''Dictablanda'' is a

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...

in which

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

are allegedly preserved rather than destroyed. The word ''dictablanda'' is a pun on the Spanish word ''dictadura'' ("dictatorship"), replacing ''dura'', which by itself is a word meaning "hard", with ''blanda'', meaning "soft". The term was first used in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1930 when

Dámaso Berenguer Dámaso Berenguer y Fusté, 1st Count of Xauen (4 August 1873 – 19 May 1953) was a Spanish general and politician. He served as Prime Minister during the last thirteen months of the reign of Alfonso XIII. Biography Berenguer was born in Sa ...

replaced

Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deepl ...

as the head of the ruling dictatorial government and attempted to reduce tensions in the country by repealing some of the harsher measures that had been introduced by the latter. It was also used to refer to the latter years of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

Spanish State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spani ...

, and to the hegemonic 70-year rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, or by Augusto Pinochet when he was asked about his regime and the accusations about his government. Analogously, the same pun is made in Portuguese as ''ditabranda'' or ''ditamole''. In February 2009, the Brazilian newspaper '' Folha de S.Paulo'' ran an editorial classifying the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964–1985) as a "ditabranda", creating controversy. In Spanish language, the term ''dictablanda'' is contrasted with ''democradura'' (a portmanteau of 'democracia' and 'dictadura'), meaning an illiberal democracy — a system in which the government and its leaders are elected, but which is relatively deficient in

. In Uruguay, the short-lived dictatorship of

Alfredo Baldomir Alfredo Baldomir Ferrari (August 27, 1884 – February 25, 1948) was a Uruguayan soldier, architect and politician. He served as President of Uruguay from 1938 to 1943 and is most notable for leading Uruguay to support the Allies during World W ...

in 1942 was nicknamed ''dictablanda'', as opposed to the previous harsh dictatorship by Gabriel Terra.

References

Authoritarianism Dictatorship Spanish words and phrases {{Spain-gov-stub

See also

References