. But the military dictators of the 1920s were a more savage lot than Juárez."

It is a tribute to the sincerity and strength of the faith of the Mexican people, that Catholicism, is still the dominant religion in this land south of the Rio Grande. Time after time, the Catholic Church has narrowly escaped destruction and survived only because of popular support that defied the law of the land.

After a period of peaceful resistance, a number of skirmishes took place in 1926. The formal rebellions began on January 2, 1927 [3] with the rebels calling themselves Cristeros because they felt they were fighting for Christ himself. Just as the Cristeros began to hold their own against the federal forces, the rebellion was ended by diplomatic means, brokered by the U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow.

Cristeros (Catholic rebels) were hanged in Brave Jalisco.

The 1917 Constitution

The Political Constitution of the United Mexican States was redacted by the Constitutional Congress convoked by Venustiano Carranza in September 1916, and it was approved on February 5, 1917. The new constitution was based in the previous one instituted by Benito Juárez in 1857. Three of its 136 articles contains heavily anticlerical sections, the number 3, 27 and 130.

The first two sections of article 3 state that: I. According to the religious liberties established under article 24, educational services shall be secular and, therefore, free of any religious orientation. II. The educational services shall be based on scientific progress and shall fight against ignorance, ignorance's effects, servitudes, fanaticism and prejudice.[4]

The second section of article 27 states that: All religious associations organized according to article 130 and its derived legislation, shall be authorized to acquire, possess or manage just the necessary assets to archive their objectives.[4]

The first paragraph of article 130 states that: The rules established at this article are guided by the historical principle according to which the State and the churches are separated entities from each other. Churches and religious congregations shall be organized under the law. It also provides for the obligatory state registration of all churches and religious congregations, and places a series of restrictions on priests and ministers of all religions (ineligible to hold public office, to canvas on behalf of political parties or candidates, to inherit from persons other than close blood relatives, etc.).[4]

It is important to recall that Venustiano Carranza declared himself against the final redaction of Articles 3, 27, 123, 130, and others. But the Constitutional Congress contained only 85 conservatives and centrists close to Carranza's brand of liberalism, and against them there were 132 more radical delegates. [5][6][7] There are also some controversial articles in the constitution:

Article 24 states that: "Every man shall be free to choose and profess any religious belief as long as it is lawful and it cannot be punished under criminal law. The Congress shall not be authorized to enact laws either establishing or prohibiting a particular religion. Religious ceremonies of public nature shall be ordinarily performed at the temples. Those performed outdoors shall be regulated under the law.[4]

Background to rebellion

Venustiano Carranza was the first president under the new Mexican Constitution of 1917, but he was eventually overthrown by his one-time ally Álvaro Obregón in 1919, who succeeded to the presidency in late 1920. Álvaro Obregón applied the anticlerical laws emanating from the constitution selectively, only in areas where Catholic sentiment was weakest.

This uneasy "truce" between the government and the Church ended with the 1924 election of Plutarco Elías Calles, a strident atheist. Calles applied the anti-clerical laws stringently throughout the country and added his own anti-clerical legislation. In June 1926, he signed the "Law for Reforming the Penal Code", known unofficially as the "Calles Law". This provided specific penalties for priests and individuals who violated the provisions of the 1917 Constitution. For instance, wearing clerical garb in public (i.e., outside Church buildings) earned a fine of 500 pesos (approximately 250 U.S. dollars at the time); a priest who criticized the government could be imprisoned for five years. Some states enacted oppressive measures. Chihuahua, for example, enacted a law permitting only a single priest to serve the entire Catholic congregation of the state. Calles seized church property, expelled all foreign priests, and closed the monasteries, convents and religious schools.

he congress even amended the Article 3 of the Mexican Constitution in October 1934 to include the following introductory text (textual translation): "The education imparted by the State shall be a socialist one and, in addition to excluding all religious doctrine, shall combat fanaticism and prejudices by organizing its instruction and activities in a way that shall permit the creation in youth of an exact and rational concept of the Universe and of social life".

Although it was not successful in meeting its goals, and anti-Catholic legislation would remain in place in Mexico almost until the end of the 20th century, the Cristiada left an indelible mark on Mexican history. The battle cry of the Cristeros, “Viva Cristo Rey,” still resounds today.

Mexican Martyrdom

Mexican Martyrdom, p.36-41: W. Parsons, SJ.

Of the murder of the prominent lawyer, Anacleto Gonzalez Flores, an outstanding Catholic, of whom more later, he found that “the Government never presented documentary evidence that he was directly connected with the rebel bands operating in the State.”

The lawyer, Anacleto Gonzalez Flores , Catholic Lay Martyr of the Cristiada, Mexico, 1888 - 1927 [picture from http://annball.com/martyrs.shtml]

But what most impressed him was the concentration order of General Ferreira, who forced the evacuation of an area in Jalisco of 800,000 square miles, with 50,000 settled inhabitants. All were ordered to leave, and come into five designated places---“with the crops of wheat, barley, and fruits ready to harvest, estimated in worth at 40 million pesos.” The idea was to pacify the region by desolation; and the order was largely obeyed, for every acre of it was to be bombed from the air if it was not. Owners of large haciendas even had to leave with all their belongings, for these would have disappeared, and they were told that not even a caretaker was permitted, even a peon left would be shot. “An Acadia migration, “ cries Mr. Beals, “that has left bitter memories and hateful scars!”

Bitter and hateful---yes; and no wonder. I have visited families in Guadalajara who had lost all for the privilege of attending Mass, or because one of the sons was out in the hills, avenging the wrongs of his people. Mr. Beals does not understand “how Christ the King, the Prince of Peace, was served by the slaughter of innocent men, women, and children.” Possible, if he had been a Guadalajaran, and had actually undergone what he saw, he might have understood that death was preferable to slavery, and slavery with only the ignoble result of seeing one’s wealth transferred to “Generals” who not long before been servants in your father’s hacienda.

Yet he does not hesitate to say: “For this desolation and exodus the militarists and irresponsible bandits, not the Catholics, were responsible. Jalisco, the richest agricultural State in the Union, was swept by a plague of rebels and militarists, the country stripped as by a plague of locusts.” And the result? “The new arrangements in Los Altos became, in part, a colossal steal, in which all the wealthy hacendados, in addition to maintaining the ‘Red Guard of Jalisco’---not quite amiably, were forced to grease the palms of generals and politicians in order to buy exemption and be allowed to harvest their crops.”

But it was not only the hacendados in the country who suffered. One of the great young Catholic leaders in Guadalajara was Anacleto Gonzalez Flores. A lawyer, he was an organizer of Catholic Action as well. He was President of the A.C. J. M., the youth organization, in his State, and he was the founder of the Union Popular. ‘Tranquilly he went his way, practicing his profession as best he might, and meeting when he could with Catholics to urge them to stand fast in their Faith, tempted as they were without the sacramental life of the Church, and in the midst of such grievous inducements to save their lives and properties by joining the side of the Government.

One night he was visiting the house of his two cousins, Ramon and Jorge Vargas Gonzalez, when the police broke into it and arrested all three. Taken to the police station they were questioned on the whereabouts of the Archbishop of Guadalajara, Msr. Orozco y Jimenez, who was then in hiding, sometimes in the hills, sometimes in the city itself. They refused to say a word. They were tortured, and still they were silent.

So they were lined up against a wall, on April 1, 1927, and shot. “I died, but God does not die!” were Anacleto’s last words, like Garcia Moreno. The heroic young widow carefully explained to her young son all that had happened, so that he would never forget it, and had his picture taken beside his father’s body.

Neither has Guadalajara forgotten him, for he stands to the city as a kind of shining knight, so much of tenderness and grandeur is there still to his memory in that old city, the second largest in Mexico.

For there is a kind of stubbornness in the Guadalajarans that nobody has ever been able to conquer. One satrap of the Government took it into his head to change the names of streets which held Saints’ names, a whole martyrology full, into Avenue I, II, III, etc., and 1st ,2nd , 3rd Streets. But the population would have none of it. The Saints remained, as far as they were concerned. The post office refused to deliver letters to the old Saints, only to the new numbers. They wrote no letters. So when one morning many of the shiny new signs were missing, leaving the Saints still there in stone built into the walls goodness knows when, the officials were only too glad to let well enough alone. In happier days I expect to see the name of Anacleto Flores decorating the principal street in the city.

…It has been judged by men whom no one can suspect of bias for the Church. Ernest Gruening, whose judgements are on the whole unfavorable to the Church, investigated the rebellion and the reprisals and concluded thus:

“It was the Mexican military who would not let it die. They profiteered and patrioteered on its continuance. They accepted the opportunity with a whoop. Under it anyone could be denounced---and robbed. In conservative Jalisco, where greater sympathy did not necessarily imply overt aid, merchants, hacendados, and rancheros of known Catholic affiliations were systematically arrested and their property confiscated.

“Or while they were struggling to clear themselves their crops would be taken. ….many were…executed…Jose Santibanez in Guanajuato…The Ley Fuga, of course, played a prominent part in the doings: the pretext that the victim was killed “trying to escape.” And Dr. Gruening discovered a new one, the Ley de suicidio, which was the invention of General Roberto Cruz: the prisoner was found in the prison in the morning with a bullet hole in his head, and a revolver by his side. The public was asked to believe that he had not been searched after his arrest for the concealed weapon.

Thus the honor roll of Mexico lengthened out. At least two children are known to have suffered death: Tomas de la Mora, sixteen years old, who himself fitted the noose around his neck, for he would not let the soldiers touch him; Pepito Sanchez del Rio, only thirteen who walked carefully over to the grave that had been dug for him, so that he might not have to be carried to it after the firing squad had done its work.

…Jesuit Father Miguel Pro Juarez…martyr…but even those “whose witness in the matter is certainly impartial, merely looked on the executions as another example of Mexican barbarity.

Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.¡ Viva Cristo Rey !

from www.AnnBall.com web site:

The government of Mexico under the dictatorship of Plutarco Elias Calles (1924-1928) was anti-clerical and Calles aimed to eradicate the Catholic church. Foreign clergy was expelled from the country and church property was seized. In 1926 the onerous "Ley Calles" was passed with 33 articles against the church. After consulting with Pope Pius XI, the bishops closed the churches and suspended the public cult in protest. For the first time in more than 400 years the churches of Mexico were closed. A petition containing over two million signatures was ignored and the Catholics could stand no more. Numbers of the faithful took up arms to defend their religious liberty. They began to fight with insufficient munitions and virtually no military experience; their main weapon the belief that God was with them. The Cristero Rebellion officially began New Year's Day 1927. The conflict began in Jalisco and spread rapidly to other parts of the country. The Rebellion ended not in the field but at the bargaining table and with a strong assist from international diplomacy. Under the presidency of Emiliio Portes Gil, an agreement was reached on June 21, 1929. Most of the Catholic Cristeros went home, thinking that the fight for freedom of worship had been won. Although short-lived and not completely successful in its aims, the Cristiada made a mark on Mexican history and its battle cry "Viva Cristo Rey" still resounds today in the lives and heroism of its glorious martyrs and saints.

Anacleto Gonzalez Flores was a fiery young attorney who was an enthusiastic member of the ACJM (Catholic Association of Young Mexicans) and was involved in much social and religious activity. A prolific writer, his works detail the sufferings of the Catholics during the religious persecution. He elaborated a philosophy of resistance based on the non-violent principals of Mahatma Gandhi. In addition to his almost superhuman activities, Analeto cultivated a deep interior life. He was a daily communicant, dedicated time each morning to prayer and became a third order Franciscan. .

In 1924, with Luis Padilla, Anacleto founded the periodical Gladium as the official voice of the Union Popular. In one of the first editions they wrote: "We are in the vespers of an infamous problem...the country is a jail for the Catholic Church. In order to be logical, a Revolution must gain the entire soul of a nation. They will have to open a jail for each home, and they don't have enough handcuffs or hangmen to bind up the hands and cut off the heads of the martyrs." The Holy See awarded Anacleto with the cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.

The National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty favored recourse to arms, against the pacifist doctrine of the Union Popular. Anacleto insisted that only by means of moral strength could they gain their aims. In 1926, however, after the heinous murder of Father (now Saint) Luis Batis and three laymen, Jalisco rose up in arms. Anacleto was between a rock and a hard place. Until this moment he had advocated passive, non-violent resistance. But now, in conscience, could he accept a government that used its strength to squash his brothers who were armed only because of their idealism? He made up his mind during the last days of December 1926, basing his decision on the legitimacy of the defense of religious liberty. He told the Union, "I will throw on the scale all that I am and all that I have."

His die was cast and he launched himself into the active insurgence. He was named the civil chief of the resistance. From his various hiding places, Anacleto studied the major strategies, wrote and sent bulletins, and gave speeches. He was finally captured on April 1, 1927.

Anacleto was tortured in an effort to learn more about the Cristeros. He was hung by his thumbs until his fingers were dislocated and the bottom of his feet were slashed. He steadfastly refused to give any information. The first Friday of April, 1927, he and some others were shot.

At his wake, hundreds passed by the body touching his remains with veneration. Anacleto's young widow brought her sons into the room. "Look," she said to her oldest,"This is your father. He has died defending the Faith. Promise me on his body that you will do the same when you are older if God asks it of you." The following day, thousands defied the presence of the police and accompanied the bodies to the cemetery, reciting prayers and singing hymns. The mourners risked their lives to make public their admiration for the moral chief of the Cristero movement.

Addendum: from http://www.evangelizationstation.com/htm_html/around%20the%20world/mexico/mexican_martyrdom.htm

Father Luis Batiz, and the Catholic laymen David Roldan, Salvador Lara, and Manuel Moralez were killed August 15, 1926 at Chalchihuites, Zacatecas. The three laymen were officers of the Liga Defensora de la Libertad Religiosa. Father Batiz was accused of plotting an uprising. The four were offered their freedom if they recognized the legitimacy of President Calles’s anti-religious laws. All of them refused. Father Batiz asked the soldiers to free Morales, because he had children, but Morales told them, “I am dying for God, and God will care for my children.” He raised his hat as the soldiers fired. The others died crying out “ Viva Cristo Rey! Viva Santa Maria de Guadalupe!”

*These are but a few of those who are heroes of the Faith:

Martyrs whose cause is being promulgated are:

· Servants of God, Jose Trinidad Rangel Montaño, Mexico, priest of the diocese of Leon (1887-1927), Andres Sola Molist, Spanish, priest of the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians) (1895-1927), and Leonardo Perez Larios, Mexican, lay person (1883-1927), martyred in Rancho de San Joaquin during the religious persecution in Mexico.

· Servant of God, Dario Acosta Zurita, Mexican, priest of the diocese of Veracruz (1908-1931), killed during the religious persecution in Mexico.

· Servants of God Lucas de San Jose, ne Jose Tristany Pujol, Spanish, priest of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites (1872-1936), killed for the faith in Barcelona, Leonardo Jose, ne Jose Maria Aragones Mateu, religious of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian School (1886-1936), killed for the faith in Traveseres, Apollonia del Santisimo Sacramento, nee Apolonia Lizarraga, nun of the Congregation of the Carmelites of Charity (1877-1936), killed for the faith in Barcelona, and 61 companions, killed for the faith during the religious persecution in Spain between 1936-1937.

· Servant of God Brother Bernardo, ne Placido Fabrega Julia, of the Institute of the Marist Brothers of the Schools (1889-1934), killed for the faith in Barruelo during the religious persecution in Spain.

· Servants of God Anacleto Gonzalez Flores, Mexican, lay person (1888-1927), killed for the faith in Guadalajara, and 7 lay companions, killed for the faith during the religious persecution in Mexico between 1927-1928.

· Servant of God Jose Sanchez Del Rio, Mexican, lay person (1913-1928), killed for the faith the religious persecution in Mexico.

The Church never fully recovered either from the savagery of "El Turco" (Calles)

or from the renewed persecution in the first years of the Roosevelt Administration. The

swift advance of the U.S.-based Fundamentalists and Protestant sects in later decades

showed how much Catholicism had been weakened, especially with the destruction of

Catholic schools, though the Catholic Legionaries of Christ are hoping to reverse this. A

dechristianization had occurred gradually through the long years of ideological contest

and suffering. But following the relaxation of 1936 and thereafter came Cárdenas's

chosen successor in 1940, President Manuel Avila Camacho. He was president until

1946 and was described as "a believing Roman Catholic."

With the outbreak of World War II, little attention was possible for anyone in the

United States to give to the problems of Mexico. After tensions eased in 1940, Curley

and Kelley must have felt they had done their best for God. Kelley died in Oklahoma

City on February 1, 1948 and Curley died in Baltimore on May 16, 1947.

~Brian Van Hove, S.J.

And Today In Mexico:

Islamic Radicalism in Mexico: The Threat from South of the Border

Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 4 Issue: 11 June 2, 2006

Category: Terrorism Monitor, Latin America By: Chris Zambelis [Jamestown.org]

The ongoing controversy surrounding the debate over illegal immigration and border security issues in the United States, specifically as it applies to the porous U.S.-Mexico frontier and the status of millions of undocumented workers and other migrants that enter the country each year from Mexico, continues to dominate headlines. Although the overwhelming majority of those entering the United States from Mexico each day are in search of opportunity, many observers worry that it is only a matter of time before al-Qaeda exploits this vulnerability for its own ends.

In assessing this threat, Muslim communities in Mexico have come under increasing scrutiny by U.S., Mexican and international security officials both as potential enablers for terrorist infiltration and as ideological sympathizers for the brand of radicalism characteristic of al-Qaeda. Muslim conversion trends in Mexico and Latin America have also raised concerns, especially given al-Qaeda's successes in luring some Muslim converts to its cause. To date, however, these assessments have been way off the mark and in many respects divert attention away from the far more pressing threats at hand. A closer look at the nature of Islam and the outlook of Mexican Muslims may explain why.

Islam in Mexico

Compared to other countries in Latin America that are home to sizeable Muslim communities with longstanding ties to the region, Mexico's Muslim minority is tiny. At the same time, it is one of the most diverse and dynamic in the region. Despite varying figures and scant data, only a couple thousand Muslims are believed to live in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country. Nearly all are Sunni Muslims. Of this group, approximately half trace their origins to what is modern-day Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, mostly the descendants of traders and peasants who emigrated from the Middle East in the latter part of Ottoman rule. Mexico's Arab Muslim community is assimilated in major urban centers such as Mexico City. Significantly, Mexico is also home to a much larger Arab Christian community, also originating from the Levant, which numbers in the tens of thousands. Both communities share close ties and feel a shared sense of pride for their common Arab heritage [1].

Mexican Converts to Islam

The other segment of Mexico's small Muslim community is made up of Mexicans who converted to Islam in recent years. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world, partially as a result of intermarriage and religious conversion. This trend is also evident elsewhere in Latin America, despite the longstanding influence of the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, widespread and growing disenchantment with the Catholic Church is leading many Mexicans and others in the region to find spiritual solace elsewhere, including Islam.

One of Mexico's longest running and most influential Muslim organizations is the Centro Cultural Islamico de Mexico (CCIM). Founded in 1995, the CCIM is a Sunni Muslim organization based in Mexico City. It is led by Omar Weston, a British Muslim convert who was born Mark Weston. It runs two mosques and an array of social welfare and education programs that include Arabic language training and a dawa (call) for conversion. It also has links with Muslim communities elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean (http://www.islam.com.mx). Despite some vague and unsubstantiated reports, there is no evidence implicating Weston and the CCIM to radicalism or terrorism.

Mexico is also home to a number of small Sufi orders led by two women, Sheikha Fariha and Sheikha Amina, the most prominent being the Nur Ashki Jerrahi order, a branch of the Halveti-Jerrahi Tariqat community of dervishes based in the Masjid al-Farah in New York City and other major U.S. cities. The group has branches in Mexico City, Curernavaca and Oaxaca (http://www.nurashkijerrahi.org). The group has been described as adhering to an unconventional blend of traditional Sufi mysticism and New Age ideologies [2]. There is no evidence implicating these groups to radicalism or terrorism.

The Murabitun (the Almoravids, after the African Muslim dynasty that ruled North Africa and Spain in the 11th and 12th century) also has a presence in Mexico (http://www.cislamica.org). The group is a well-funded international Sufi order based in Granada, Spain that claims thousands of followers across the globe, including many European converts. It is also regarded as one of the most aggressive missionary movements in Latin America and a major rival of Omar Weston's CCIM. It was founded in the 1970s by Sheikh Abdel Qader as-Sufi al-Murabit, a Scottish Muslim convert born Ian Dallas who was formerly a playwright and actor. Dallas is a controversial figure who, among other things, is a vocal critic of international capitalism and modern forms of finance. Although there is no evidence linking him or his organization to violence or terrorism, he has been accused of harboring pro-Nazi leanings and other radical ideologies. Othman Abu-Sahnun, an Italian Muslim convert and former ranking member of the Murabitun who had a falling out with the group, dedicates an entire website accusing his former leader of extremism, corruption and being party to alleged sinister conspiracies involving Freemasonry (http://www.murabitun.cyberummah.org).

Chiapas

In recent years, Mexico's volatile and impoverished southern state of Chiapas, which is home to a predominately indigenous population that traces its ethnic and cultural lineage to the Mayans, has been the target of Muslim missionaries. The indigenous peoples of Chiapas are underserved and face severe discrimination in Mexican society. In fact, these circumstances are one of the main reasons why Evangelical and other Protestant Christian sects target them in search of new adherents, an ongoing trend in Chiapas and elsewhere in Latin America. In an effort to win over converts, Christian missionary organizations have been running social welfare and humanitarian programs for decades targeting Mexico's indigenous communities. In doing so, they emphasize what they describe as the failure of the Roman Catholic establishment to cater to the spiritual and material needs of the people in the region, often with great success [3].

Muslim missionary groups, especially the Murabitun, which is led by Aurelino Perez in the region, and Omar Weston's CCIM, use similar tactics in an effort to win over adherents in Chiapas. In addition to providing much needed social welfare and humanitarian aid, the Murabitun argue that Catholicism represents a vestige of European imperialism that is directly responsible for the destruction of Mayan culture. Likewise, Catholicism is seen as a tool of the state that is to blame for the poverty and plight of the indigenous peoples. The anti-capitalist message of the Murabitun in particular also resonates with some of the impoverished locals. Murabitun discourse even emphasizes what it describes as the close cultural and ethnic links between the indigenous peoples of the region and the Muslim Moors who once ruled Spain. Therefore, conversion to Islam represents a reversion to their original identity, essentially an assertion of cultural and ethnic identity long suppressed by European colonialism. The Murabitun went as far as to engage Subcommandante Marcos and his Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), following the group's armed rebellion in Chiapas in 1994, in an effort to gain support (http://www.ezln.org.mx).

The number of indigenous peoples who have converted to Islam is believed to number in the hundreds. Significantly, the majority of indigenous peoples converting to Islam are among those who previously converted to Protestantism and other sects. Although religious affiliation in Chiapas tends to be more pluralistic relative to the rest of Mexico due to the influence of indigenous beliefs and customs, Mayans who turn away from the Catholic Church often face discrimination and violence. Many have even been expelled from their homes by violent gangs and are now known locally as the expulsados (the expelled). For example, many of the Muslims of Chiapas trace their lineage to the Tzotzil Mayan village of San Juan Chamula. A large segment of this community was expelled decades ago for adopting Evangelical Christianity. They now reside in Nueva Esperanza, an impoverished section of San Cristobal [4].

In addition to the Murabitun, Muslim missionary activity in San Cristobal has been attributed to the efforts of a group known as the Mission for Dawa in Mexico, represented locally by Esteban Lopez Moreno, a Muslim convert from Spain who is also linked to the Murabitun [5]. Organizations such as the Murabitun and other Muslim groups line up alongside Pentecostals, Jehova's Witnesses, Mormons and other proselytizers in the hunt for new adherents. Under these circumstances, impoverished locals will often convert to a new faith based on which congregation could provide the most benefits. Many, however, take their newfound faith seriously. With the financial support of local and international groups, Mayan Muslims made the pilgrimage to Mecca in 2005, the first group from Chiapas to do so [6].

Reports pointing to possible terrorist links with Muslim missionaries in Chiapas have surfaced in the Mexican and Spanish media. Spanish authorities have raised suspicions about possible links between Spanish members of the Murabitun living in Chiapas and radical Islamists in Spain. Other reports have even linked the group with Basque separatist movements such as ETA. Othman Abu-Sahnun is a proponent of this theory (http://www.murabitun.cyberummah.org). Mexican authorities have also investigated the activities of the Murabitun due to reports of alleged immigration and visa abuses involving the group's European members and possible radical links, including to al-Qaeda [7]. Despite these allegations and extensive media hype in Mexico and other Spanish-language press, no concrete evidence has surfaced to date substantiating such claims.

Conclusion

U.S. policymakers and security officials should continue to worry about border security and the potential for al-Qaeda infiltration into Mexico. Given the evidence to date, however, any potential inroads by al-Qaeda into Mexico is not likely to come through ties with Mexico's Muslim community—and this includes local converts or otherwise. Washington would be better served by concentrating its resources to confront Mexico's weak institutions, corruption, the influence of drug and other criminal gangs and poverty that may be exploited by al-Qaeda as a means to a greater end, as they have all too often in other parts of the world.

Notes

1. Luz Maria Martinez Montiel, "The Lebanese Community in Mexico: its Meaning, Importance and the History of its Communities," The Lebanese in the World: A Century of Emigration (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1993).

2. Natascha Garvin, "Conversion and Conflict: Muslims in Mexico," International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World Review [Netherlands], Spring 2005).

3. Thelma Gomez Duran, "Muslalmanes en Chiapas," WebIslam: Islam en Latinoamerica, No. 132, July 20, 2001.

4. Bill Weinberg, "Islamic Sect Targets Chiapas Indians," Native Americas Journal, August 28, 2003.

5. "Los musulmanes del sureste mexicano," Univison, October 4, 2004.

6. Dawn, January 28, 2005.

7. Natascha Garvin, "Conversion and Conflict: Muslims in Mexico."