Editing Caudillo (section)

==''Caudillos'' in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries==
In the late nineteenth century, regimes in Spanish America were more stable and often less dominated by military men. Foreign investors, particularly the British, began building infrastructure in countries of greatest interest to the UK's economic needs. Such projects included railways, telegraph lines, and port facilities, which cut transportation time and costs and sped up communications. Stable political regimes that could ensure the security of foreign investments, facilitate extraction of resources, and production of agricultural crops and animals were the necessary structures. Industrialization also took hold in a few countries (Mexico, Argentina, Colombia) to produce consumer goods locally.<ref>Roland H. Ebel, "Continuismo" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 2, p. 257. Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.</ref>

In general, foreign governments and entrepreneurs had no interest in directly administering countries of Hispanic America in a formal [[Colonialism|colonial]] arrangement so long as their interests could be nurtured by modernizing national governments, often seen as [[neocolonialism]]. There are a number of examples of {{lang|es|[[continuismo]]}} in Hispanic America whereby presidents continue in office beyond the legal term limits, with constitutional revision, plebiscites, and the creation of family dynasties, such as the [[Somoza family]] in Nicaragua.<ref>Roland H. Ebel, "Continuismo" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 2, p. 257. Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.</ref>

===Mexico===
[[File:Porfirio Diaz.jpg|thumb|General [[Porfirio Díaz]], president of Mexico 1876–1911]]
A major example of a modernizing caudillo of the late nineteenth century is Díaz (r. 1876–1911), whose period of control is known as the [[Porfiriato]]. His slogan was "order and progress", which was enforced by armed men controlled by the president, the ''[[Rurales]]''. Díaz was averse to being dependent on the Mexican army, since as a general and leader of a coup d'état himself, he knew their potential for intervening in national politics. Díaz coopted or crushed regional opposition to his regime, creating a political machine to forward his vision of modern Mexico.<ref name=":0" />

Desirous of economic development that necessitated foreign investment, Díaz sought capital and expertise from European powers (Britain, France, and Germany) to offset the closer power of the United States. Although elections were held in Mexico at regular intervals, they were by nature not democratic. The huge rural, illiterate, and mostly indigenous populations were more to be feared by the government than as a source for regime support. When Díaz failed to find a political solution to his succession, the [[Mexican Revolution]] erupted after the fraudulent [[1910 Mexican general election|1910 general election]].<ref name=":0" />

Diaz came to power by a coup under the [[Plan of Tuxtepec]] and became president of Mexico 1876–1880. He was succeeded by his military and political ''compadre'' [[Manuel González Flores|Manuel González]] (1880–1884) and returned to the presidency until he was overthrown in 1911 in the Mexican Revolution.<ref name=":0">Paul Garner (2001). ''Porfirio Díaz''. Pearson.</ref>

During the decade-long civil war, a number of regional caudillos arose. [[Pascual Orozco]] helped oust Díaz at the early stage of the Revolution, but then turned against [[Francisco I. Madero]], who had been elected to the presidency in 1911. [[Pancho Villa]] also helped oust Díaz, supported Madero, and following his murder in 1913, became a general in the [[Constitutionalist Army]] commanded by civilian [[Venustiano Carranza]]. [[Emiliano Zapata]], peasant leader from the state of Morelos, opposed to Díaz and every subsequent Mexican government until his murder in 1919 by Carranza's agents.<ref name=h38/><ref>Julia C. Girouard, "Caudillismo" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', vol. 1, p. 229. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.</ref> 

[[Álvaro Obregón]] emerged as another brilliant general from northern Mexico, defeating Villa's Division of the North in 1915 after Villa had broken with Carranza. Obregón and fellow Sonoran generals [[Plutarco Elías Calles]] and [[Adolfo de la Huerta]] overthrew Carranza in 1920 under the [[Plan of Agua Prieta]], with the presidency in the 1920s going in turn from de la Huerta, to Obregón, to Calles, and back to Obregón. During Calles's presidency (1924–1928), he stringently enforced the [[anticlericalism|anticlerical]] laws of the Mexican [[Constitution of 1917]], leading to the [[Cristero War]], a failed major uprising under the leadership of some regional caudillos, including [[Saturnino Cedillo]] of [[San Luis Potosí]].<ref name=h38/><ref>Julia C. Girouard, "Caudillismo" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', vol. 1, p. 229. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.</ref>

Obregón was elected again in 1928, but was assassinated before he could again resume the presidency. In 1929, Plutarco Elías Calles founded a political party, then known as the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR), and became the {{Langx|es|jefe máximo|label=none}} (''maximum chief''), the power behind the presidency in a period known as the Maximato (1928–1934); PNR's iteration as the [[Institutional Revolutionary Party]] dominated Mexican politics until 2000 and functioned as a brake on the personalist power of regional caudillos in Mexico.<ref name=h38/><ref>Julia C. Girouard, "Caudillismo" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', vol. 1, p. 229. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.</ref>

===Central America===
With the improvement of transportation, tropical products such as coffee and bananas could be transported to a growing consumer market in the United States. In Guatemala [[Justo Rufino Barrios]] ruled as a Liberal autocrat and expanded coffee cultivation.<ref>[[#Henderson|Henderson]], p. 139</ref>

===Gallery===
<gallery>
File:Juan Perón 1946.jpg|[[Juan Perón]], Argentina
File:Germán Busch - 2.jpg|[[Germán Busch]], Bolivia
File:Augusto Pinochet.png|[[Augusto Pinochet]], Chile
File:Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (1936).jpg|[[Jorge Eliécer Gaitán]], Colombia
File:José Figueres Ferrer cropped.jpg|[[José Figueres Ferrer]], Costa Rica
File:Fidel Castro - MATS Terminal Washington 1959 (cropped).png|[[Fidel Castro]], Cuba
File:Trujillo 1952.jpg|[[Rafael Trujillo]], Dominican Republic
File:Eloy Alfaro asambleas (cropped).jpg|[[Eloy Alfaro]], Ecuador
File:Hernandez Martinez.jpg|[[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]], El Salvador
File:Presidente Jorge Ubico Castañeda.png|[[Jorge Ubico]], Guatemala
File:Zapataandvilla.png|[[Pancho Villa]] (left) and [[Emiliano Zapata]], Mexico
File:Somoza 1952 (centrée).jpg|[[Anastasio Somoza García]], Nicaragua
File:Omar Torrijos 1978 (Black and White).jpg|[[Omar Torrijos]], Panama
File:Alfredo_Stroessner_at_desk_(cropped).jpg|[[Alfredo Stroessner]], Paraguay
File:Juan Velasco Alvarado 1971.jpg|[[Juan Velasco Alvarado]], Peru
File:F._Morales_Bermúdez.jpg|[[Francisco Morales Bermúdez]], Peru
File:José Batlle y Ordóñez.jpg|[[José Batlle y Ordóñez]], Uruguay
File:Juan vicente GOMEZ.jpg|[[Juan Vicente Gómez]], Venezuela
</gallery>