Populist Seduction in Latin America. Carlos de la Torre
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Alliance
will conquer our longed-for redemption!
(Stein 1980, 175)
APRA was not only identified as a religious movement during political meetings, but, in addition, whenever two party members met they greeted each other with the messianic phrase, “Only Aprismo will save Peru”—a slogan also printed on electoral posters. Given his sacrifices and persecution, the figure of Haya de la Torre took on an aura of martyrdom and sainthood. The religiosity of APRA was also reinforced in his speeches through the use of biblical language: he identified his political action with a call to the priesthood. According to Haya de la Torre, political success absolutely required the ability to communicate a mystical sentiment. Such was the mysticism generated by APRA that a campaign song compared the Apristas’ suffering and persecution with that of the early Christians:
Men who suffer
a cruel pain
let us make
APRA a legion.
March! March!
brothers in pain!
Fight! Fight!
with the banner of love
with faith and unity …
(Stein 1980, 178)
Sánchez Cerro in turn presented his program as the moral and economic regeneration of Peru. When a foreign journalist asked him to elaborate on his plans, Sánchez Cerro responded that only he knew them. The mysticism inspired by this movement was reflected in this popular song:
When Sánchez Cerro is in power
We won’t work
’cause every little thing’s going
to rain on us like the manna from heaven.
(Stein 1980, 105)
Like their political rivals, the Sanchezcerristas also made use of religious symbols and language, for instance in the Credo Cerrista:
I believe in “cerrismo,” all powerful, creator of all the liberties and all the claims of the popular masses; in Luis M. Sánchez Cerro, our hero and undefeated paladin, conceived by the grace of the spirit of patriotism. Like a true Peruvian he was born in Holy Democracy and in the nationalist ideal; he suffered under the abject power of the “oncenio”; he was persecuted, threatened, and exiled, and because he gave us liberty he shed his blood in the sacrifice of his being; he descended triumphant from the peaks of the Misti (Arequipa) to give us liberty and teach us by his patriotism, rising thusly to Power, glorious and triumphant. (Stein 1980, 108–9)
The intransigence of both Apristas and Sanchezcerristas was expressed through personal insults and identifying the rival with the oligarchy, source of all evil. For instance, the Sanchezcerristas accused Apristas of being anti-Catholic, antimilitary, antinationalist, and therefore against Peruvian values—values that Sánchez Cerro was of course seen to embody. For their part, Apristas used racist arguments to degrade their rival. In doing so, they were illustrating the ambiguous relationship of populist politicians to the popular sectors, who sometimes are praised as the real essence of the nation and at other times are considered to be the embodiment of backwardness. They referred to Sánchez Cerro as “uncultured, illiterate, vain, smelly, dirty … a ridiculous, perverse, latent homosexual, mentally retarded and physically an epileptic, a fetid, Black-Indian half-caste whose primitive behavior and simian-like poses and attitudes suggested that a search for his origins would be like following the biological trail of a gorilla” (Stein 1980, 165–66).
Through discourse, populist leaders give new meanings to “key words” (Williams 1976) in their political cultures. Gaitán, for instance, offered his followers the dignity of human beings when he transformed the feared chusma (mob) into the chusma heroica and the despised gleba (servants) into the gleba gloriosa. Perón radically changed the significance of the meaning of words used to denigrate subaltern groups—such as the descamisados (“the shirtless”; the dispos sessed)—into the essence of true Argentine identity (James 1988b). Perón also expanded the significance of key words of his epoch, such as democracy, industrialism, and working class. “Perón explicitly challenged the legitimacy of a notion of democracy which limited itself to participation in formal political rights and he extended it to include participation in the social and economic life of the nation” (James 1988b, 16). The meaning of industrialism was articulated anew within social and political parameters, and the individual workers became instead the “working class.” Words like people and oligarchy acquired concrete meanings with Perón, as opposed to their purely rhetorical use. El pueblo became el pueblo trabajador. In addition, the nationalism implicit in the notion of pueblo as Argentine was manifested in concrete acts. For example, the slogan of the first Peronist electoral campaign was “Braden or Perón.”3
Some populist leaders incorporate into their discourses colloquial isms and other elements of popular culture. Perón, for example, incorporated lunfardo, verses of Martín Fierro, and the tragic-sentimental structure of tango. Evita used the language of soap operas and transformed the political into dramas dominated by love. “Her scenarios never changed and her characters were stereotyped by the same adjectives: Perón was always ‘glorious,’ the people ‘marvelous,’ the oligarchy egoísta y vende patria [selfish and corrupt], and she was a ‘humble’ or ‘weak’ woman, ‘burning her life for them’ so that social justice could be achieved, cueste lo que cueste y caiga quien caiga [at whatever cost and regardless of consequences]” (Navarro 1982, 59). Gaitán, through his strong oratorical style, with shouts of “Pueebloo aa laa caargaa,” broke with the calm, melodic rhetorical style of his opponents (Braun 1985). Populist leaders often also make creative use of mass media such as radio. Incorporating popular music—el porro—Gaitán succeeded in entering the homes of his followers through his radio spots and transmitted speeches.
Discursive populist events are characterized by repetition of a series of rituals. Gaitán finished his speeches with a ritual dialogue with his audience. He shouted “pueblo” and the crowds responded “a la carga.”
Pueblo.
Por la reestructuración moral y democrática de la república.
Pueblo.
A la victoria.
Pueblo.
Contra la oligarquía. (Braun 1985, 103)
Durkheimian sociology has interpreted massive political acts as rituals that evoke a sense of belonging. During populist political meetings, elements of the participants’ and the leader’s identities are activated and reorganized. The audience recognizes themselves in the leader and projects onto him the solution of their demands and aspirations; in addition, they identify with each other. In these populist mass meetings, where the popular sectors feel themselves participants in the political process, the script has already been written. Most of the time, common people are reduced to follow the lines of a drama that has assigned them a central though subordinate role. They are expected to delegate power to a politician who claims to be the embodiment of their redemption.
Braun’s description (1985, 93–99) of one of the most important Gaitanista meetings illustrates many of these points. On 23 September 1945, forty to fifty thousand Gaitanistas met in Bogota’s Circo de Santamaría, awaiting their leader. The caudillo arrived impeccably dressed, accompanied by his wife and father. The audience saw in their leader one of themselves, el negro Gaitán, who started at the bottom and was now running for president of the republic. The serene tone of Gaitán at this meeting contrasted with the euphoria of the spectators and with most of his previous mass political appearances. In a calm dialogue with the audience, he explained the basic points of his political vision: society’s organic nature, the moral basis of the social, the necessity of regenerating national values, and the importance of meritocracy. Gaitán referred to the struggle of el pueblo that embodied the just and the good with the oligarquía. He placed el pueblo at the center of history, transcending political parties. And he, Gaitán, was the