Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Guatemala Lessons for Brazil in the Midst of a Powerful Political Crisis


Guatemala Lessons for Brazil in the Midst of a Powerful Political Crisis

By Julio Severo
Protests against a corrupt president? A population calling for the impeachment of the corrupt president? This is what Brazil is living right now. And this is what Guatemala lived last year.
But there is a huge difference between the presidents of both nations. While Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was a Marxist terrorist who fought the military rule in Brazil in the 1960s, Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina was a general who fought communists in the past. In fact, he was trained for such fight.
Molina was a graduate of the U.S. Army School of the Americas, an institution whose specific goal was to teach “anti-communist counterinsurgency training.” He was also a graduate of the Washington DC-based Inter-American Defense College. He is one of the distinguished alumni of this college.
As a retired general, Molina founded in 2001 the Patriotic Party (Spanish: Partido Patriota, PP), which is conservative and right-wing.
The past political activism of Molina and Rousseff is opposed and antagonistic. She is an atheist with a perfect Marxist history. He is a Catholic with a perfect anti-Marxist history. But their presidencies were equally plagued by massive corruption, and massive protests.
In spite of their irreconcilable ideological differences, they equally suffered protests from contrary political forces. Molina, from left-wing forces; Rousseff, from right-wing forces.
Rousseff may be impeached or deposed in 2016, while Molina, whose opposition wanted to impeach him, resigned due to fraud and corruption in 2015.
But in Guatemala, a corrupt Left was not victorious against a corrupt right-wing president. The Guatemalan Church had been active throughout the process of political crisis, holding prayer meetings, prayer vigils and fasting.
“God put His hand in Guatemala, it’s a miracle what happened,” prayer participant Marco Antonio Ruiz said. “We came together as Church and cried out with one voice. The effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much. God heard the voice of all those who joined us in prayer.”
After Molina’s resignation, Guatemala held new elections, and Jimmy Morales, who is a conservative evangelical Christian and has studied theology, was elected in an election process equally marked by prayer meetings, prayer vigils and fasting. Morales supports the death penalty and opposes abortion and gay “marriage.”
About laws promoting these evils, which are plaguing Brazil and especially the U.S., Morales said, “According to my belief, my ideology, I would have to veto such laws. I think in Guatemala we will not have this because of conservative thinking. In case Congress approves such laws, my position would be against them.”
Many Guatemalan Christians believe President Morales is an answer to their prayers. Because of prayer meetings, prayer vigils and fasting, the transition from a corrupt right-wing president to a conservative evangelical president was very peaceful.
Is there a more powerful lesson to Brazil than the Guatemala example in this time of intense Brazilian crisis?
The answer is not in leftist politicians, including Marina Silva.
Many Brazilians see anti-communist Army officials as the only hope for Brazil.
But the ultimate answer is not in them.
The answer is in God, who answers prayers.
Perhaps the Brazilian Church should invite the Guatemalan Church to teach her about prayer meetings, prayer vigils and fasting.
If God gave a real conservative president to Guatemala, what hinders him from giving the same blessing to Brazil?
With information from ChristianHeadLines.
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