LAM
News Service - 16 April 2002
Posted 22 April 2002 on RELIGIOSCOPE
The
chaotic events surrounding the attempted coup in Venezuela
have focused attention on the failure of populist governments,
such as that in Venezuela, to deliver on their promises to
help the poor. They have also led Christians to evaluate their
ministries and search for ways in which they can better serve
their country.
“The
immediate impact on the evangelical church will be varied,”said
Laura Smith, a missionary with the Latin America Mission (LAM),
who teaches at the Evangelical Seminary of Caracas.
Smith,
who is from Winsted, Connecticut, said that many evangelicals
were greatly relieved even though they mourned the loss of
life when President Hugo Chavez was temporarily overthrown
on Friday, April 12 by a coalition of business and military
leaders. “Others were devastated because their hopes
in Chavez weren’t fulfilled,” she said.
In
a confusing sequence of events, Chavez was ousted and arrested
by his military high command after gunmen opened fire on at
least 150,000 people marching on the presidential palace to
demand his resignation. He was returned to power just two
days later after loyalist military officers peacefully rebelled
and tens of thousands of Venezuelans converged on the palace
to demand Chavez's return.
A
report released by two local human rights groups, COFAVIC
and the Archdiocese of Caracas Human Rights Vicar, said 46
people were killed and over 300 injured. It accused security
forces of being responsible for most of the deaths. Witnesses
have said police opened fire on pro-Chavez demonstrators in
several poor neighborhoods of Caracas.
A
lack of support from neighboring Latin American countries
and strong backing among Chavez’s poor constituents who
live in rundown neighborhoods ringing the capital city forced
the new government to resign and returned Chavez to power.
Chavez
had long promised to bring relief to the country’s poor
who to make up 85% of the population. However, his erratic
governing style, his coziness with Cuba’s Fidel Castro
and his frequent anti-American rhetoric have left many of
the country’s business class and some religious leaders
with a growing uneasiness.
Chavez
had openly broken with the dominant Roman Catholic Church,
calling the church a “tumor on the country” and accusing church leaders of conspiring to oust him from
office.
As
tensions increased before the attempted coup, church groups
called for prayer and a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
Evangelical
church leaders announced a march in the capital, Caracas.
Organizers called for the public manifestation in light of “the moral and spiritual decadence in the country.” They called on Venezuelans to change the direction of their
lives, to repent, and to work for a bright future for the
nation.
Meanwhile,
Roman Catholic archbishops called on Venezuelans to keep calm
and reflect on what was happening in the country.
Religious
leaders, including Rev. Sam Olson, president of the Evangelical
Council of Venezuela, participated in an ecumenical service
for the families of those who died in the violence.
Most
observers agree that Chavez’s popularity comes in large
part from the failure of Latin American governments to address
the pressing issues of poverty, corruption and core freedoms. “It is well known that democracy is seen as ‘on
trial’ in Latin America,” said Clyde D. Taylor,
former U.S. ambassador to Paraguay who serves as the vice
chairman of LAM’s Board of Directors. “Countries
who in the 1980s moved away from their authoritarian pasts
and adopted pluralistic forms of governance expected social
and economic benefits that, in general, have not arrived.”
Taylor,
who lives in Washington, D.C., said that, “Without
systems in which citizens are involved in the entire process
of governance no amount of privatization, elections and freedom
will bring the fruits associated with mature democracy.”
“It
is most unfortunate that a product of the frustration with
the ‘democracy experiment’ is a return to populism,” Taylor said. “This return is seen in its extreme in
Venezuela where the frustrated poor in desperation supported
a classic ‘caudillo’ with military stripes."
Taylor
asserted that this process is seen in many countries “where
politicians prosper only by appealing to the fears and frustrations
of the poor, raising again the specter of class struggle and
diverting attention from the reforms necessary for genuine
progress.”
“The
evangelical church, which supported him at first, feels ripped
off,” said Dan Rambow, an LAM missionary from Boca
Raton, Florida, who serves in Valencia. “The poorer
ones are still ‘Chavistas’ because they’ve
nothing to lose.”
“If
there was a possibility of Chavez resigning, it is gone now,” said Ed Vernoy of Litchfield, New Hampshire, who serves in
Barquisimeto under the Baptist Bible Fellowship. “This
whole episode has made him almost a martyr figure to his own
people.”
In
spite of major internal opposition Chavez has made his mark
among the poor, even if he has not been able to deliver all
that he promised. “Many of those who hold the power
in the city, who are wealthy, who have been involved in the
politics of the country for a very long time have suddenly
taken the back seat and many of the poor have been empowered,” said Greg Burch of Mission Viejo, California, who works with
street children in Caracas.
Burch
said that a friend from a poor neighborhood reported that
Chavez was the only president to ever visit her community. “She was proud of the fact that Chavez had visited
her barrio. She felt like she counted for once.”
While
elected on a promise to improve the condition of Venezuela’s
poor, Chavez has been able to do little to alleviate their
situation. “People like Chavez, who apparently wants
to help the poor, are fighting against a system that has been
set up for close to 500 years,” Burch explained. “That system is based upon a structure of injustice.
The way things work favor the rich.”
Many
observers credit Chavez’s popularity with the poor as
a key element in his return to power. “Chavez runs
more on charisma and rhetoric than ability,” said
Stephen Armet, an LAM missionary who works with the poor in
Bogotá, Colombia. “Changing the structures
of society that are responsible for institutional poverty
is very difficult because they are so entrenched and have
a long tradition.”
“Furthermore,
they are controlled by the elites of society who have ties
with international capitalism and whose only interest is to
maintain their advantages and status,” said Armet
who is from Los Angeles, California. “It is they who
have the most to lose if the structures were altered.”
“This
may be the very first time in Latin America that a military
coup d’état was aborted by the intervention of
millions of poor people,” said C. René Padilla,
one of the region’s leading evangelical theologians. “This is not meant to be an approval of all that Chavez
has done, but a definite agreement with all that has to do
with his courage to take concrete steps toward a more just
society, over against big economic interests that are oppressing
the poor.”
With
all of the focus on the political and military maneuvers,
Burch, an LAM missionary, said that attention must be paid
to those who suffered in the violence. “We should
remember to pray for the children who are living on the street
in the midst of the protests and riots,” he said. “Some of these children are living in harm’s
way.”
Burch
and other Christian observers in the region said that the
lessons of the Venezuelan political turmoil are that the church
must continue its ministry among the needy. “I believe
that the church needs to be involved in giving the local community
the resources to address they problems they face,” reflected Burch. “The key is not to do it for them,
but to guide them in solving the problems they face.”
If
a community cannot get the services it needs, “the
local church needs to put pressure on that politician to do
something,” Burch said. “It becomes a political
issue, yet remains a basic spiritual issue as well.”
Yet,
political involvement by evangelicals in Latin America has
not always been successful. “Eight years ago there
was a lot of hope for evangelical politics since (Alberto)
Fujimori in Peru gained office, it was believed, by the evangelical
vote in Peru,” said Armet. “(Jorge) Serrano
was an evangelical president in Guatemala. Brazil had 29 (evangelical)
federal deputies and senators. Even here in Colombia, the
Union Christian Party had high hopes of having political success.”
Armet
continued, “Fujimori and Serrano were both practically
exiled and in Colombia, Christians don’t enter politics
anymore. There doesn’t seem to be much promise there.”
Ambassador
Taylor, who grew up in Colombia while his parents served there
as missionaries, hasn’t given up on Christian political
involvement. “We Christians forget that our Lord had
a radical ministry, reaching out to the poor and oppressed," he said. “Jesus spoke much more about money than about
faith and prayer, yet his church is too often known for promising
prosperity to its followers than being instruments of God’s
love and justice to the poor and oppressed.”
“Christians
everywhere, not just in Latin America, should, as individuals,
be active in public affairs to reform society but without
making the local church political,” Taylor added. “The church, however, should not shirk from upholding
the biblical truths concerning what is righteous and what
is evil.”
Concerning
the church’s work with the poor, Padilla, an LAM missionary
who lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, said, “Evangelicals
everywhere need to take to heart the teaching of the scripture
regarding the fact that God loves justice and therefore takes
the side of the poor. That fact should define their political
preferences.”
Kenneth
D. MacHarg
