The caciques are passerine birds in the New World blackbird family which are resident breeders in tropical South America north to Mexico.

Most are colonial breeders, with several long, hanging, bag-shaped nests in a tree, each suspended from the end of a branch.

The relatively long pointed bill is pale greenish, yellowish or bluish, depending on species, and most caciques have blue eyes (at least when adult).

Most remain fairly common and are able to withstand some habitat modifications, but two west Amazonian species, the Ecuadorian and Selva caciques, are notably local and scarce.

The genus Cacicus was introduced by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799.