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(3) Political participation\u000AThe presence of General Rios Montt as President in 1982 opened the door for Evangelicals to become involved in party politics. From this moment, some Neo-Pentecostal and Evangelicals emerged dedicated to the task of reaching political power. They left behind them the marginalization or self-marginalization from the political platform. In the emergence of incipient democracy in the country, the Neo-Pentecostals R\u00EDos Montt and Jorge Serrano El\u00EDas founded their own parties and launched their presidential candidacy in 1985, 1990 and 2003 elections. [The discussion of those Neo-Pentecostal politicians will be amplified ahead].\u000AIn this context, not only did the Evangelical parties emerge, but also some organizations which stimulated social and political reflection among Evangelicals such as the Civic Guatemalan Organization (OCG). Cajas, a member of one of the middle class churches linked to the Central American Mission coordinated this entity. He participated in different political parties and wrote a series of articles on social and political themes.25 Vitalino Similox former General Secretary of the Guatemalan Conference of Evangelical Churches (CIEDEG), participated 1999 as a candidate for the vice presidency of the Alianza Nueva Nacion party (ANN). In the interior of Guatemala various Evangelicals linked to historic and Pentecostal churches were launched as candidates in municipal elections. In spite of theological conservatism they got involved in politics. Grenfell (1995), Samson (2002) and Freston (2004a) analyze the details of this stage and give more attention to R\u00EDos Montt and Serrano\u2019s presidencies. Evangelical euphoria for politics can be observed in other Latin American countries, especially Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua and El Salvador (Mondrag\u00F3n 1990, Stoll 1990, Freston 2001, among others). [Later information on lay people in politics will be discussed]\u000A25The political and social thinking of Cajas can be traced in the following works: La tarea Pol\u00EDtica de los Evang\u00E9licos: Ideas para una nueva Guatemala (1985); \u2018Evang\u00E9licos y Pol\u00EDtica\u2019 (1980.), Proyecci\u00F3n Social de la Evangelizaci\u00F3n (n.d); John Carrete was another Evangelical who discussed political matters and interpreted the armed conflict within the ideological perspective of the religious right-wing of the US. He transferred the socio-political conflict into the \u2018spiritual warfare\u2019 plane. In Guatemala Un milagro en marcha (n.d).\u000A 59\u000A