The day Javier Milei took office as President, an unprecedented act happened in Argentine democracy. Instead of a single Christian Mass in honour of the nation’s newly inaugurated head of state, 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 that has grouped together half of such churches in Argentina. He closed out his speech on the first day of the Milei government with a call: “In the name of Jesus Christ, we believe that Argentina is rising again. Rise, Argentina! Fear not, Argentina, rise!”
From that moment on, the relationship between evangelism and the Milei administration has been consolidated. Now it has reached a milestone: a presidential decree granting a change in status for evangelical churches which Aciera has been pushing for – in its own words – “for 30 years.”
For President Milei, religion is crucial. The La Libertad Avanza has publicly teared up by the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, travelled to a rabbi’s grave in New York to pay tribute and regularly cites the idea of a spiritual battle between “good and evil” in his speeches. He uses fragments of the Old Testament or the Torah to explain government policy, often comparing himself and those around him to biblical figures such as Moses.
Beyond the surface, previous reporting by Noticias has explained the extent of the President’s intimate spiritual and religious conviction: he believes himself to be chosen by “the One,” as he calls God, with whom he believes he can communicate via Conan, his dead dog.
In addition to all this, over the last few months, Milei has now become increasingly close to evangelism and evangelical leaders. On July 5, the President travelled to Chaco Province to open “Portal del Cielo” (“Heaven’s Portal”), the largest evangelical temple in the country – big enough to house 15,000 people. It is commanded by Pentecostal pastor Jorge Ledesma, who in the weeks after become famous given his alleged capacity to perform miracles by the dozen, including the capacity to turn pesos into dollars or plastic watches into gold ones.
The bond later took another decisive step. In the last few days of July, the Milei government issued presidential decree 486/2025, making evangelical churches into legal entities. Although this crucial decision did not create much of a storm at the time (except for those involved in it), the truth is that it marks 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, they had to present a balance sheet every year.
That is what has been altered. Thanks to this decree, like the Catholic Church and other religious entities, evangelical churches will be exempt from submitting their figures to courts. The change, in actuality, had been established with the amendment of the Civil Code in 2014, but up until now, no government had regulated it. Until Milei.
As well as the aforementioned Ledesma, all pastors turning pesos into dollars will surely celebrate this change in regulations. They will not be the only ones: evangelical worship is often financially supported directly by believers, who donate during “services,” almost always in cash. No questions asked when it comes to the source of the funds.
There are other changes coming too. Milei’s government is not the only one pushing for modifications. In a first, the Buenos Aires Province Police and the Buenos Aires City Police forces have both opened an evangelical chaplaincy for security officers. Those familiar with ACIERA’s movements say 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 wider backdrop to all this too. According to a study by the CONICET national scientific and technical research council in 2019, 15.3 percent of the Argentine population practise evangelism – over seven million people. In 2008, that figure was nine percent – it has grown by 70 percent. In lieu of a more recent study, ACIERA today estimates that 20 percent of Argentina is evangelical.
Ties with the new administration have brought the evangelical churches closer to power. At the start of the Milei government, the Human Capital Ministry, headed by Minister Sandra Pettovello, made an unprecedented move: while it was in the process of eliminating ties with several social organisations it viewed as being close to Kirchnerism, it signed a 177-million-peso agreement with ACIERA for food assistance and feeding the poor.
The ruling party has evangelicals in its ranks too. The most notable case is pastor Nadia Márquez – after becoming a deputy, ACIERA appointed her father, Hugo, as the institution’s assistant secretary. The bond grows stronger.
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