Populism was an important part of the development of latin america politics. Political models before it had had little success (or interest) in making things better for the working class, who were the vast majority of people in the country. Therefore, with the implementation of populist techniques, political leaders were able to appeal to a vast number of people, promising them better life conditions with minimum salaries and worker’s rights. Like it was said in the text, with Getúlio Vaargas in Brazil, much was promised but not that much was actually delivered, which sets the tone for the whole populist movement in my opinion.

The most interesting thing about the populist leaders is all the resources they use to convince people of what they are saying. To appeal to the masses they obviously need to have a strong presence and be very charismatic. They need knowledge about the current media and how to use it in their favor. Getúlio Vargas tried creating the mandatory “Hora de Brasil” which was highly mocked back then and it is still mocked today (yes, for some reason it is still around). He did not have enough knowledge of that type of media to be able to successfully connect to his target audience. Politicians nowadays are trying harder than ever to connect with new audiences through every media they can, especially social media. During the election period in Canada I saw many politicians on tiktok and instagram trying desperately to connect with this whole younger demographic.

Although Vargas’ regime did not deliver all that was promised, there were some advancements in workers rights, and that set the seed for future leaders and movements to carry on on this path. People were frustrated with the lack of equality and were starting to demand a leader who was capable of tending to their rights, not just to the rights of the wealthy, a leader to cared about them. Or at least, a leader who seemed to care about them. Nevertheless, it was progress, and so continues the development of Latin America’s messy political path throughout the 20th century.