# Latin America: why nobody cares? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 8, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613 "2011-04-08T00:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/41 "2011-04-08T13:17:58Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Cervantes is not Latin American? :eek::eek: Jesus, we have one writer less in our list of celebrities :smack: Not unless Spain got moved to America, he’s not. Latino, depending on whether you define that as “short for Latinoamericano” (in which case, no) or “having a romance language as their primary” (in which case, yes); Hispano, definitely; Americano, not by an ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/42 "2011-04-08T14:03:38Z")
American media ignores Latin America, but it’s not entirely fair to say that American business does too. Here is a [paper](http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/98-840.pdf) (pdf) that notes that there are free trade agreements in place with Mexico, Central America, Chile, and Peru, and that the US’s trade with Latin America grew slightly faster over the last decade than its trade with Europe or Asia. Most American trade in the region is with Mexico, though, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/43 "2011-04-08T14:40:17Z")
I am interested in this thread because it’s something I’ve always wondered about for a rather silly reason - Latin America seemed to figure heavily in popular culture during WWII. Seriously, old Warner Brothers cartoons and scads of movies. People were always off to Havana, Brazil, Argentina in the movies. All those big technicolor movie musicals featured Latin American song and dance numbers. After that era…nothing much. Occasional mention of carnivale and Rio de Janero beaches. Watch the news and all you hear about is China, China, China. The mid-East, day and night. Occasionally Mexico, and how dangerous it’s become. And of course now England, lol. It’s like South America has disappeared due to … what, lack of interest? Except for the dangerous Columbia…Oh, and when I was in high school, we had a foreign student exchange, and our foreign student was from Peru. And that sweet boy was the blondest, bluest eyed German you can imagine. It was assumed his parents (and many other Germans) had, uh, relocated to South America right after WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/44 "2011-04-08T14:56:24Z")
Why should we care? I mean it’s neato that Latin America has some interesting writers (and I just read the “Granta” Best of Young Spanish Language Novelists, English language edition, which I frankly found to be trite) but so do a lot of places. What’s going on in Chile, that’s more relevant to the average US citizen than what’s going on, in, say Luxembourg? Do we have some reason for concern you haven’t told us about? Because, maybe you’re not too familiar with the US newsmedia, but it consists entirely of things US citizens are supposed to _ **worry** _ about, and people we’re supposed to be scared of. If you’re not on that list, be thankful. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/45 "2011-04-08T15:02:26Z")
Chile and Argentina are important because they produce some amazing wines. Otherwise, you are correct. Nobody cares because nobody sees any everyday interaction with Latin America that affects them in any meaningful way. To the vast majority of Americans, everything south of the Rio Grande is Mexico, all the way to Antartica. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/46 "2011-04-08T15:06:05Z")
One noticeable thing about Al Jazeera English is that they do have a fair amount of Latin American news; otherwise even on the BBC it’s pretty much civil wars, natural disasters, and drug dealers. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/47 "2011-04-08T15:22:24Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > I wonder why in the english-speaking people and media is so little curiousity and knowledge about Latin America. We just don’t have time for it because of our obsession with news from Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/48 "2011-04-08T15:29:57Z")
C’mon, we at least beat sub-Saharan Africa, central Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Even then, you simply need to move a couple of channels to get Latin American news, even in English. Are American more aware of these countries: Austria, Liechteisntein , Denmark, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuani, Finland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Portugal? Or even France? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/49 "2011-04-08T21:29:13Z")
[QUOTE=pinguin re the BBC] On Latin America, the only things you can ever see is about poverty in the upper Andes or something about drugs in Colombia, and that is it. [/QUOTE] Cobblers. Bunkum. Bullshit. The BBC News website has a whole section dedicated to Latin America. It’s [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/latin_america/). ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/50 "2011-04-09T01:45:04Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Not unless Spain got moved to America, he’s not. Latino, depending on whether you define that as “short for Latinoamericano” (in which case, no) or “having a romance language as their primary” (in which case, yes); Hispano, definitely; Americano, not by an ocean. Whatever. Don’t confusse matters: Hispanic Americans (peoples from the former colonies of Spain in the Americas) descend mainly from Spaniards and we have inherited the culture of Spain. No matter we have the influence of other cultures, and we feel identified with our local Amerindian cultures, too. Cervantes, for us, is a relative. But certainly, he is not Latin American, unlike Sor Ines de la Cruz and a thousand of other writers of Cervantes times born in the New World. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/51 "2011-04-09T01:47:59Z")
9 > [@salinqmind](#): > > I am interested in this thread because it’s something I’ve always wondered about for a rather silly reason - Latin America seemed to figure heavily in popular culture during WWII. Seriously, old Warner Brothers cartoons and scads of movies. People were always off to Havana, Brazil, Argentina in the movies. All those big technicolor movie musicals featured Latin American song and dance numbers. After that era…nothing much. Occasional mention of carnivale and Rio de Janero beaches. Watch the news and all you hear about is China, China, China. The mid-East, day and night. Occasionally Mexico, and how dangerous it’s become. And of course now England, lol. It’s like South America has disappeared due to … what, lack of interest? Except for the dangerous Columbia…Oh, and when I was in high school, we had a foreign student exchange, and our foreign student was from Peru. And that sweet boy was the blondest, bluest eyed German you can imagine. It was assumed his parents (and many other Germans) had, uh, relocated to South America right after WWII. Right on! I have also noticed that the curiosity about Latin America in the American public disapeared after The Three Caballeros and Speedy Gonzalez 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/52 "2011-04-09T01:50:11Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Why should we care? I mean it’s neato that Latin America has some interesting writers (and I just read the “Granta” Best of Young Spanish Language Novelists, English language edition, which I frankly found to be trite) but so do a lot of places. What’s going on in Chile, that’s more relevant to the average US citizen than what’s going on, in, say Luxembourg? Do we have some reason for concern you haven’t told us about? Because, maybe you’re not too familiar with the US newsmedia, but it consists entirely of things US citizens are supposed to _ **worry** _ about, and people we’re supposed to be scared of. If you’re not on that list, be thankful. Why is so important? Because the American prosperity depends on theirs customers south of the border. And you are lossing them. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/53 "2011-04-09T01:51:36Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Chile and Argentina are important because they produce some amazing wines. Otherwise, you are correct. Nobody cares because nobody sees any everyday interaction with Latin America that affects them in any meaningful way. To the vast majority of Americans, everything south of the Rio Grande is Mexico, all the way to Antartica. Come on. Here we don’t like Chiles Mexican style. Never tried Merken, instead? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/54 "2011-04-09T01:52:42Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > We just don’t have time for it because of our obsession with news from Africa. Certainly. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/55 "2011-04-09T01:54:08Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Cobblers. Bunkum. Bullshit. > > The BBC News website has a whole section dedicated to Latin America. It’s [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/latin_america/). But not a program at primer times. But anyways, who cares about BBC? ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/56 "2011-04-09T01:55:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > One noticeable thing about Al Jazeera English is that they do have a fair amount of Latin American news; otherwise even on the BBC it’s pretty much civil wars, natural disasters, and drug dealers. But Al Jazeera comes from the Arab world. And as I said, Latin America hasn’t disappeared from the world. Only from the English-Speaking world. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/57 "2011-04-09T01:56:48Z")
Well just to be fair, the top Google hits for Cervantes festivals all point to the [one in Mexico](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_Internacional_Cervantino). ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/58 "2011-04-09T02:17:57Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Why is so important? Because the American prosperity depends on theirs customers south of the border. And you are lossing them. I don’t understand what the average American’s interest in Spanish language literature, or the media’s interest in Latino catastrophes, has to do with business’s interest in Spanish-language consumers. The two are not even slightly related. Although Chile is our 5th-largest export buyer in the Western hemisphere, the [US export trade with Chile is not even 5% of our trade with Canada](http://www.ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas.). I’d say our interest in Chile is proportional: about 5% of the interest we take in Canada. And, as any Canadian can tell you, Americans take almost no interest whatsoever in what makes Canada Canada, beyond broad stereotypes (likes hockey, says “eh”, might speak French, doesn’t mind the cold). I doubt the average US citizen can name even ONE Canadian author. And that’s a nation we share a huge border and great swaths of culture and language with. [Western Hemisphere | United States Trade Representative](http://www.ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas). Let me reiterate: _being ignored by the American media is a compliment_. It means you are a stable, boring nation not doing anything obviously threatening to timid, stupid, middle American news consumers. “If it bleeds, it leads.” ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/59 "2011-04-09T02:38:01Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Why is so important? Because the American prosperity depends on theirs customers south of the border. And you are lossing them. I don’t know how many ways to tell you this, but you’re wrong. Dreadfully wrong. No one buys products from a country because the country is nice to them. Doesn’t happen. I don’t care how much we flirt with Chile, compliment its new hairstyle, or buy it flowers. We could change the name of New York City to Colo Colo Rules the Universe City, but it won’t move trade an inch. You know what does move trade? Free trade agreements, like the Chile-United States Free Trade Agreement that came into effect in 2004. Let’s see what wikipedia has to say: “In 2009, bilateral trade between the United States and Chile reached US$15.4 billion, a 141% increase over bilateral trade levels before the U.S.-Chile FTA took effect. In particular, U.S. exports to Chile in 2009 showed a 248% increase over pre-FTA levels.” Oh, snap! Guess what? We’re (according to you) ignoring Chile and you’re buying more stuff from us than ever! Tell your friends to stop buying cheap American products until we start paying more attention. Maybe a [Don Francisco](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Francisco_%28television_host%29) appreciation day for starters. And tell Texas to knock off their cheap approximation of the Chilean flag. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613/60 "2011-04-09T02:42:07Z")
@Hello Again Well, I know Americans ignore Canada, because I lived in your country. And, Chile is a small country with half the population of Canada and a small territory, so we can’t compite with the buying power of Canada to the states. However, if you add all the small countries of Latin America you are talking about 600 million people of middle class income. Which is huge market; 20 times the Canadian. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-america-why-nobody-cares/577613.md?page=4)