Popular religiosity, Manichaean currents, and Latin American political culture. The case of the excluding binary oppositions

The main points of the Latin American political culture, especially of its areas with a minor degree of modernization, arise partially from colonial times. Popular religiosity has been one of the most important factors in this process. One of its foundations is thinking in excluding binary oppositions like friend / enemy. This text traces out the importance of those oppositions in the European thought, especially in the work of progressive thinkers. Contemporary populism is nourished by the preservation of this political culture. Its broad acceptation is due to the conservation of those features, which are seen now as people's own. The practical result lies in the consolidation of authoritarianism and in the justification of the elite paternalism and the ingenuity of the masses. Otherwise, these oppositions simplify the reality and avoid an adequate understanding of the complex modern order.