Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses - Watchtower Archive

148 Yearbook
June 21 the branch servant was called up to the office of
the secretary of the interior and was handed a prepared
decree banning the work of Jehovah's witnesses. Both of the
newspapers of this country were on hand to record this
triumph of the Hierarchy. Its representative was on hand
too, for a white-robed Jesuit priest was in conference with
the secretary for a half hour before the interview. The iron
curtain had fallen around the truth bearers in this country.
This decree banned all of our magazines. No deliveries
were made to subscribers. Meeting together to discuss Bible
truths was prohibited. Kingdom halls were closed. Even
home Bible studies were prohibited. Witnesses were followed
on the streets and threats made to those who listened to
them. Carrying literature on the streets was against the
law. Would the police enforce this decree? We soon had
an answer. A few days after the ban the brethren in the
hill country were called to town and questioned, seventeen
in all. Seven were jailed. Their homes were searched and
all literature taken from them. The jailed brethren were
beaten. When the case came up in court the brethren found
out they were charged with breaking the recently issued
decree against the work. The pioneer was fined fifteen dollars
because he was the "ringleader", and the rest were set free.
The gallantry of the Latins was forgotten and police and
public officials stooped to new lows in their efforts to "get"
Jehovah's witnesses. A sister was picked up on the street by
the police, questioned in an inquisitional manner for four
hours, and finally, at 9 o'clock at night, put in the women's
prison. Here she suffered further indignities. At her trial
in the first court no witnesses appeared against her, only
the charge that she was carrying the Bible with her and
propagating her faith. In the appeal court still no witnesses
appeared against her, not eVPll the arresting officer. Both
courts gave her "the limit", three months in prison and
$100 fine. Even Latin courtesy had to bow to religiOUS
persecution. The situation wasn't cleared up either when the
prosecutor said it was against the law to carry a Bible on
the street and talk about it, when at the same time the
Dominican flag has as its slogan "God, fatherland and
liberty" with the open Bible pictured in its very center!
The ban of June 21 sort of quashed our hopes of going to
the international assembly in New York, but still we had
hopes of going. But each day the conditions and leading of
the Lord seemed to indicate that it would be better for all
of us to stay here and miss an 8-day assembly, sticking with
the much-persecuted brethren. Getting back into the country
we knew would be impossible once we left. Three of the
Dominican sisters got to go and the two Gilead graduates