Opinion ID: 2756145
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Persecution Claim

Text: Mr. Catchai gives the following account of what led him to the United States: He was the pastor of a 700-member church in Angola. Hoping to attend a ministers’ conference in the United States in June 2008, he applied for a visa but did not receive it in time to attend. Later, however, it came in handy. Angola was in the midst of its first legislative elections since 1992. The country’s ruling party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), dominated the state-run media apparatus and distributed cash, vehicles, refrigerators, water, and other items to churches and other entities to encourage their support for the MPLA. Sometime in June or July 2008 the MPLA asked Mr. Catchai to participate in a “friendship of the government and the church.” R. at 76. He declined and was threatened by local authorities with “offenses against the security of the state,” though he was not arrested. Id. at 135. 2 The election was held on September 5 and 6, 2008. The MPLA won more than 80% of the parliamentary seats. On October 26, the day the election results were published, Mr. Catchai spoke to his congregation, criticizing the election as fraudulent and unfree. That night, he and two church members were at his house (his wife was not) when two police cars arrived. Several men exited the cars, entered the house’s living room, and began questioning the two church members. Mr. Catchai was in the adjacent bedroom but could see through the curtains that the men were wearing masks and civilian clothes, although two or three also had military badges on their belts. He became fearful because in Angola’s recent past people who criticized the government would be killed by government agents who concealed their identities. He escaped through a bedroom window and was shot at twice as he fled. Mr. Catchai hid in a nearby abandoned house, then later that night caught a ride to a village in a neighboring province, where he stayed for more than a month before moving to Angola’s capital of Luanda. He had been to Luanda many times before and had left clothes and his passport with a friend there. He arranged to fly to South Africa in December 2008. On the day of his flight he was stopped by an immigration officer at the airport and told he was to be arrested. The officer relented, however, upon learning that he shared the same family name as Mr. Catchai. Soon after Mr. Catchai flew to South Africa, he was joined by his wife. In February 2009, however, an outbreak of xenophobia swept South Africa, motivating him 3 to leave the country. He came to the United States on April 1, 2009, on his stillunexpired visa. His wife remains in South Africa.