ABSTRACT
The Latin American leaders' responsibilities go well beyond governing. The people of this region have come to identify leadership in terms of hands-on involvement in the everyday problems of the nation and expect their leaders to bring order and a modicum of consensus to governing systems often torn asunder by political and social divisions. Latin America's first leaders were the men who followed the discoverers to the New World. With the death of Bolivar and the departure of Sari Martin, Latin America was left in the hands of local and regional leaders whose primary interest was in maintaining their control over the land and the wealth that it contained. The "age of caudillos" became a period when Latin America sank deep into the morass of local impoverishment and international dependency. The age of reform and modernization gave Latin America some of its most distinguished political leaders.
