Four parishes in Rio de Janeiro cease their activities for fear of an evangelical drug lord

SÃO PAULO – Following a series of rumors about an alleged order from a powerful drug lord to close Catholic churches in northern Rio de Janeiro, at least four parishes have announced the suspension of all their activities between July 5 and 7.

According to news website G1, residents said armed men on motorcycles drove past the parishes of St. Hedwig and St. Cecilia in Brás de Pina, as well as the parishes of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and St. Justin in Parada de Lucas, and ordered the immediate suspension of all celebrations.

The churches announced on their social media accounts, without explanation, that all weekend activities would be cancelled. St. Hedwig Parish also announced the suspension of its traditional festival in honour of St. John the Baptist and other saints whose celebrations take place in June.

Drug trafficker Álvaro Santa Rosa, known as Peixão (“Big Fish”), a key gang leader who controls a number of favelas in the north of the city, is notorious in Brazil for his zealous evangelical beliefs and is believed to be the man behind the temporary closure of the churches.

Peixão grew up in a family of followers of Umbanda, a religion of African origin, but eventually converted to neo-Pentecostalism. After taking control of drug trafficking and other criminal activities in several favelas, he named the area under his rule the Israel Complex, emphasizing his connection to Christian Zionism. He painted the Star of David all over the region and called his gang Aaron’s Gang.

In recent years, Peixão has been denounced several times for religious intolerance. In the slums under his control, Umbanda and Candomblé centers had to be closed and relocated. Several of them were attacked and vandalized by armed men on Peixão’s orders. Sacred sculptures were broken or had to be permanently removed.

The media reaction to the closure of Catholic churches prompted the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro to announce that police forces had been deployed to the northern part of the city and that all parishes could resume their work.

The authorities stressed that no drug lord had given an order regarding the churches and that it was merely a rumor. On July 7, all parishes held a normal service. In St. Hedwig’s Church, the June festival was even resumed.

Governor Claudio Castro, a member of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, is Catholic and was formerly part of a music group linked to the Charismatic Catholic Renewal.

According to Ivanir dos Santos, a scholar and Candomblé leader who has observed religious intolerance in Rio de Janeiro over the past decades, “there has been an increase in violence against other faiths recently, and the state has taken no measures to combat it.”

“Attacks on Umbanda and Candomblé centers have been going on for years and nothing has been done. There have been hostilities against the Catholic Church in the past, but nothing compared to what has happened now,” he said. core.

Dos Santos said that police and the judiciary must conduct serious investigations if staged acts of intolerance are being encouraged.

“It is not relevant whether it was just a rumor or not. We know that such violence is common in Umbanda and Candomblé centers. Of course, such violence can spread to other religions as well,” he said.

According to dos Santos, “Brazil must develop a serious plan against religious intolerance” to prevent the escalation of such incidents.

Father Luiz Antônio Pereira Lopes, director of the favelas ministry in Rio de Janeiro, said the so-called Dominion theology is the ideology behind the hostilities perpetrated by such armed groups against other faiths.

The term “Dominionism” was originally applied to Christian groups in the United States. In Brazil, it has become increasingly discussed among analysts in recent years due to the growing influence of evangelicals in Brazilian politics, media and society.

“Faith has apparently become a reason to conquer territories and even to silence other religious groups. It looks like the Old Testament, when violence was used to win people over to one’s own faith,” said Pereira Lopes. core.

Pereira Lopes has worked in the slums for decades, sometimes during times of violence. In such situations, priests prefer to “betray” the drug lords rather than confront them directly, he says.

“Gang leaders usually have at least one relative who frequently attends church. Sometimes the mother of a drug lord is a member of the congregation. We try to talk to that person to de-escalate the situation. This is an effort we must make in order not to lose our place in the community,” he said.

“We cannot interview them personally. It is like opening a hornet’s nest,” he explained.