The concept of cabildo can refer to a municipality or town hall.
Cabildo is a term that comes from the Latin capitulum and has several uses. It can be the town hall or the municipality , the meeting held by this institution and the building where the meeting takes place.
For example: “The San Javier Town Hall has announced that the carnivals will begin next Monday in the Plaza de Armas,” “The mayor called an open town hall to debate the design of the budget,” “Two criminals entered the town hall and assaulted the visitors” , “Tomorrow we are going on an excursion to the town hall” .
The concept in colonial times
This use of the concept was very common in colonial times, when the American countries were governed by Spain and the town hall was the institution and the building that housed the municipal authorities sent by the empire .
The Cabildo located in the city of Buenos Aires , to cite one case, was the headquarters of the colonial administration of Spain in the capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata . The construction is currently the scene of a historical museum.
A council can be a governing board.
open town hall
It was known as an open town hall to the extraordinary meeting of American citizens during the colonial era. These assemblies were very important in the independence process and in the establishment of autonomous authorities . During these periods, these organizations formed by the people had the ability to dismiss the authorities of the colonies and propose new governments.
According to this idea, currently the same name is given to those popular meetings where a specific change is requested in one of the policies carried out by the current government. These usually deal with issues related to public health and the general order of the society in question.
Contrary to popular belief, however, the open council was not an egalitarian body . It was made up of people from high society, coming from European births, therefore both lower class Creoles , indigenous people, slaves or women were left out of this group. On the other hand, the meetings were held in private venues or a church and those who participated were people designated by the council and who belonged to the local aristocracy.
Other meanings of the term
Cabildo, on the other hand, is the community or body of capitular ecclesiastics of a Catholic church . It is possible to distinguish between cathedral chapter (the college of clerics that provides assistance to the bishop), collegiate chapter (in places where there is no cathedral ) and metropolitan chapter (the executive body that is in charge of the government of the major churches).
In some districts this concept is still used to name their government . The Cabildo of Gran Canaria, for example, is the government body that runs this Canary Island. The representative flag of this Cabildo is that of the island represented with the colors blue and yellow with two rectangles placed diagonally and in the center it has the coat of arms inscribed.
Cabildo as street and magazine
There are many streets and places that bear the name of Cabildo, one of them is Avenida Cabildo, one of the most important in the city of Buenos Aires. It is the continuation of Santa Fe Avenue and it is a double lane avenue with double vehicular circulation . It is known for being a shopping and entertainment center as it has countless stores, shopping centers, restaurants and places for leisure .
Finally we can mention the Argentine magazine named with this term. It is considered one of the most important Catholic media in the country . It began to be published in the 70s and although it stopped being published during the 90s, it has already been distributed again. It is mostly known for its retrograde and conservative ideas, where homophobic and anti-Semitic comments abound.