PIPIOLO AND PELUCN

(Spanish: novice, or greenhorn, and bigwig, respectively), members of the two political partisan groups active in Chilean politics for about a century after national independence was achieved in the 1820s. The Pipiolos were liberals and the Pelucones conservatives. Between 1830 and 1861 the Pelucones were ascendant. Between 1861 and 1891 both groups realigned and splintered; the liberal coalitions acquired the upper hand and used their strength to gradually reduce executive power in favour of congressional power. By the 1890s both liberals and conservatives represented mostly wealthy, vested interests, and after 1900 they were challenged by new middle- and working-class parties.