Episode 295: Vicente Hargous, attorney, Professor of Constitutional Law in the Universidad Finis Terrae, Santiago, Chile (January 8, 2025)

In this episode of The Open Door, Thomas Storck and Christopher Zehnder interview Vicente Hargous, attorney, Professor of Constitutional Law in the Universidad Finis Terrae, Santiago, Chile, and editor of the online review, Suroeste. https://revistasuroeste.cl/

1. On your website you write regarding Hispanic America that, "It is not difficult to find our land on maps, where we are, but to understand what we are and what we are called to be in the history of the world is not so easy."

In a 2002 article, two Chilean professors, a philosopher and an anthropologist, set forth four possible cultural self-identities which have been advanced by Latin Americans: the indigenist, the hispanic, an identification with the Western world in general and the thesis of "mestizage cultural" or a fusion of indigenist with Spanish or Western identities. Could you comment on any of these points?

2. You also speak on your website of the various ideas and trends which are affecting the entire world, but especially the West. You mention among others environmentalism, feminism, indigenism, esoteric currents.

Given that both Europe and North America are affected by these ideas, do they affect Latin America in any particular ways?

3. In North America we read much about the inroads of Protestantism in South and Central America and Mexico. Is this another example of North American cultural imperialism or does it speak to any weaknesses of the Catholic Church, either historical or contemporary? Does the Catholic Church play a role today in setting the cultural agenda in Hispanic America?

4. How has Hispanic American culture changed in the last 50 years? Culturally speaking, can it defend itself against trends originating in North America or Europe?

5. Your review, Suroeste, is connected with the organization Comunidad y Justicia, which works to promote human rights in Chile. What is the connection between the review and the organization? How does your Catholic commitment inspire both? https://comunidadyjusticia.cl/

6. As a continent originally nearly entirely Catholic, is there any realistic hope of restoring the Church's cultural and religious role?

7. How does the overwhelming influence, political and economic, of the United States affect the cultural situation of Latin America?