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Arrest of Brazilian couple in Miami heightens controversy over evangelical churches
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The arrest in Miami of a Brazilian couple charged with money smuggling has reignited a controversy surrounding Brazil’s evangelical Protestant churches.
U.S. customs agents arrested Estevam Hernandes Filho, 52, and Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes, 48, when they arrived Monday in Miami with US$56,467 (€43,476) in U.S. currency, but claimed to have US$10,000 (€7,700), according to an affidavit.
The two were charged with failing to declare U.S. currency and bulk cash smuggling, charges that each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The couple was released Tuesday on a US$100,000 (€77,000) bond.
Hernandes Filho, a former Xerox marketing executive, and his wife founded the Reborn in Christ Church in 1986 and rode the wave of popularity of evangelical churches in Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country.
The churches have drawn millions in the country of 185 million with dynamic services that appeal to younger, working- and middle-class Brazilians. Critics say they exist to enrich their leaders, who demand big donations and offer vague promises that providence will reward the faithful with riches.
Among the internationally known members of the church is soccer player Kaka, the midfielder who has starred for Italy’s AC Milan and Brazilian national team.
The church called the charges against Hernandes Filho and his wife “slander” and said there was simply a “mistake” in their customs declaration but declined to go into details.
According to Brazilian media reports, the couple has accumulated a fortune that includes luxury homes, real estate and imported cars. Reborn in Christ also is said to possess newspapers, TV and radio stations, a recording company and the commercial patent on the word “gospel” in Brazil.
In December, a Sao Paulo criminal court ordered the arrest of the Hernandes on charges of money laundering and fraud, but a superior court suspended the order.
U.S. and Brazilian officials are cooperating in the investigation, Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said in an e-mail Wednesday.
Last year, some 3 million evangelical Protestants marched through Sao Paulo, South America’s biggest city, singing hymns in a show of their growing influence.
From 1991 to 2000, the number of Brazil evangelicals grew annually by 8 percent, while the number of Catholics grew by 0.3 percent. Brazil was nearly 100 percent Roman Catholic a century ago, but the percentage has dropped to 74 percent today.
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