Abstract
In the fall of 2015, one year before Donald Trump became the U.S. president, Jimmy Morales, an evangelical Christian, won the presidential election in Guatemala. This article examines the political-religious activism, the transnationally-active networks, and the impact of the Christian Right between these two countries. Furthermore, it analyzes the influence of Christian Zionism in this activism and in these networks. Three examples serve to illustrate the complexities at stake: (1) the impact in Guatemala of the “Mexico City Policy”, a U.S. policy called the “Global Gag Rule” by its critics; (2) initiative L5272, the “Law for the Protection of Life and the Family;” and the decision of Morales to move the Guatemalan embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, shortly after the United States did. The article concludes that, with the Trump and Morales administrations, the separation between church and state dissolved; and the so-called “culture war” intensified in both countries in the political and legislative realms, through the efforts of evangelical actors; and further that this phenomenon caused severe setbacks in human rights, especially for women and LGTBQIA+ persons.
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