Entre el "Cacique" y el "Hombre-dios": La relación político-religiosa entre Don Simón y el Hermano Che en el Ponce de 1906-1910.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the political and religious dynamics unleashed in Ponce through the relationship between the mayor Don Simón and the Catholic preacher Hermano Che; their interests, impact and development. Using the written press as the main source, I argue that the defense of both the Union Party and the Catholic faith reflects an attachment to what they considered the Puerto Rican tradition against the modern conceptions that had broken since the change of sovereignty to the United States. The discourses of tradition and modernity fought for a space in the new colonial model. The "Cacique" and the "Man-God" were protagonists of this scenario that very well exemplify the new social realities not only in Ponce, but throughout Puerto Rico.