The Latin American armed forces, with the exception of the church, represent the oldest and the most enduring political institution on the continent. From the very onset of national existence the armed forces have played a key political role. Given the weakness of all other state institutions in much of Latin America and the armed forces' historical predisposition to such a role – gained during long and bloody wars of independence – this was only natural. In addition, the Iberian tradition, by which the armed forces perceived their mission as one of both defending the country from external threat and guarding the nation's destiny and integrity, left a deep imprint on most of Latin America. The presence of Prussian military training missions during the first decade of this century further reinforced this intellectual rationalization of a political role. Today, that role is confirmed, as the armed forces remain the only national institution holding together countries that are spread out across vast, impassable territories often divided by language, race, and culture.

Historically the Latin American armed forces have been identified with the most reactionary politics. Traditionally the officer corps was staffed by white criollo landed gentry, primarily concerned with preserving their status. This preoccupation was constantly manifest, from the time that Simón Bolívar (the founding father of the region's military tradition) spent his final years trying to protect the criollo elite from the “dark” masses of negroes and mestizos, to the infamous slaughter of 30,000 peasants by El Salvador's General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez in 1932, which was intended to preserve the country for the “fourteen leading families.”