ABSTRACT
Latin American political parties and interest groups are involved in the transition of the area from its corporatism historic past to a newer system based on pluralism and democracy. The established political groups failed to repress the emergent groups, and the latter came to power through revolutionary means, proceeding to eliminate the traditional power contenders. After independence three groups, often referred to as the "nineteenth-century oligarchy," were predominant in Latin America: the military, the Roman Catholic Church, and the large landholders. In areas of large Amerindian concentrations, religion became a mixture of pre-Columbian and Roman Catholic beliefs. In all the countries of Latin America, save Costa Rica and Paraguay, the colonial period led to the establishment of a group of large landowners who had received their lands as royal grants. The labor pool of employables has been much larger than the number who can get the relatively well-paid jobs in industry.
