Today's New about the Lebaron Community here in Chihuahua

[Navidad]

I thought some of you might be interested in one of today's news headlines. I have mentioned before on the forum how folks here don't really differentiate between the various Mormon communities here in Chihuahua. Many still simply assume that all Mormons are Protestants since they are religious and Anglo. The Lebaron communities are applying for a privileged status under Mexican law that would grant them some form of independence as is granted the various indigenous communities across the country. As you can see, the Lebaron leaders are claiming more than 133 years living in Chihuahua territory. That roughly corresponds to when the LDS folks first came here in the 1880s. It will be interesting to follow along on this story and the progress of moving the request through the Chihuahuense legislature. If granted in some form, this fundamentalist Mormon community would achieve a degree of independence to "do their own thing"  from a modified self-government perspective. That would be quite a fascinating development. I am sure the LDS folk will follow this quite carefully. The Lebaron communities are not very large, but they exert a lot of political clout. What they do and say almost invariably has some impact on the greater LDS community, especially the Anglo LDS folks. My guess is the majority of the Lebaron communities are Anglo, hence lots of confusion as to how they are different from the LDS communities ,especially Colonia Juarez and Dublan who more or less advertise themselves as Mormon communities.

Congresswoman América García will follow up on the proposal of the Lebaron community".
*In order to make them visible as a comparable community.
Chihuahua. - Congresswoman América García of Movimiento Ciudadano, received this Tuesday members of the Lebaron community in the building that houses the Legislative Branch, in order to continue working with those issues that are of great interest to Mormon families, such as their request to be made visible as a comparable community.
The members of the Lebaron families thanked the Deputy of the Orange Caucus for the invitation to come to the State Congress, because even though they consider themselves Chihuahuenses like any other citizen in the state, many of them had never been invited to participate in work tables before the deputies; so they recognized in America Garcia, a legislator committed to this community that is about to celebrate its more than 133 years living in Chihuahua territory.
"I want to tell you that I have held meetings with the Movimiento Ciudadano parliamentary faction in the Senate and they already know about the issue you have presented. For my part, I offer to continue working as we have done until today with several meetings. I will continue to manage everything that is necessary to carry out the work tables that you consider necessary to make visible your proposal to achieve self-government", said the Movimiento Ciudadano deputy.
According to the information provided in this meeting by attorney Esteban Barrios Correa, it corresponds to the State Congress to issue a declaration of community rights to define a recognition of the Mexican State as a comparable community; however, since there is no legislation to support it, a legislative proposal was delivered to the Governor of the State and to the Congresswoman herself, which will allow the interested parties, as well as the Legislative Power itself, to sit down to dialogue to know the scopes by which an adjustment to the Municipal Code of the State of Chihuahua can be made.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Navidad

[JLHPROF]

After the massacre a couple of years back I'm surprised they still want to stay.  Most of them hold dual citizenship is my understanding.

[Navidad]

2 hours ago, JLHPROF said:

After the massacre a couple of years back I'm surprised they still want to stay.  Most of them hold dual citizenship is my understanding.

It is complicated. Many of the "Lebaron" community folks are non-religious. Maybe most. But they have strong familial and economic ties here. The Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times is not a large group. There also used to be a Church of the Firstborn of the Lamb of God, but I am not sure they have more than a handful of adherents. Mixed in are adherents of the former Margarito Bautista groups in the middle of the country. The tie-ins with the LDS community are economic and familial. My sense is that the massacre has made some folks more determined to stay. Did I say . .  . it is complicated? There are significant migrations back and forth between the northern central part of the US and the Lebaron colonies. Some are US citizens only, some are Mexican citizens only and some have dual-citizenship. Of course, not all are Anglo. There certainly are and always have been mestizo members of the group. If there is any "most," I would suggest that "most" are non-religious in the sense of active engagement in a church. I think like home schooling there is a lot of home worshiping that happens within the family.