What's the evangelical convention Milei will be visiting in Chaco like? VIP tickets costing $100,000, the presidential prophecy, and a church paid for "in cash."

Javier Milei will make a lightning visit to Chaco this Saturday to participate in an evangelical event that will bring together at least 15,000 people. It will be his first time in the province since taking office. There, he will be awaiting the lavish inauguration of a church that required a decade of construction, paid for "in cash," and whose construction was prophesied by a pastor 17 years ago. The libertarian will be able to see it for free, although the schedule includes activities with admissions up to 100,000 pesos.

Milei is expected to arrive in the province around 6 p.m. and stay until no later than 8 p.m. It is unknown whether the president will address the crowd or participate as an individual. The main speaker will be Pastor Guillermo Maldonado , who previously hosted Donald Trump at his Miami church.

Although the Chaco government is preparing a broad security deployment due to the magnitude of the event, the President's security will be handled by the Military House, according to Minister Hugo Matkovich, speaking to Diario Chaco .

At least 120 police officers will participate in the operation , which will include guarding the perimeter of the temple, with a fence located 200 meters around the stadium, reported Diario Norte . Milei's security detail will be in charge of supervising, among other things, the President's transfer from the airport to the grounds, a 12-kilometer journey.

The " World Congress on the Invasion of God's Love " is a two-day event that will conclude Saturday afternoon with a presentation by the President, on his first visit to Chaco since taking office.

Although Jorge Ledesma , the pastor of the Portal del Cielo Church, clarified that Milei's presentation will be free, people who want to attend the conference must register and pay an entrance fee, with tickets ranging from $20,000 (Kids, but they are already sold out), $30,000 (Upper Seats) and $100,000 (VIP).

"The opening ceremony is free, as are the services and worship services. Tomorrow, however, there will be a Christian leadership conference, so people who attend will have to register, and the general registration fee is $25,000. We conclude the conference when all the workshops and plenary sessions are over, but afterward, admission is free," Ledesma said on Radio Rivadavia .

He emphasized the free nature of the presidential event: "People will have tickets to hear the President after the congress concludes."

The Congress that Milei will attend will also be a sort of official inauguration of the Portal of Heaven , which, according to Ledesma, is the largest evangelical auditorium in the country .

On Thursday, there was a pre-inauguration ceremony attended by local authorities and leaders. One of the speakers was Governor Leandro Zdero.

"Thank you very much to God, first and foremost, for allowing us to share this wonderful moment," said the provincial leader. "I remember when this dream began nine years ago with the foundations. And this has become the house of God, as big as the heart of this family," Zdero praised.

Although the President did not share information about the event on his social media, the Chaco capital is in turmoil. "We truly find it hard to believe that the President of the Nation will come to our church and participate with us in this series of activities related to the inauguration of the Portal of Heaven," Ledesma said on his Instagram account.

He expressed surprise at Milei's participation. "I don't know how it happened," he said, adding, "I imagine that people who knew this man shared with him what we do here or what the Church is like."

However, he later explained that they had extended an invitation to Milei—the first time they had invited a President, although they had already done so with other authorities— "as if making a move."

"The truth is that he received the invitation, that he was interested, and that he agreed to speak with us. We made a quick trip, they informed us about the presidency, we went, and we had a very interesting personal conversation," Ledesma recounted, clarifying: "It's far from being political issues. The party, what do I know... The truth is, we didn't even talk about politics."

For his part, Guillermo Ledesma, son of the apostle Jorge and leader of the Somos la Voz movement, told Diario Norte : "We have presented a formal letter and we have arrived through diplomacy, and we have spoken with the right people (...). It was nothing unusual, simply being able to arrive like any other person and I think he could see the hearts of the people of Chaco."

He added to the uncertainty surrounding Milei's role this Saturday. "We don't know if he'll come just to greet and participate, or if he'll also have a few minutes to speak. We know he was interested in sharing what it means to conduct politics with faith , with values, and understanding the forces of heaven that accompany us," he noted.

Guillermo Ledesma, who in 2021 was the fifth pre-candidate for provincial deputy for Juntos por el Cambio—on a separate list from Zdero's—stressed that this Saturday's event will be a "closed event" and that "it's not a political event; he's not here to campaign, or to promote any party."

The Portal del Cielo church was founded in 1994 and attracts about 30,000 people per weekend, said Sr. Ledesma.

The new temple took a decade to build and is located on a three-hectare site on Avenida Arribálzaga 2000, south of Resistencia. It has a capacity for approximately 20,000 people (18,000 seats), acoustic doors and walls, and air conditioning. It also has an outdoor parking lot.

Ledesma said the church "started in a house and expanded. Then we moved to a tent, then bought some land, and that's where we started. We built something. And now, 10 years ago, we acquired a large piece of land and started with the congregation."

The pastor clarified that the construction of the auditorium is being funded by parishioners: " No outside contributions , just our own efforts and hoping for heavenly help." "We make cakes, people sell grilled chickens... I don't know if we've blessed the city much, but we've made it fat because we've worked with all those kinds of things," he joked.

In May 2020, a time of heightened restrictions, the church—still under construction—served as a venue for drive-in masses, similar to a drive-in theater. Radical deputy Javier Dumrauf filed lawsuits against Ledesma, Jorge Capitanich (then governor), and Gustavo Martínez (mayor).

The organization has a soup kitchen assistance network that was strengthened during the pandemic. It also worked with the provincial Ministry of Health on the "Christians to Help" program.

An institutional video posted on Ledesma's YouTube account briefly describes the church's growth leading up to the construction of the building, which Milei will inaugurate this Saturday. "It all began with powerful prophecies," the video narrates, echoing the predictions of various evangelical leaders.

In 2008, Prophet Williams predicted: "This Church is going to expand without limits. I saw an indoor stadium with a capacity of 10,000 to 20,000 people."

Apostle Guillermo Maldonado , the Honduran pastor who founded King Jesus International Ministry in Miami and is connected to Donald Trump, gave more details in 2011.

Four years before construction began on the auditorium, Maldonado told Ledesma: "Son, this place is too small. I want you to build me a temple for 12,000 people. And the Spirit of God says: 'It will be built without debt.' You won't owe a cent. And people in Buenos Aires, in Rosario, will say, 'How is it that in Chaco they pay for temples in cash? '"

Maldonado is a fervent Republican who lent Trump facilities in Miami for the 2020 campaign and even prayed for him at a "Latinos for Trump" meeting, in preparation for the 2024 elections.

After Maldonado's remarks, the institutional video includes another prediction. "God says: it will be the largest auditorium in Argentina, and God says: I will equip it and make it so that the President will want to be there , the Government will want to be there," predicted the apostle Jorge Pompa.

In addition to Milei, Pastor Ledesma and his wife, Pastor Alicia Ledesma, are expected to participate in the conference; Maldonado, the event's keynote speaker; and the New Wine Worship Ministry.