I began a short series of diaries Monday with a look at the Amazon through Children's Eyes and shared a bit about logging on Tuesday. But perhaps the biggest surprise I had as our short trip continued was the number of "missionaries" we ran into during our past few trips to Latin America. They were thicker than mosquitoes.

South America is swarming with lay missionaries today--they are the largest group of "tourists" in many regions. (There were at least 10,000 Catholic lay missionaries in 2006 according to www.uscatholicmission.org/files/pp2006a.pdf and the number of evangelicals is probably greater.) In our past two trips, they were a dominant presence in the lodges and air terminals. They paint schools, distribute (government financed) immunizations, and pray. In doing so, they are not only learning about poverty in a way that they never could at home, but at least a few are continuing a long tradition of political action by religious groups in Latin America that began with Pizzaro's company.

In the 1980's Ecuadorian president Jamie Roldόs declared war on at least one missionary group, the Summer Institute for Linguistics, of "sinister collusion with the oil companies." Here's John Perkins (Confessions of an Economic Hitman) again:

[Roldόs] ...accused ...SIL, an evangelical missionary group...of sinister collusion with the oil companies...SIL had been working estensively with the Huarani tribe in the Amazon basin area, during the early years of oil exploration when a disturbing pattern appeared to emerge. While it might have been a coincidence (and no link was ever proved), stories were told...that when seismologists reported to corporate headquarters that a certain region had characteristics indicating a high probability of oil beneath the surface, some SIL members went in and encouraged the indigenous people to move from that land, onlto missionary rservations; there they would receive free food, shelter, clothes,medical treatment and missionary-style education. The condition was that, according to these stories, they had to deed their lands to the oil companies...Rumors abounded that SIL missionaries used an assortment of underhanded techniques to persuade the tribes to abandon their homes...food heavily laced with lazatives--then...medicines to cure the diarrhea epidemic.

But unlike North of the Border, in Latin America the political views of the Evangelical presence has been skewed left rather than right. Here's a take on the net effect from Paul Freston for the Pew Forum:

The political implications of Protestantism, especially pentecostalism, have been appraised in very varied ways by scholars. On the one side are authors who emphasize the repressive and corporatist nature of the pentecostal churches and see them as reproducing traditional authoritarian political culture and social control. Other authors stress Protestantism's democratizing potential, talking of a vibrant civil society. They contend that Protestant churches offer a free social space, an experience of solidarity and a new personal identity, as well as responsible participation in the community and, for some, the development of leadership gifts.

As in the United States, the Protestant activists have been politically active--but often in surprising directions.

There has been considerable pentecostal support for Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Evangelicals do not seem to be very worried about Evo Morales in Bolivia, at least not so far. Another factor is evangelical penetration of the indigenous communities in the Andes and Central America, and that also has taken a strong political connotation in many areas.

That's partly a function of their opposition to the Catholic Church's ties to the old, right-wing political parties and partly a result of the membership--largely the poorest of the poor.

Despite the best efforts of the Catholic hierarchy and their allies in governments, the line between indigenous religions and mission work is often blurred. Here's a description of one "fight" between the U.S. and Latin American governments that you might never have suspected.

Several Brazilian churches started to administer ayahuasca as a sacrament in a syncretic fusion of Catholicism and shamanism. The two largest of these church movements--Santo Daime and União de Vegetal--utilized yagé in their religious services without interference by the Brazilian government until the mid-1980s, when U.S. officials pressured Brazil's Federal Council on Narcotics to put the Banisteriopsis caapi vine on a list of controlled substances. The ayahuasca churches protested, and a government committee was appointed to investigate the matter. After examining the churches' use of yagé and testing it on themselves, the members of this committee recommended that the ban on ayahuasca be lifted. The Brazilian government acted upon this recommendation and legalized the sacramental use of yagé in 1987, much to the dismay of the U.S. Embassy.

Evangelicism in Latin America is pervasive and growing. It's been enough of a concern to the Vatican that two papal visits--with canonizations--have occurred in the past few years. It's not clear, however, whether the net effects will be plusses or minuses for the poor. Will all those returning young people remember the great gifts of the people to whom they've given their time and talents? Or will they remember only their own pride and power?

Part of my own answer came from a conversation I overheard between a group leader and her young charges. Prior to taking them to see a local Yagua Shaman, she was encouraging them to be respectful and to listen quietly. She told them he might paint them with blue symbols that would eventually wear off, and to listen carefully to his lessons on ecology. In word and attitude, she was modeling respect.

So here's to the missionaries...not the Christians, but the Yagua and the other indigenous South American peoples, who are teaching our young people to appreciate their genius and their heritage. Hopefully, those young people will come home and teach us a thing or two.