The day Javier Milei assumed as president of the nation, something that has no record in Argentine democracy happened. It is that instead of only a Christian Mass was held in honor of the incoming president, as the tradition dictates, on December 10, 2023 there were six different creeds that prayed for the libertarian and gave a speech. One of the six who spoke was Pastor Christian Hooft, the president of the Christian Alliance of Evengelic Churches (Aciera), the organization that brings together more than half of these churches in the country.
“In the name of Jesus Christ, we believe that Argentina gets up again. Argentina, get up! Do not be afraid, Argentina, get up!”, They were the words with which Hooft closed his speech on the first day of the Milei government. From that first moment, the relationship between Evangelism and this administration did nothing but establish. And now he reached the historical point, a change for which he was pushing and pressing, according to his own words, “for 30 years.”
Beliefs
For the president, religion is crucial. He is tearing on the wax wall, traveling to the tomb of a rabbi in New York, incorporates in his speeches the idea of a spiritual battle between “good and evil”, uses fragments of the Old Testament or Torah to explain actions of his government or compare with biblical figures such as Moses. In addition to what appears on the surface, this magazine has counted how far the intimate conviction of the president to believe is chosen by “the one” comes, as God calls, with whom he believes he can dialogue through the intermediation of Conan, his dead dog.
To all this Milei added, in recent months, a growing closeness with evangelism. On July 5, the president traveled to Chaco, to Inauguar “Portal del Cielo”, the largest evangelical temple in the country (15 thousand people enter) that the Pentecostal shepherd Jorge Ledesma commands, who would later become famous for his ability to perform miracles to Mansalva, among which are the ability to convert pesos into dollars or plastic watches into some gold. However, that link then had another decisive step.
It is that, in the last days of July, the Government promoted Decree 486/2025, where legal personality is granted to evangelical churches. Although this transcendental decision did not raise too much dust, except for those involved, the truth is that it is a before and after for evangelism. Until then all evangelical churches were, in the eyes of justice, as well as a neighborhood club or a group of neighbors. And as any of them had to present their balance every year.
That is what has just changed: just like the Catholic Church, thanks to this decree, the evangelicals will be exempt from having to present their numbers before justice. This change, in truth, had been established with the modification of the Civil Code in 2014, but no government had regulated it. Until now.
All shepherds who convert pesos into dollars will surely celebrate with this change of regulations. And they will not be the only ones: the evangelical cult is sustained with the direct contribution of the faithful, who donate during the “services.” That, almost always, is done in cash.
Policy
They are not the only changes, and not only the Milei government is pushing modifications. The Buenos Aires police and the city police opened, both, an evangelical chapel for security agents. It is the first time that happens. Not only that: those who know how it moves acquires that the next step of the organization is to install an evangelical chapel within the Armed Forces, an institution historically linked to the Holy See of the Vatican.
All this has a background: according to a 2019 CONICET study, 15.3 percent of the Argentine population professes evangelical faith. They are more than seven million people. In 2008, the figure was 9 percent. Growth is 70%. In the absence of a new study, it calculates that today 20% of Argentina is evangelical. In fact, at the start of the Government, the Ministry of Human Capital leading Sandra Pettovello did something unprecedented: while eliminating links with social organizations, signed a $ 177 million agreement with Aciera for food assistance.
The ruling has evangelicals in its ranks. The most resonant case is that of Pastora Nadia Márquez. After co -managed in deputy, he appointed his father, Hugo, as the deputy secretary of the institution. The link grows.
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