Message on Mountain

(Juarez, Mexico)

Members from La Luz del Mundo church on Tuesday began erasing the new and massive white-lettered message they started painting on the Juárez mountainside last week.

After a day's work, only two letters were slightly less visible: The rest of the message was still there.

"If it took us three weeks to do it, we consider it just for authorities to give us at least three weeks to erase it," said Sonia Pedroza, spokeswoman for the project and a member of La Luz del Mundo church in Juárez.

Last week, Juárez officials stopped the church from painting a second message on the mountain because the group did not get a city permit beforehand. The city gave the church five working days to erase the message. The five day deadline was Tuesday, according to city officials.

Church members say they have until Friday to clean it up and argued that they were officially notified Thursday. The group is also looking for a deadline extension.

Pedroza said church members on Tuesday began turning some of painted rocks around as a first step of the cleaning process. The final plan includes sanding the rocks to their original color.

The message was intended to honor a church leader (Samuel Joaquín Flores).