Then the organization had the audacity to say to the rest of the world of witnesses that they had gained religious freedom in Mexico when the Govt.allowed religions other than the Catholic Church to own the land their buildings were on.
As has been pointed out above religious freedom always existed for JW`s the only thing was that no religion other than the Catholic Church could own land that their places of worship was built on.
This didnt sit well for the GB of JW`s they wanted to own the land their buildings were on so they opted to renounce themselves as a religion and adopt a cultural stance.
Hence they then could no longer use the Bible ,sing Kingdom songs (hymns) or pray in their halls as it would mean they were a religion.and not a cultural centre.
And they put up with this hypocricy for many years.