There have been no dictators in more recent times comparable to those discussed earlier, neither in regard to their impact and historical role, nor the amount of adulation they elicited from Western intellectuals and others. Nonetheless some dictators of lesser notoriety and impact did find a smaller number of devotees, and were targets of similarly misplaced reverence. This being the case, it is safe to say that the impulses and illusions that in the past gave rise to political hero worship persist, at any rate in an attenuated form.

Although the popularity of, and interest in, this miscellaneous group of dictators has been far more limited (with the exception of Hugo Chavez, who enjoyed great popularity), it is of some significance that their appeals and attractions closely resemble, and sometimes duplicate, those of the more widely admired figures of earlier times.

We will be looking here at a mixed group of dictators of different personalities, beliefs, and policies, but sharing strong nationalistic sentiments. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Omar Torrijos of Panama were self-styled radical socialists with strong anti-American attitudes who did not perpetrate large-scale political violence or create highly repressive political systems. Torrijos was not nearly as well-known abroad and popular as Chavez, nor was he, like Chavez, an accomplished demagogue.