 Since independence , Latin American countries have been subject to both right and left @-@ wing authoritarian regimes , stemming from a history of colonialism in which one group dominated another . Given this long history , it is unsurprising that there have been so many novels " about individual dictators , or about the problems of dictatorship caudillismo , caciquismo , militarism and the like . " The legacy of colonialism is one of racial conflict sometimes pushing an absolute authority to rise up to contain it — thus the tyrant is born . Seeking unlimited power , dictators often amend constitutions , dismantling laws which prevent their reelection . Licenciado Manuel Estrada Cabrera , for example , altered the Guatemalan Constitution in 1899 to permit his return to power . The dictators who have become the focus of the dictator novel ( Augusto Roa Bastos 's I , the Supreme , for instance , is based on Paraguay 's dictator of the early nineteenth century , the so @-@ called Dr Francia ) do not differ much from each other in terms of how they govern . As author González Echevarría states : " they are male , militaristic , and wield almost absolute personal power . " Their strong @-@ arm tactics include exiling or imprisoning their opposition , attacking the freedom of the press , creating a centralized government backed by a powerful military force , and assuming complete control over free thought . Despite intense criticisms leveled at these figures , dictators involved in nationalist movements developed three simple truths , " that everybody belonged , that the benefits of Progress should be shared , and that industrial development should be the priority " . Epitácio Pessoa , who was elected President of Brazil in 1919 , wanted to make the country progress regardless of whether or not Congress passed the laws he proposed . In particular , during the Great Depression , Latin American activist governments of the 1930s saw the end of neocolonialism and the infusion of nationalist movements throughout Latin America , increasing the success of import substitution industrialization or ISI . The positive side @-@ effect of the collapse of international trade meant local Latin American manufacturers could fill the market niches left vacant by vanishing exports . 
