RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After ordering the confiscation of temples and the deportation of Brazilian pastors, the authorities have now decided to suspend the activities of Record TV, the Brazilian network’s affiliate in the African country. The decision is effective as of midnight this Wednesday, April 21st.
The announcement was made by the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Media. According to the statement, Record has violated the Angolan legislation by keeping a non-Angolan citizen as the company’s executive director. In addition, it also kept in its staff foreigners who are not accredited in the country’s Press Center.
As a result, the registration was temporarily revoked “until its regularization with the National Direction of Information and Institutional Communication”.
Founded and led by Bishop Edir Macedo, the Universal Church faces a true battle in Angola divided between a wing formed by a Brazilian majority linked to Macedo and the other Angolan majority headed by pastors of the church. The movement began in November 2019, when hundreds of Angolan leaders rebelled against the Brazilian administration and took over a number of temples around the country.
Since 2019, the Angolan Attorney General’s Office decided to intervene in the internal conflict and is conducting an investigation against the Universal Church on charges of racial discrimination, abuse of authority, demanding chemical castration, and currency evasion.
While the investigations are not completed, the PGR ordered the closure of temples in August 2020, as a more drastic measure.
In February this year, the temples reopened, but under a new leadership – Angolan bishop Bezerra Luís was acclaimed by the dissident wing as the new leader and the former directors linked to the Brazilian church were dismissed.
The Brazilians are trying to overthrow this assembly in the courts, considering themselves victims of a coup and xenophobia, and claim that they are under risk of expulsion from the country.
Source: Veja