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Mariano Díaz Méndez, 38, a minister of the Tzotzil Evangelical Church, was assassinated on October 24 near the town of San Juan Chamula in Mexico's troubled southern state of Chiapas.According to an October 28 report from Compass Direct, Méndez was near the village of Botatulán, on his way to a prayer service, when heavily armed men stopped his automobile around 3:00 p.m.

According to witnesses, Méndez left his vehicle, attempting to evade his attackers, when they shot him to death with an AK-47 assault rifle. Mariano Díaz Méndez is survived by his wife, the former María Pérez Gómez, and a daughter, Rosa.

Méndez is the second evangelical pastor to die in the past two weeks. On October 17, Jairo Solís López was killed in the municipality of Mapastepec. The circumstances surrounding Solís's death are unclear, but sources fear that this is a resurgence of persecution against evangelicals by local caciques, or powerful community chieftains. Caciques practice "traditionalist" religion, a semi-pagan mix of Roman Catholic beliefs and ancient Mayan religion. Over the past thirty years, scores of evangelicals have died and hundreds injured. About 35,000 live in ghettos around the district capital of San Cristóbal de las Casas, having been forced to leave their homes by caciques. Recently cacaques had issued threats in San Juan Chamula, saying that the evangelical leaders would fall one by one.

Pray for divine protection for Christians living in this troubled area of Mexico. Pray that the authorities will provide protection and will be willing to prosecute those responsible for these crimes. Pray for Méndez's wife and daughter, as they grieve this terrible loss.

Earlier this month, the Catholic bishop of San Christobal de las Casas in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas called on "traditionalist" Catholics to end their persecution of evangelical Christians. According to a report from Open Doors, Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel asked that there be no more "destruction nor house-burnings, nor skirmishes, nor the shedding of blood due to religious, political, cultural or economic differences."

For many years, evangelical Christians in Chiapas have faced severe opposition. Despite this pressure, evangelical Christianity has continued to rapidly grow, now reaching thirty-five percent of the state's population.

Pray that the words of the bishop will be heeded and that the persecution of evangelicals will cease. Pray for the continued spread of the Gospel in this troubled region of Mexico.