A rapidly growing evangelical association, Águilas de Jesús (Eagles of Jesus), is exerting increasing influence in chilean politics, moving from university campuses to the highest levels of government under the newly elected administration of President José Antonio Kast. Founded in 2001 at the University of Concepción, the group now maintains a presence in 51 universities nationwide and is linked to key political figures, including pastor Judith Marín, recently appointed as minister of Women and Gender Equity. This report details the organization’s structure, expansion, and growing political power within Chile, drawing on interviews and analysis of it’s activities.
A growing evangelical movement in Chile, Águilas de Jesús (Eagles of Jesus), is gaining influence as it expands its reach from university campuses to the highest levels of government. The group, with a presence in 51 universities nationwide, operates as a registered religious organization and maintains connections to prominent political figures, including those within the coalition supporting newly elected President José Antonio Kast.
The movement’s influence is already being felt in the incoming administration, with pastor Judith Marín, of the Social Christian Front party, tapped to serve as the next Minister of Women and Gender Equity. Marín’s political and religious leadership began over a decade ago as a student at the University of Santiago (Usach), where she was part of the first generation of Águilas de Jesús following the organization’s founding in 2001 at the University of Concepción (UdeC). Héctor Muñoz, the current mayor of Concepción and also a pastor, served as president of the UdeC student federation in 2005.
The University of Concepción is prominently featured on the organization’s website, aguilasdejesus.cl, with many background images showcasing the campus.
Community and Organization
Located in Puente Alto, one of the group’s churches appears unassuming from the outside, a faded blue building that blends into the neighborhood. There are no overt religious or political symbols, only an open door and the sound of a choir singing, “You are good, God is good.” The gathering, which begins at 8 p.m., is one of two regular meetings attended by members, including Marín, who is referred to as “Pastora Judith” by those present.
Inside, the space is warmly lit with wooden walls and a blue curtain serving as a backdrop for a screen displaying song lyrics. Approximately 30 people are present in a room designed to seat 70, including three young girls dressed in white who dance in the center. Attendees appear to know each other well.
Pastor Dorita Olivera observes the scene, preparing to participate.
“We are very close with Pastora Judith. We work with a group of pastors, we are colleagues. She is a woman of God,” Olivera said in a recent phone conversation. “We have shared experiences with other public ministers. We believe she will truly represent us.”
The meeting continued with a nearly two-hour sermon centered around the concept of spiritual malnutrition. “How many are inconsistent with spiritual service?” the speaker asked the congregation. “We don’t need a messy house. We need a house where the presence of the Holy Spirit reigns.”
Understanding this world, according to journalist María Olivia Mönckeberg, author of En el nombre de Cristo, poder evangélico en Chile (In the Name of Christ, Evangelical Power in Chile), requires moving beyond the traditional view of an evangelical church as solely a place of Sunday worship.
“You have to understand that evangelicals, especially those from Pentecostal movements, have a very intense community life. It’s not just going to church on Sunday. Children go to Sunday school, there are activities during the week, constant training. It’s a way of life,” Mönckeberg explained.
The growth of the evangelical population in Chile has been steady since the mid-20th century. According to the 2024 census, 16% of the Chilean population identifies as evangelical, with the highest concentrations in the regions of La Araucanía, Biobío, Los Ríos, and the Metropolitan Region. Águilas de Jesús has built its social base within these territories.
Concepción: Ground Zero
Águilas de Jesús was founded in 2001 at the University of Concepción by a group of evangelical students who would later become politically prominent: Francesca Muñoz, who became the country’s first evangelical congresswoman; her husband, Héctor Muñoz, now the mayor of Concepción; Sintia Leyton, a former regional secretary of labor during Sebastián Piñera’s second term; and Antaris Varela, a member of the movement’s first generation, all of whom later became associated with the Social Christian Front party.
The group’s first explicit foray into politics came in 2005 when Héctor Muñoz was elected president of the UdeC student federation, becoming the first evangelical to lead the organization and the first right-leaning president since the 1990s.
“I was very impressed to see signs like ‘Go with Jesus’ or ‘Come closer to Jesus’ on that campus, where even the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) had originated,” Mönckeberg recalled.
Águilas de Jesús began to expand to universities across the country, from the University of Tarapacá in Arica to Inacap in Punta Arenas.
Gabriel Fuentealba Beltrán, a former regional council candidate for the Social Christian Front and current national president of the College of Teachers and Professionals of Chile, was part of the first generation of Águilas de Jesús.
“I come from Lota, a community with a strong social and union identity, where the evangelical church has historically played a relevant role. In Concepción, I found an organized, demanding, and socially connected Christian university ministry. It wasn’t an improvised group,” Fuentealba said.
Activities included prayer, biblical training, personal mentorship, and teamwork. The standards were high, especially for students balancing studies and work. “Emphasis was placed on character, discipline, and consistency between faith, study, and public life,” Fuentealba added.
A transition into politics was present from the beginning. “Participating in student federations required understanding public policies and institutional processes. It wasn’t about abandoning religion, but about assuming a civic role,” Fuentealba said.
Expanding to Santiago
The arrival of Águilas de Jesús in Santiago was gradual, attempting to replicate the Concepción model.
One key initiative was the “346” campaign, aimed at establishing a communal presence nationwide through volunteer work. 50,000 large posters with the message “Return to Christ” were installed in all 346 municipalities across the country.
In Santiago, the University of Santiago was the first traditional university where the movement gained a foothold. Judith Marín was one of its founders, stating in an interview with El Desconcierto: “We started five years ago with the work here at Usach and God spoke to us about moving forward to other universities. Over the years we opened (Catholic University) with Germán, who is now an academic at a university in Arequipa.”
She continued, “Then God told us to aim for the biggest fish in the country: the University of Chile. It was difficult because of the context and because no one was studying, but we managed to do it.”
Today, the movement has a presence in Santiago at the universities of Chile, Santo Tomás, Catholic, Technological Metropolitan, Finis Terrae, and Santiago.
At the University of Santiago, the “Unite for Change” list, comprised entirely of students linked to the movement, received 17.45% of the vote in the 2024 student federation election.
Edgardo Mejía, a history student at the Catholic University and leader of the University Biblical Group, believes the difference between Águilas de Jesús and other evangelical university movements is not just doctrinal, but structural. He explains that they operate with a centralized logic and a trajectory that, in many cases, leads to the Social Christian Front party.
“I have been invited four times to join the Social Christian Front party. All by people linked to Águilas de Jesús,” Mejía stated.
Mejía considers one distinguishing element to be the adaptation of the discourse according to the type of university: “At Usach they are very explicit with their social political agenda but, for example, at the Catholic University, surprisingly, they are not so effusive with that political message. They basically dedicate themselves to purely religious matters and not so much political ones, at least externally, as in advertising to the public.”
“These are groups that generally tend to act in a fairly proselytizing manner, with great emphasis on the dissemination of both their own message and the group itself,” Mejía added.
This development occurs within a particular institutional context: both the former and current interim rector of the University of Santiago are evangelical: Rodrigo Vidal, and his interim successor, Cristián Muñoz, both Pentecostal Methodists.
During his tenure, Vidal appointed evangelical academics to high-level positions. On November 13, the Electoral Qualifying Court (Tricel) annulled his election as rector and ordered new elections and Vidal’s removal, after which Cristián Muñoz Canales, dean of the Faculty of Administration and Economics, assumed the position of interim rector.
“Professors have told me that this may have been related to the fact that it was also felt more possible within the university to be there for young evangelicals,” explained María Olivia Mönckeberg.
From Faith to Politics
In 2010, Héctor Muñoz, Francesca Muñoz, and Cynthia Leighton formalized the Águilas de Jesús Evangelical Ministry, establishing it as a legal entity. “It is a public law religious entity,” Mönckeberg noted, discovering its existence while reviewing the Official Gazette. “Ministries are different from churches, but they are markedly religious in nature. And they participate in another Pentecostal church.”
Over time, this experience converged into more formal political projects. The Social Christian Front party became one of the expressions of this transition. Linked to conservative evangelical sectors and allied with José Antonio Kast, the Social Christian Front is part of his coalition. In previous campaigns, members and supporters of Águilas de Jesús participated in collecting signatures for his candidacy.
Edgardo Mejía identifies a pattern from his proximity: “People start their political participation when they enter their university period in Águilas de Jesús and then integrate professionally into public policy through the Social Christian Front party. That is the pattern that repeats itself.”
Several kilometers from Puente Alto, in the Renca commune, is another key location: a church located next to a power line, near high-voltage towers that emit a constant hum. It is the main headquarters of an apostolic network, which brings together various churches from the same circuit.
Public figures have participated in various activities here, including future First Lady María Pía Adriasola, who attended with Judith Marín and other councilors at a religious gathering. Former Minister Karla Rubilar has also been seen on occasion.
Tuesdays are days of “intercession”: days dedicated exclusively to prayer. Attendance is usually low on this day. Participants take turns at the microphone to offer petitions. When the pastor speaks, the message returns to recurring themes: family, marriage, moral order. “Why are there so many separations today? Because we didn’t ask the Lord,” he says.
Águilas de Jesús has not remained in one place. In addition to universities, they now have links with churches and evangelical networks abroad. “It’s not that they care so much about winning an election. They care about making a presence and establishing ideas. The relevant thing is the network,” Mönckeberg concludes.
According to the organization’s website, they have founded two churches in Istanbul (Turkey) and another in Santa Fe (Spain). They also have a mission in France and sent a couple to Ukraine, where they say they “expect to begin an evangelistic work in universities and establish a work to disciple and train new followers of Christ, thus extending God’s love in times of affliction.”
At the university level, they say they are in higher education institutions in Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Mexico and Spain, and in Chile their main headquarters is the “Reconcile with God” church, located on Maipú Street, in downtown Concepción.
