An evangelical Church in Cordoba, Argentina has finally received reprieve from court, after being persecuted, vandalized, and threatened for several years.
Criminal charges will now be pursued against the drug gang mafia and all those who conducted acts of violence against Pueblo Grande Baptist Church in Rio Tercero, and spread inaccurate information about their activities to instigate mass hatred against them, according to the Morning Star News.
The prosecution of criminal charges against the persecutors could be launched as a result of a much-awaited court verdict on May 29. The ruling, which came after a long struggle by congregation's supporters, announced that the threats and violence against the Church and its members was "a clear violation of the law."
The alleged perpetrators have not been charged yet, as the Argentine laws require the suspects to be notified of intended prosecution and to allow them ample time to prepare defence. The church, however, is viewing the recent developments positively, as the opening of investigations against the offenders may act as a deterrent to religious discrimination.
Persecution against the congregation started when the church opened a 'Women's Transit Home,' serving as a shelter for women escaping sex trafficking, substance abuse, and domestic violence.
Rev. Marcelo Nieva of the church said that this effort provoked local drug and sex trafficking gangs, and they resorted to issuing death threats to the members, and spread false information campaigns calling them a "cult" which "brainwashes" women and children of the shelter. The vandalism and violence against the church continued for many years, before the judicial breakthrough in May.
Local newspapers and radio stations even ran hate campaigns urging local people to join "protest march" against the church in June, 2014.
For many years, police ignored their requests for help, and sometimes seemed to work against them. They used to search the church and transit home to look for "cultic" items.
In an assassination attempt on October 21, 2014, Pastor Nieva's car was shot multiple times in Rio Tercero, but he escaped unharmed with another passenger Daniel Carreño.
In November last year, two women from the transit home, Carolina Rivarola and Natalia Ramirez, who were selling groceries on street were assaulted. A man and a woman parked their car in front of them, and beat and kicked the women. But when the onlookers came to their rescue, they retreated and went away. Later when police came to the scene, instead of noting down their report, they counter-charged the women of making "fabricated" stories, and allegedly declared to the road-side observers that "nothing happened here."
Pastor Nieva even went to National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI), a government wing assigned to protect minority groups, but they refused to intervene.
The Evangelical Baptist Convention of Argentina came to Nievas' help, but even they found it very hard to press on in support of the Church.
"We thought long and hard about what counsel we should give Pastor Nieva in regard to the aggression... At one point we thought that the only thing to do, as the Word says, was to shake the dust off our sandals and leave the city. But as things went on, we came to see that Pastor Nieva had a strong calling to work in a community that at the time was unresponsive to evangelization. It was obvious that we could not invalidate his call and the fortitude he displayed to serve his community," Ferrari told Morning Star News.
Tags Pueblo Grande Baptist Church, Rio Tercero, Cordoba, Rev. Marcelo Nieva
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