Reading about the Caudillos reminding me a lot of what I had learned in school about the “Coronéis”, or “Coronelism” (Coronelismo). They were very similar to the Caudillos, in the sense that they were present in Brazil during the same time period (late 19th century up until the early 20th century), and their role in society was similar as well. They were local authorities in rural areas that had vast influence. What would happen back then was a series of “exchange of favors” (troca de favores, in Portuguese). The federal government was comprised of two states: Minas Gerais and São Paulo. This government was known as the “Café com Leite” government, since their agreement was that every 4 years, they would rotate the presidency. Simply put, every 4 years, a president from São Paulo would be elected, then one from Minas Gerais, then one from São Paulo again, and so forth. This ties back to the “Coronéis” because in order for them to stay in power, governors of their respective state told them to vote for whomever’s turn it was to be president (back then, the electoral system worked like it did in the US, except the “coronéis” made up the electoral college), and in turn, whoever became president would allow these governors to remain in power. As a whole, it was one giant oligarchy, all the way from the federal level, all the way down to the local level.

One differing characteristic, however, is the fact that in this case, the “Coronéis” don’t diverge from what the federal government wants, and actually work with it. On the other hand, their ideology is in line with that of other Caudillos in Latin America at the time, since they did have a sense of Liberalism. Their liberalism, however, was strictly towards making sure the Empire that Brazil had once been, never becomes a reality again.

Nevertheless, not much has changed in Brazil these days. Recently, when our president Dilma Rousseff was impeached, when her impeachment process passed through Congress, a significant number of legislators voted in favor of removing the president from power. Most of these had very weak justifications as to why they were doing it, but the entire process did show that there were a lot of “exchange of favors” going on simultaneously. The Speaker of the House, for example made power moves in the Congress where he made it so that the president’s impending impeachment would  not be voted in Congress (where it was predicted it would get an overwhelming approval) until his own process of removal from power had been dropped (he had been accused of numerous corruption charges). Clearly, the Caudillos in Latin America, and the “Coronéis” in Brazil show us that not much has changed in politics, even though the players may have.

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