This might be a false memory, but wasn't there a Latin American leader who wanted to replace Christianity with the worship of Minerva or some other Greco-Roman deity?

The president whom you are referring to is most likely Manuel Estrada Cabrera of Guatemala (In power 1898-1920.) and his creation of the Minervalias festival, dedicated to the eponymous Roman Goddess. However, these efforts did not have anything to do with a desire to reestablish Roman Paganism in Guatemala or a faith focused on Minerva. Rather, these celebrations had everything to do with Cabrera’s policy of strong-man rule and his association with the Partido Liberal. But first, some contextual information is needed.

The Partido Liberal (PL) and the Partido Conservador (PC) were the two parties which, since the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Central America (FRCA) had dominated the politics of Guatemala. Initially, the PC was the party of the landowners and the church, which sough to preserve the existing social and economic order while the PL was for a free-market and representative of the middle class. However, after the fall of the PC in 1871, the PL, dominated by a rural planter class, took power and became fixated on the removal of the colonial institutions which the PC had maintained. This included practices such as a monopoly on natural dyes by the monopolistic and archaic Consulado de Comercio, especially as Synthetic Dyes damaged the natural dye exports of the Republic.

Thus, attention switched to increasing coffee cultivation and export, infrastructural buildup and an expansion of the debt peonage system to resolve chronic labor shortages on the Fincas (Coffee Plantations). This was part of a broader Liberal scheme to westernize, in the hopes of moving towards the position of the modern European nations. As a result, this meant that for a Guatemalan President, the natural trend cultivation of the Finqueros (Coffee Planters) and the traditional platform of “Order and Progress” as means to hold power. Equally important however, was the PL’s policy of anti-clericalism.

There are several reasons for which the PL continue to pursue their anti-clerical policy. The first was the Church’s support for their traditional rivals, the PC. However, the Church more broadly represented both an institution with a power base separate to that of the PL, especially amongst the Maya and other “Indios”, with priests often dictating political and social views in small communities. This often meant the Catholic church pursued a vision of Guatemala which strongly opposed to the modernization efforts of the PL.

Thus the PL, starting with the government of Justino Rufino Barrios, began a multi-faceted effort to undermine the Church. This included property confiscation, invitations to Protestant Missionaries to proselytize in the Republic and a focus on education which promoted “Liberalism, positivism and Social Darwinism.” (Garrard-Burnett, Virginia. “Liberalism, Protestantism, and Indigenous Resistance in Guatemala, 1870-1920.”) Though that later became part of a larger effort at building a sense of shared Guatemalan nationalism and identity, there always remained a mentality of eliminating the hold of the Catholic Church over the “Indios” to “civilize them.”

What does this all mean in context of Cabrera and the Minervalias?

The festivals were presented as a way of allowing the regime “to highlight the academic accomplishments of both teachers and students” (Galván Javier A. Latin American Dictators of the 20th Century the Lives and Regimes of 15 Rulers. ) and spread the message of “progressive education” throughout the nation in sites determined by the executive and which local political leaders could only build once they could “prove their loyalty to President Estrada”. (Galván Javier A.) The sites were then built out of the pocket of the local boss, or with appropriated tax revenues and with local labor usually sourced from Fincas. (The usual source of labor for building projects during the rule of the various PL presidents.)

Thus, building of gaudy temples dedicated to Minerva was not some hare-brained scheme to establish a new religion. Rather, the Minervalias are emblematic of the rule and policy of the Partido Liberal during the late 19th and early 20th century. Firstly, it was a continued part of the cult of Liberal Progressivism in Guatemala, serving as a Neoclassical monument to a continued infatuation with Europe and its recent advancements. (And quite likely, an implicit rebuke of the Catholic Church.) Secondly, it was part of a system of corruption and cronyism, as local political bosses appropriated funds and took advantage of non-existent labor rights for building projects meant to impress powerful political figures. Finally, as the monuments and festival were also dedicated by only the most loyal bosses to Cabrera, the Minervalias also served to further the cult of personality which Cabrera had built around himself.

Works Cited:

Galván Javier A. Latin American Dictators of the 20th Century the Lives and Regimes of 15 Rulers. McFarland, 2013.

Garrard-Burnett, Virginia. “Liberalism, Protestantism, and Indigenous Resistance in Guatemala, 1870-1920.” Latin American Perspectives, vol. 24, no. 2, 1997, pp. 35–55.

EDIT: Made some wording changes to hopefully improve clarity.