Caudillos: Dictators in Spanish AmericaHugh M. Hamill All societies have had personalist leaders. There is little dispute, however, that Spanish American caudillos have been more numerous and more pervasive than such leaders in other regions. Further, while the words caudillo and caudillismo are variants of dictator and dictatorship, they have a special resonance that suggests the unique political environment of Spanish America. It can be argued that a caudillo is able to achieve legitimacy within the established value system, whereas a dictator depends primarily on force to sustain power and is, therefore, illegitimate. Definition often depends upon whether one favors or opposes a particular authoritarian leader. In this major revision of the Borzoi Book Dictatorship in Spanish America, editor Hugh Hamill has presented conflicting interpretations of caudillismo in twenty-seven essays written by an international group of historians, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, journalists, and caudillos themselves. The theoretical arguments in Hamill's introduction and the first five chapters are followed by twenty-two chronologically arranged essays on individual caudillos. The selections represent revisionists, apologists, enemies, and even a victim of caudillos. The personalities discussed include the Mexican priest Miguel Hidalgo, the Argentinian gaucho Facundo Quiroga, the Guatemalan Rafael Carrera, the Colombian Rafael Nunez, Mexico's Porfirio Diaz, the Somoza family of Nicaragua, the Dominican "Benefactor" Rafael Trujillo, the Argentinians Juan Peron and his wife Evita, Paraguay's Alfredo Stroessner--called "The Tyrannosaur, " Chile's Augusto Pinochet, and Cuba's Fidel Castro. The reader emerges with a heightened awareness of the almost infinite varieties of caudillismo and of the complex culture in which this controversial Spanish American phenomenon is to be found. Photographs of the caudillos accompany the text. |
Contents
Carlos Octavio Bunge | 20 |
François Chevalier | 27 |
Richard M Morse | 72 |
The Search for Legitimacy | 87 |
Hugh M Hamill | 99 |
Domingo F Sarmiento | 107 |
Jane M Rausch | 131 |
Roger M Haigh | 145 |
Jesús de Galindez | 234 |
Howard J Wiarda and Michael J Kryzanek | 246 |
Alain Rouquié | 257 |
Marysa Navarro | 270 |
Fernando N A Cuevillas | 285 |
Lee Lockwood | 292 |
Maurice Halperin | 316 |
Genaro Arriagada Herrera | 325 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alfredo Stroessner Argentina army authoritarian authority became Bogotá Bolívar Buenos Aires cabildo caciques Calleja capital capitalistic career Carrera Casanare Castro Catholic caudi caudillaje culture caudillaje society caudillismo caudillo charismatic chief civil Colombia colonial command common constitutional creole criollo democracy democratic dictator dictatorship dominance Dominican Republic economic elected essay European Evita exile faction Fidel foreign friends gaucho groups Guatemala haciendas Hidalgo independence Indian influence institutions José Juan Manuel junta kinship elite La Rioja labor land Latin America leader leadership legitimacy liberal Llanero Llanos López Martín Güemes ment mestizo Mexican Mexico military modern moral Moreno nature nineteenth century Oltuski organization Páez Paraguay party Perón Pinochet political popular Porfirio Díaz president Press province public power Rafael regime Revolution Rioja role rule Salta Santander Saravia social Somoza Spain Spanish American Stroessner tion traditional Trujillo Tucumán University Venezuela wealth