Missionaries: From Alaska to Patagonia · Episode 10 of 10 · 52 min
The Cold War Battle for Latin Souls: Liberation Theology, Evangelicals, and the CIA
In the Cold War the Latin American question shifted from which church would convert Indigenous people to which Christianity would win the poor. Liberation theology and conservative Protestantism, with Washington hostile to the radical Church, collided amid killings by state forces. The episode separates what is documented from debated claims, such as CIA 'weaponization' of evangelicalism.
Who's who
- Óscar RomeroArchbishop of San Salvador assassinated in 1980; canonized 2018
- Gustavo GutiérrezAuthor of A Theology of Liberation (1971)
- Ignacio EllacuríaJesuit leader murdered in the 1989 UCA massacre
- Efraín Ríos MonttGuatemalan dictator, 1982-83; convicted of genocide in 2013
- Rigoberta MenchúMaya K'iche' activist; Nobel Peace Prize 1992
- Ita Ford+1 more episodeOne of four U.S. churchwomen murdered in 1980
- Maura Clarke+1 more episodeOne of four U.S. churchwomen murdered in 1980
- Jaime RoldósEcuadorian president who expelled SIL in 1981
Where it happens
- Medellín, Colombia1968 bishops' conference adopting the preferential option for the poor
- El Salvador+3 more episodesSite of the Romero, churchwomen and Jesuit killings
- Guatemala+7 more episodesSite of the Ríos Montt campaign against the Maya
- EcuadorExpelled the Summer Institute of Linguistics in 1981
Timeline
- 1968Medellín conference adopts the 'preferential option for the poor'
- 1969Rockefeller Report warns the Church is no longer a reliable ally
- March 24, 1980Archbishop Romero assassinated
- December 2, 1980Four U.S. churchwomen murdered
- November 16, 1989UCA Jesuit massacre
- 2013Ríos Montt convicted of genocide; verdict vacated ten days later
Still debated
Documented: U.S. policy hostility to the radical Church and killings by state forces and death squads. Contested: whether the CIA ran evangelical missions as counterinsurgency, and whether the Summer Institute of Linguistics was a CIA front, which is alleged but unproven. Liberation theology is itself disputed within the Church.
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