This study presents a general vision of this decentralization process in Latin America in the last 40 years. First, the history of centralism in the region is briefly traced, highlighting the weakening of local governments and, by the end of the 1960s, their fall into a state of virtual abandonment. Subsequently, the complexity of 'political economy' factors that marked the beginning of the process in the eighties and an outline of the change in the profile of local governments is examined. Then some lights and shadows of the process are presented with an attempt at balance and, finally, some positive conclusions about decentralization in the region.