In November and December 1995, a discussion raged on the H-LATAM Internet newsgroup, surrounding the phenomenon of caudillismo. It centred mostly on Bolivian caudillo Mariano Melgarejo (1864–1871), and the editors of this journal believed that the way in which the discussion developed, indicated that it might be interesting to offer our subscribers an edited version of the whole discussion. In this manner, those not ‘connected’ may also benefit from the goings-on of the Internet.