Latin America and The Caribbean
During the period 2023-2024, freedom of religion or belief in Latin America and the Caribbean was marked by tensions between constitutional guarantees and the region’s political, social and cultural realities. Christianity is the predominant religion, but despite an apparent homogeneity, several factors—including organised crime, weak institutions, restrictive regulatory frameworks and ideological tensions —continued to threaten the enjoyment of religious freedom.
Violence against religious leaders and vandalism
In 2023 and 2024 at least 13 religious leaders were murdered in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. A further 16 missionaries and laypeople were murdered in pastoral settings in Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico. To these must be added the deaths of another nine laypeople in Mexico in early 2025. There is no evidence that all these crimes were motivated by hatred of the faith, however they do reflect the insecurity surrounding ministry in high-conflict and volatile areas. Religious leaders occupy a significant place in their communities, and their influence makes them targets for attacks and intimidation. The same applies to those who dare to criticize authoritarian regimes. They are seen as a threat and can be subject to reprisals. In Haiti, at least 19 priests and religious were kidnapped for ransom, and two religious sisters were killed in 2025.
There were attacks, desecrations and cases of symbolic violence against places of worship in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. Other countries, however, saw a drop in the frequency of incidents of this nature, and a lower number of offences against religious feelings.
Some countries have observers or whistleblowing channels which make it easier to quantify and detail incidents. According to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, there were 996 acts against religious freedom in that country during the reporting period. In Brazil citizens can denounce human rights violations through Dial 100. In 2023, 2,124 complaints related to religious intolerance were recorded—mostly filed by followers of Afro-Brazilian religions. In Nicaragua, the Nunca Más Collective, the lawyer Martha Patricia Molina Montenegro and the NGO Monitoreo Azul y Blanco keep track of religious persecution. In Mexico, the Centro Católico Multimedial tracks violence against priests, religious and institutions of the Catholic Church.
Since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in October 2023, several countries in the region have seen the proliferation of antisemitic expressions, including graffiti of swastikas, threats to Jewish communities and attacks on Jewish monuments or institutions, particularly in large urban centres and on social media.
In Brazil, followers of Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Umbanda and Candomblé, have denounced discrimination and religious intolerance as well as attacks on places of worship.
Drug trafficking and organised crime
The drug trade has become one of the most significant threats to religious freedom. Against a backdrop of conflicts between rival cartels over territory, the void left by the State has effectively turned religious leaders into the stewards of their communities, leaving them to face the violence and play the role of protectors and mediators in areas ruled by criminal gangs. Although there is no evidence of systematic persecution for reasons of faith, Churches and religious leaders have become victims of structural violence, limiting their action in favour of the community and jeopardising their safety.
The period under review saw the application by criminal organisations of control mechanisms over religious leaders and Churches, such as the extortion of protection money or the issuing of orders. In Mexico this extortion of Churches and religious leaders took place under the guise of payments for supposed “protection” from rival gangs. In Venezuela, a Colombian guerrilla group established de facto control over several communities along the border, forcing religious leaders to request permission to celebrate Masses, hold processions and carry out other pastoral activities, as well as to comply with restrictions regarding schedules, travel and the use of places of worship. These practices represent a serious breach of religious freedom, since they condition its exercise to the impositions of illegal armed groups that act outside the scope of a lawful State.
The so-called “cult of holy death”, which is linked to the activities of criminal gangs, has generated concern in Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico. In Ecuador, soldiers dismantled an altar to holy death at an illegal gathering during a state of emergency. In Guatemala the cult is accused of having ties to gangs involved in murder and extortion. In Mexico, the Catholic Church has denounced it as an expression of the culture of violence promoted by the drug trade.
Legal restrictions on religious activities
During the period under review Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela adopted new rules that increased state control over religious activities and elevated the risk of criminalisation, especially for communities that are not officially registered.
In Cuba, the criminal code that has been in force since December 2022 penalises participation in unauthorised associations, affecting non-recognised Evangelical churches. The code also introduced the idea of “abuse of religious freedom” and restricted the freedom of parents to educate their children in a religious setting. Additional norms, such as the Citizenship Law and the Foreigners Law, permit the application of sanctions for ideological reasons. Government resolutions strictly regulate the use of places of worship, including those located on private property.
In Nicaragua, new laws have allowed the State to revoke the nationality of people deemed “traitors”, including religious leaders. Other laws have imposed severe restrictions on charities and religious groups, subjecting them to political vigilance, obligatory registration and control over international cooperation, which has eroded their autonomy.
In Venezuela, a 2024 law forced non-governmental organisations to declare their sources of funding, which impacted those that depend on finance from abroad.
Secularism, state neutrality and ideological tension
Tension over the secular nature of the State has grown in several countries in the region, with opposing court decisions. In Colombia, the Constitutional Court ordered the removal of an image of the Virgin Mary from a public building, invoking the religious neutrality of the State. Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court, in contrast, allowed a crucifix to be reinstalled in a hospital room, arguing that its presence represented a legitimate expression of religious freedom.
In Mexico, the Supreme Court heard complaints which alleged that the placing of nativity scenes in public spaces in Yucatán breached the principle of secularism. The subject has not yet been resolved.
The IACHR and the discussion on inter-American standards
In February 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a study on freedom of religion and belief. It generated controversy, as it presented religious freedom as a potential obstacle to other alleged rights, particularly those related to non-discrimination, reproductive and sexual health, and gender diversity. The IACHR posited that religious expressions that contradicted its agenda could be interpreted as hate speech.
Two of the seven commissioners voted against the report, criticising what they considered to be an ideological focus that went beyond the purview of the IACHR. Several religious organisations, such as the Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Catholic University in Paraguay, expressed their concern over the document’s secularist prejudice and the risk of criminalisation of traditional religious beliefs.
On the other hand, the IACHR has continued to track serious violations of religious freedom in the region. In January 2023, it granted precautionary measures to eleven members of the Jesuit community of Cerocahui, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, considering that they were in a serious and urgent situation due to threats and harassment by organised criminal groups. In Nicaragua, the IACHR decried the large-scale closure of civil organisations, including religious entities, and expressed its concern regarding religious persecution, arbitrary arrests, acts of repression and the conditions to which those deprived of freedom were subjected. Furthermore, the Commission granted new precautionary measures to ten members of the Mountain Gateway Church, who were being held in particularly harsh conditions.
However, the IACHR’s precautionary measures proved ineffective in the case of Fr Marcelo Pérez, who was shot dead in Chiapas, Mexico in October 2024. The authorities have yet to bring the perpetrators to justice.[1]
Nicaragua
During the period under review there was a significant escalation of government hostility towards Churches and religious communities. This persecution has taken the form of arbitrary arrests, expulsions, forced exiles, stripping of nationality as well as prohibition of celebrating religious services in public spaces and the en masse revocation of the legal status of confessional institutions. At the same time, constitutional reforms and new norms have endowed the regime with legal tools to control religious organisations. Several international organisations have classified the country as one of the worst in terms of religious persecution in the region.
Cuba
Although the Cuban State does recognise religious denominations, its control over their activities continues to be intense, including restrictions on social aid provided by Evangelical churches and the toughening of legislation. The Cuban Catholic Bishops’ Conference has described the situation as the most serious of the past decades, pointing out that the country is going through “one of the most difficult periods in its history”, adding that “our communities and pastoral agents partake of the general exhaustion of daily life in Cuba. The value for our nation of plurality of thought, opinion and ideas, which are increasingly present among us, has not been sufficiently recognised”.
Venezuela
The political crisis in Venezuela has grown worse, with serious human rights violations and a growing instrumentalisation of religious belief by the State. Initiatives such as “My Well-Equipped Church”, and other benefits given to religious communities, are presented as support for spiritual life. However, they may be electorally motivated and compromise the independence of religious communities. This situation is aggravated by a legal framework that grants the regime ample discretionary powers to sanction those who criticise it. During the 2024 election period, there were reports of surveillance or intimidation by state agents of religious leaders. One pastor said that the government offered benefits to Churches that supported it but punished those who refused them.
Mexico
Mexico continues to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a religious leader. Five of the 13 murders of religious leaders that took place in the region between 2023 and 2024 occurred in Mexico, and other religious leaders are exposed to extortion and threats from organised crime in communities where the Church carries out social or humanitarian work. Pastoral work in regions such as Chihuahua has even been granted precautionary measures by the IACHR.
Haiti
Haiti is in a state of institutional collapse and can now be described as a failed State. Chronic insecurity, the collapse of the health system and a food emergency have led to extreme vulnerability. Armed criminal gangs control wide swathes of territory, imposing a regime of violence and intimidation that keeps the population in a state of constant fear. Churches, religious communities and religious leaders have become frequent targets of kidnapping and extortion.
Forced migration
Large-scale migration in the region has also had an impact on religious freedom. Many displaced people have lost contact with their faith communities and often do not have the conditions to freely exercise their beliefs in transit countries. Events such as the Assembly of the Clamor Network[2] (Bogota, 2024), have highlighted the responsibility of Churches to minister to migrants and give warnings about religious discrimination upon their arrival. In Mexico the Catholic Church has focused on providing pastoral help in hostels and border regions, often in very difficult and insecure conditions.
[1] UNHCR, “ONU-DH insta a investigar el asesinato del sacerdote y defensor indígena de los derechos humanos, Marcelo Pérez Pérez”, 20th October 2024,https://hchr.org.mx/comunicados/onu-dh-insta-a-investigar-el-asesinato-del-sacerdote-y-defensor-indigena-de-los-derechos-humanos-marcelo-perez-perez/ (accessed 5th August 2025).
[2] Fr Dionisio Baez, O de M., “Escuchamos el clamor de aquellos que lloran sangre“: Ante un panorama tan duro, resuena la voz de Dios”, Religión Digital, https://www.religiondigital.org/america/asamblea-red-clamor-bogota-migracion_0_2712628720.html (accessed 2nd August 2025).
