San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala: Devout Jews Asked to Leave by Indigenous Group
More than 200 Jews in Guatemala are leaving by request of a local indigenous group which they ran into problems with, BBC reports.
The about 230 Lev Tahor members were asked to leave San Juan La Laguna by the leaders of the Mayan community because the Jews was trying to impose their customs and traditions on the native group.
Ironically, the Jewish group had settled in the area about six years ago while searching for religious freedom, BBC reports.
The group, which practices a very devout form of Judaism which was founded in the 1980s by Israeli Shlomo Helbrans, left Canada before ending up in Guatemala, according to CBC.
But after the tribal elders accused the group, they began packing their belongings in order to avoid any further issues.
"We are a people of peace and in order to avoid an incident we've already begun to leave," Misael Santos told Agence France-Presse (AFP), BBC reports. "We have a right to be there, but they threatened us with lynching if we don't leave."
They were additionally threatened with no water or electricity, according to BBC.
The village elders said the Jews were trying to impose their religion in an area that was predominantly Catholic and were, thereby, undermining the existing religion.
Their request to the Lev Tahor was an act of self-defense, according to Mayan elders, BBC reports.
"We act in self-defense and to respect our rights as indigenous people. The (Guatemalan) constitution protects us because we need to conserve and preserve our culture," Miguel Vasquez, a spokesman for the elders council, told BBC.
"We felt intimidated by them in the streets. We thought they wanted to change our religion and customs," he told CBC.
The group is located about 90 miles outside of the country's capital of Guatemala City but are hoping to settle elsewhere in the country.
Rabbi Uriel Goldman told CBC "I don't understand why they don't want us. We're doing nothing bad here."
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