The day Javier Milei took office as President an unprecedented thing happened in Argentine democracy. Instead of a single Christian mass in honour of the inaugurated chief executive, as tradition dictates, on December 10 2023, there were six different credos praying for the libertarian who gave a speech. One of the six who spoke was pastor Christian Hooft, the president of the Alianza Cristiana de Iglesias Evangélicas (Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches or Aciera), the organisation bringing together half such churches in the country.
“In the name of Jesus Christ, we believe that Argentina is rising again. Rise, Argentina! Fear not, Argentina, rise!,” were the words used by Hooft to close his speech the first day of Milei’s government. From that moment on, the relationship between evangelism and this administration only consolidated. Now it has reached a milestone, a change for which Aciera has been pushing, in its own words, “for 30 years.”
For the President, religion is crucial. He shows himself tearing up by the Wailing Wall, travelling to a rabbi’s grave in New York, adds the idea of a spiritual battle between “good and evil” to his speeches, uses fragments of the Old Testament or the Torah to explain government policy or compares himself with such biblical figures as Moses. Beyond the surface, this publication has explained the extent of the President’s intimate conviction of believing himself to be chosen by “the One,” as he calls God, with whom he believes he can talk via Conan, his dead dog.
In addition to all this, Milei has now become increasingly close with evangelism over the last few months. On July 5, the President travelled to Chaco, to open “Portal del Cielo” (Heaven’s Portal), the largest evangelical temple in the country (big enough for 15,000 people) commanded by Pentecostal pastor Jorge Ledesma, who would later become famous given his capacity to perform miracles by the dozen, including the capacity to turn pesos into dollars or plastic watches into gold ones. However, that bond later had another decisive step.
What happened was that, in the last few days of July, the Government issued decree 486/2025, making Evangelical Churches into legal entities. Although this crucial decision did not create much of a storm, except for those involved, the truth is that it is a turning point for evangelism. Until then, all evangelical churches were, in the eyes of courts, the same as a local club or neighbours’ group. And like any of them, it had to present its balance sheet every year.
That is what has just changed: like the Catholic Church, thanks to this decree, evangelical churches will be exempt from submitting their figures to courts. This change, in actuality, had been established with the amendment of the Civil Code in 2014, but no government had regulated it. Until now.
All pastors turning pesos into dollars may surely celebrate this change in regulations. They will not be the only ones: the evangelical worship is supported directly by believers, who donate during “services,” almost always in cash.
Those are not the only changes, and Milei’s government is not the only one pushing for the modifications. The Buenos Aires Province Police and the City Police both opened an evangelical chaplaincy for security officers. This is the first time that has happened. Not only that: those familiar with Aciera’s movements swear that the organisation’s next step is an evangelical chaplaincy in the Armed Forces, an institution historically linked with the Holy See in the Vatican.
There is a backdrop to all this: according to a study by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Conicet) in 2019, 15.3 percent of the Argentine population practise evangelism. That is over seven million people. In 2008, that figure was 9 percent. It has grown by 70 percent. Given the lack of a new study, Aciera today estimates that 20 percent of Argentina is evangelical. In fact, at the start of the current government, the Human Capital Ministry headed by Sandra Pettovello made an unprecedented move: while eliminating ties with social organisations, it signed a 177-million-peso agreement with Aciera for food assistance.
The ruling party has evangelicals in its ranks. The most resounding case is pastor Nadia Márquez. After becoming a deputy, Aciera appointed her father, Hugo, as the institution’s assistant secretary. The bond grows strong.
TIMES/PERFIL
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