The term caudillo has its etymological origin in the Latin language, specifically from the word “capitellus” and is in turn originates from “caput” which means head. This is used to refer to a kind of boss or ringleader who also has a set of supporters who recognize him as such, a caudillo is characterized by being an individual who has the ability to order, in addition to having the responsibility to decide those actions that its followers must carry out. In political slang its use is very frequent, especially with regard to the nineteenth century politics of certain Latin American countries, referring to those leaders who were in charge of bringing together sectors of the peopleto whom they would be in charge of representing and defending as well as their interests, against other sectors that also had their own leaders.
Throughout history there have been many representations of caudillos, however something that should be noted is that most of these individuals generally had their origin in the military, which were responsible for forming a fairly close connection with their followers in as regards the organization of power. In order to gain followers, the caudillos used various methods, among which were certain agreements that offered a certain group of people some benefits such as protection from different types of threats, wealth, and compliance with the laws to establish order, among others, all this in exchange for their loyalty to the caudillo regarding his organization of power. Despite all this, it should be mentioned that these people generally did not operate openly as far as the law is concerned, since their function in relation to it is indeterminate, so to speak: since there were cases where they respected it, while that in other cases they preferred to stay out of it, carrying out the practice without taking into account what the law establishes.
The type of government where the caudillos were the ones who ruled, is called caudillismo, which was characterized because the caudillo used any type of means in order to achieve power, either through warfare, rebellions or coups. of state by an individual, who was considered capable of solving common problems of society, in addition to looking after the interests of the groups that possessed the greatest power.
