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The Southeastern Chinantec of Mexico

The Southeastern Chinantec of Mexico, numbering approximately 40,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Chinantec people whose fifteenth-century founders from Chiltepec Viejo conquered Oaxaca's Choapam district and displaced resident Zapotec and Mixe communities, settling San Juan Lalana in Mexico's Papaloapan River basin. They mostly adhere to Folk Catholicism and Lalana Chinantec is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Chinantec, Southeastern

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Mexico
People Cluster: Zapotec
Primary Language(s): Lalana Chinantec (cnl)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 40,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG039057
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Pray for the Southeastern Chinantec of Mexico

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

73%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Lalana Chinantec
Language Family: Otomanguean

86%
%
Chinantec, Lalana Speakers

Media Resources in Lalana Chinantec:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Lalana Chinantec:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2012 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc.✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Lalana Chinantec bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Southeastern Chinantec are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Southeastern Chinantec:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Southeastern Chinantec of Mexico

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
readPsalm 96:2

Pray that gospel resources will reach this generation so that they will receive the good news and sing to the LORD, bless His name, and tell of His salvation each day.

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
readNumbers 6:26

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be blessed with peace in their lives, knowing that God is with them.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Chinantec, Lalana Across Countries (ROP3 - 105601) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
Southeastern ChinantecPG039057Southeastern ChinantecMexico40,000No Longer UnreachedLalana ChinantecFolk Catholicism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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