Spanish to English Other Government / Politics Current affairs

This is from an op-ed piece in a Bolivian newspaper, & seems to be using a lot of highly idiomatic language. (There are a couple of terms I'm uncertain of but, in accordance with protocol, I'll treat them in separate questions.) The sentence & paragraph where "imperiales" appears:
"Suena a “imperio” ahora que esa palabra se ha puesto otra vez de moda entre ***imperiales***, reyezuelos, diputadas-hiena y millonarios de nuevo cuño en nuestra América. Sin embargo, el peso que otrora tuviera se ha disuelto en la maraña mal llamada socialista de rejuntados cuyo fin es el robo mientras decoran el latrocinio con rimbombantes declaraciones y peores espectáculos y que la esgrimen hasta en graffitis de baño público."
I'm not sure if in this context imperiales = imperialistas? I searched my print & internet resources, but it seems that "imperial/es" is always an adjective, tacked on to a noun, not a noun standing on its own.
All insights will be greatly appreciated.