Caudillos Versus the Nation State

The Slaughterhouse was an intriguing look into the struggles within Argentina and Latin America. The image of the caudillo, is greatly portrayed as an individual who hinders the progression of the nation. As seen throughout the reading, there seems to be a hierarchy dictating the chain of command to be followed. The role that religion plays within that hierarchy becomes ambiguous at a point, and that reflects the ambiguity as to how religion really affects the people. 

At the beginning, we are informed of the religious period being marked by the banning of the consumption of meat. This however became quite irrelevant when calamity struck, and national good was put before religious legislature. When things did go wrong, and religion was forsook, people declared it divine punishment and began looking for parties to blame. The caudillos of course swooped in to save the situation, on behalf of the Restorer, as their hierarchy dictated. It however became confusing as to who actually held the power, as the caudillos tended to act on their personal instincts and their interpretations of the instructions given by the Restorer. I found it interesting when the unitarian basically self destructed, rather than conform to the humiliation the caudillos wanted to impose on him, which not only showed how much they infringed on individuality, but also how unreasonable the punishments were. Rather than correct individuals, they were set forth to humiliate those who didn't subscribe to their notions.

To conclude, there was little room for progress beyond the norm in that society. Caudillos controlled all within the region, ensuring unitarians had no power, which led to the extensions of their hold on all in the area. This limited progress in terms of political thoughts, alternative economic development and cultural practices as everything was assumed to oppose the norm, and hence eradicated. The church and the Restorer did hold some power, however this all seemed to be in theory, as most of the decisions were manned by caudillos.