Oppression of the Natives by the Ruling Elite in Latin Ameri

The Clorinda Matto de Turner novel Birds Without a Nest exposes the theme of absolute rule by elites in local communities in late colonial Latin America. These authority figures, as expressed by Turner, tell the reader “in these parts of the world, the victims that escape the hands of the priest fall into the power of the authorities and …if we fix our eyes on the Indians, the heart grows desperate before the oppression which …

…describes in the novel several occasions in which women are taken advantage of, one being the priest’s illegitimate daughter from Marcela. Finally the third way we see that local authorities take advantage of local natives is by manipulating the law system to their advantage. All of these cases show how the elite ruling class in Latin America had a vast control over society, which set the infrastructure for the later developments of Latin America.