During the 1980s, the diocese faced violence by regional power-holders, with two serious assassination attempts in the years before Lona's retirement. The goal of these groups was to suppress further political activism similar to the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas. Attacks against Lona and allies would continue into the 1990s. Liberation theology remained center of the diocese while Lona remained bishop although it lost power in the 1990s as the country moved towards neoliberal policies as well as the Church's own gradual abandonment of liberation theology. Arturo Lona Reyes was one of the last of church leaders aligned with Liberation Theology.