The “Caudillo vs Nation State” text portrays the violence which was unleashed in Latin America in the 19^th century by the Spanish Imperial rule and the response to this mistreatment by the Caudillos, such as Ramon Castilla in Peru, which was to defend the locals against pernicious outsiders.

This text shows the importance of “Caudillos” in Latin American history. They were figures in societies, which were torn by various conflicts after the collapse of the Spanish Colonial state. I found it very interesting and saddening how an exterior threat, such as the colonizers, could expropriate a foreign countries land and would then create more conflicts with neighboring countries. Even though “Latin America” was a term used to portray union and a shared ideology in a continent, which has experienced similar threats by foreigners, neighboring countries forgot about their conflicts which rooted from the same source (The Spanish Colonial State).

This unleashed several civil wars during the early 19^th century, leading to the creation of town councils (cabildo’s), who helped empower local people through decision making of their own, by their own local people. It was interesting to find out that both Peru & Bolivia represented two of the crown jewels of the Spanish Empire, and after the war between Chile & Bolivia, towards the end of the Caudillo age, the reform led to corporate rights and privileges to the military. Soon after, taxes were implemented and privatization was possible. As a result, Indigenous people were expropriated from their land, which led to a civil war, which created economic instability due to the lack of investments and the funding of the military.

Living in Peru has made me understand how all these conflicts were responsible for what Peru is like today in a socio-economic aspect. Their history has been defined by the accumulation of conflicts, external and internal. In addition, forces from the Spanish Empire whom used violence to become a wealthier nation led to the product of torn families and social barriers determined by race.