Pastor Alfrery Líctor Cruz Canseco shot and killed at Mexico church during Sunday gathering
Pastor Alfrery Líctor Cruz Canseco was shot during Sunday’s gathering for service on Sunday as Fraternidad Cristiana church in Tlalixtac de Cabrera, a town in Oaxaca, La Prensa reported. There are mixed reports on whether the incident happened during service or immediately after.
The murderer tried to flee, but was blocked by parishioners and arrested.
Alfrery Líctor Cruz Canseco
Christian Solidarity Worldwide stated that Cruz Canseco was sitting in his car outside the church when he was shot at point-blank range. The pastor died while he was being transported to a local hospital.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the family and congregation of Pastor Cruz Canseco,” CSW Chief Executive Merwyn Thomas said in a statement.
“Good, good servant and faithful; about little you have been faithful, on much I will put you; enter the joy of your lord,” read a statement on the Frater Oaxaca Facebook page offering condolences.
“We pray to the Lord to strengthen and comfort his wife Rosita, children, family and congregation.”
James Ost, a preacher at Iglesia Biblica church in McAllen Texas, called Cabrera a friend in a Facebook post, writing that he was “angry and sad” about his murder.
“I preached in his church and he has preached in our church here, Ost wrote. “He was a big missions mobilizer, especially helping pastors in Cuba. He had a lot of influence in Oaxaca, was well-loved and respected. This is an awful and tragic event.”
While there is no motive being made public yet, Catholic priests and other Christian leaders have increasingly been targeted by gangs in Mexico, “because they speak out against the gangs and/or because they refuse to include gang spiritual mythology in their sermons,” according to a 2017 report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
“Local authorities—including some Catholic leaders— have persecuted those who refuse to convert, pay taxes for Catholic events and operations, or participate in Catholic religious activities,” the report reads. “Retaliatory actions include cutting off water and electricity, prohibiting burials in community cemeteries, denying children access to schools, barring participation in political and civic community activity and denying employment.”
Mexico experienced a record number of murders in 2018, with 33,341 homicide investigations, the highest ever.
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