Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821�1871

6. The Caudillo

C H A P T E R S I X The Caudillo Although caudillismo always leads to despotism and often to terror, it is still not possible to condemn outright its role in the national evolution of Spanish American countries. Caudillismo is a general social phenomenon, the result of social structures and ideologies that prevailed in all the Spanish American countries at one time, although each caudillo is a personality distinct from all the others. Thus it would be useless to sketch the portrait of the typical caudillo and paint it black or white. Latin America, which has had so many of them, has had all types. Different in their ideologies—progressive or reactionary —wise men or illiterates, some caudillos were agents of progress for their countries, others ruined them: still others, the great number perhaps , did their countries a great deal of harm but at the same time a little bit of good.1 The preceding statement by Jacques Lambert has particular relevance for Central America in the 18405, a decade that was neither peaceful nor orderly, despite the promises of the conservative governments that won power following the collapse of the United Provinces. Conservatives remonstrated that this was because Morazan and his liberal allies continued to struggle violently to regain power, keeping the region in nearly constant turmoil. For the Creole elite, it was a period of difficult adjustment to the emergence of popular caudillos, among whom Rafael Carrera was the most conspicuous, but certainly not the only example. The breakdown of federal authority contributed to a decentralizing trend, not only in terms of the emergence of stronger state governments exercisingsovereignty, but also in terms of local authoritarian military chiefs and landholders who controlled 123 124 I Liberals and Conservatives regions either individually or collectively, through accommodations with the caudillos. Political anarchy and opportunism characterized most of the decade. Frequent efforts to restore the union floundered and the individual states drifted toward permanent status as sovereign republics.2 In Guatemala Rafael Carrera wielded the power in a highly personal fashion, yet he also represented the downtrodden peasants and Indians of the country against the upper class, especially against their political and economic innovations that had touched these masses. While an alliance with the conservative, clerical element led by Juan Jose Aycinena and other members of his clan had apparently brought Carrera under rein and restored elite rule, there was still a wide gulf of suspicion and mistrust between Carrera and the elite. It would take a decade for the alliance of the conservative elite and Carrera to become firmly established.3 Carrera's political base remained the peasantry, who made up his ragged, ill-equipped army and provided a reserve of manpower to deal with crises, foreign or domestic. As elsewhere in Latin America, the arming of the lower classes in the period during and immediately following independence created a vast new political power that disrupted the plans of the Creoles who had inherited Iberian power.4 Carrera was one of several notable conservativedictators of Latin America during the mid nineteenth century. Others included Juan Manuel Rosas of the Argentine Confederation, Gabriel Garcia Moreno of Ecuador, and Antonio Jose Paez of Venezuela. Although each differed in peculiar ways, they all led violent reactions against liberalism and, after a period of anarchy , established strong conservativeregimes restoring Hispanic institutions and a peace and order reminiscent of the colonial era. Diego Portales's Chile also had some of the same characteristics.A visitor in 1844 described Carrera's army in the following terms: The soldiers are a most ill-looking set of ruffians, whose appearance in the streets of London would ensure them a place in the watch-house. Carrera has adopted the British colour (scarlet) forclothing his troops, but the red jackets are few in number,and only put on upon feast days, and other extraordinary occasions; and even then,the strangefiguresof the men,all clothedin jackets of one size, none of which of course fit the wearer, make them look like a band of robbers who had dressed themselves in stolen clothes. The officers dress themselves, according to fancy, in strange nondescript uniforms, the most respectable resembling English footmen out of place.5 Even Carrera's English uniform did not fit well, according to Robert Dunlop : "He resembles a scarecrow with a coat pinned on. The dress of an TheCaudillo / 125 Indian chief would look natural upon...