Antecedentes e atualidade da ação política
neopentecostal na América Latina, com berço $ nos EUA
Reagan Administration Ties To The Christian Right
The Reagan Administration famously
courted several Christian leaders for political support. Before Reagan became
president, President Jimmy Carter famously entered the oval office with
tremendous support from Christian voters despite being a Democratic candidate.
However, things began to change for Carter as the Christian voting block moved
further right.
Although
Christians catapulted Jimmy Carter into the presidency, Christian leaders
placed blame on the new Democratic president for the actions of the IRS and
President Nixon against private schools the previous year. This led Christian
leaders to support Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign in 1980.
The Moral Majority was founded by Jerry Falwell (the founder of the Lynchburg
Christian School and televangelist), a Christian right-wing political
organization with the goal of mobilizing conservative Christian voters to
vote-in Republicans into political offices and to pass conservative Christian
laws and policies. The influence of Christian leaders in politics did not stop
at Reagan’s campaign, but also during his tenure as president. This had
consequences not only for those in the U.S., but also those in Central America.
Christian Leaders And U.S. Intervention In Central
America
The
Moral Majority wielded an immense amount of influence over the political
decision enacted by the Reagan Administration. Several Christian leader advised
the president on policy important to the Christian Right such as abortion
rights, same-sex marriage, and the Equal Rights Amendment, but few laws and
policies changed to reflect the views of the Christian Right. However, despite having no tangible
policy changes in the U.S., Christian leaders had a significant influence over
foreign policy decisions in Central America.
During
the 80’s, the Reagan administration made several foreign-policy decisions that
installed and supported military dictatorships and anti-communist regimes in
Central America. In Nicaragua, Reagan supported Contra rebels engaged in
guerrilla warfare to topple the Sandinista government. In Guatemala, Reagan
supported the military dictatorship of José Efraín Ríos Montt and even went as far as to describe Montt as “a man
of great personal integrity and commitment…I know he wants to improve the
quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice,” the same
day as the Dos Erres massacre.
The Salvadoran Civil War And Support From The
Christian Right
El
Salvador’s Civil War is Reagan’s (and the Christian Right’s) biggest legacy
however. The Salvadoran Civil War was fought between the military-led
government and the Farabundo Martí National
Liberation Front (FMLN), a
collective of left-wing militias. Despite claims of human rights abuses,
Christian Right leaders supported Reagan’s foreign policies and the
military-led Salvadoran government.
As
the influence of the Christian Right becomes stronger when Reagan enters
office, Catholicism begins to transform into Liberation Theology, subsequently
becomes popular amongst the poor and marginalized in El Salvador. Liberation
Theology focused on the needs of the most marginalized and the political
liberation of oppressed people, a position in total opposite of the Salvadoran
government’s goals and the traditional leaders of the Catholic Church. As Reagan entered, the
Christian Right began to support the Salvadoran government despite the murders
of nuns and priests, including Archbishop Oscar Romero and Jesuit Priest
Ignacio Matin-Baro. After the murder of Archbishop Romero the issue
became clear in El Salvador. It was not just a political one, but also a
religious one and the Moral Majority was there to help.
Evangelical
leaders began to take an active role in the
conflict in El Salvador once Reagan was established in office. For instance, in June
1982, Jerry Falwell stated,
“I met with the president last Friday.
We were talking about Central America…Can you imagine in the House of Representatives,
when you have Marxist, Soviet-Cuban expansionism moving within hours by flight
from our shores and the president has to beg the House of Representatives to
give him enough money to give to the people there to protect them so that
Mexico and Central America doesn’t fall,”
and later when asked about the
government-funded death squads in El Salvador, he explained,
“we must support our friends while
exercising all possible influence to improve human rights in their society…What
it boils down to is which skunk we’re going to support — the one spraying in
our direction or the one spraying in the other direction. I don’t have any
problem with that one”
Other
evangelical leaders became directly involved with the Salvadoran military. In 1983, Pat Robertson
famously toured Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Afterwards,
Robertson stated that Roberto D’Aubuisson, the Salvadoran leader of the
right-wing death squads, was a “very nice fellow,” and later provided millions
in “humanitarian aid” for the country. Following his trip to El Salvador,
Robertson aired four 20–30 minute segments focusing on the “distortions of the
liberal media” against then-president Alvaro Magana.
Robertson
was not the only one socializing with dictators and death squad leaders. Paul Crouch, the founder
of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, visited El Salvador in 1986 where he spoke
at the Salvadoran Full Business Fellowship and award a plaque to Jesus Caceres,
the head of the Treasury Police Force at the time. In 1987, Crouch visits El Salvador to start a deal
with the government and his broadcasting network. Before airing his network in
El Salvador, Crouch urged his U.S. viewers to donate and, “to pray as never
before — God wants to reach all troubled Central America.”
Similarly, Dr. Fred Shwarz initiated
the Christian’s Anti-Communist Crusade and developed anti-communist propaganda
that was played in Salvadoran radio stations. Later the Latin
American Director for the Crusade, John Colbert, dropped thousands of leaflets
of Christian literature, from a helicopter provided by the Salvadoran
government, over FMLN-controlled territory.
The end of the Reagan administration
also symbolized the decline of the political power of the Christian
Right. The Moral Majority was disbanded and
famously stated that, “their goal of supporting Reagan” — and his foreign
policy in El Salvador — were accomplished. By 1988, Pat Robertson was
more concerned for his presidential bidding than focus on his efforts in
Central America. In 1992, the Salvadoran government and the FMLN came to a
peace accord and the fight between the two was over. FMLN became an official
political party and held power for many years. However, the legacy of the
Christian Right in El Salvador is still felt to this day. Salvadoran
politicians and leaders hold Christian conservative and the laws passed
reflected those views. For example, abortion is still illegal and punishable by
prison, same-sex marriage is not recognized by the government, and just this
year President Nayib Bukele marched
troops into parliament to demand a loan of $109 million in security funds and
prayed at the speaker podium to “ask God to grant us patience for a week.” While President Bukele enacts militaristic powers in the
name of God, Salvadorans leave their homelands in search of place without
violence as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus once did.
Aqui a íntegra do artigo: https://popularresistance.org/el-salvador-the-rise-of-the-us-christian-right-and-us-imperialism/
