Miami is the de facto capital of Latin America and the Miami Herald takes its role in the region seriously. Their Andres Oppenheimer is an astute observer of Latin America who writes a regular column.
Today he describes Latin America sending more young people to U.S. universities, a positive trend but not one especially of interest to COTTonLINE readers. I'm more interested in the stock photo which illustrates the column, go take a look.
It portrays the leaders of Mexico and Brazil: Enrique Pina Nieto and Dilma Rousseff. What I want you to notice is that if you didn't recognize them and were told they were southern Europeans you'd believe it.
This is fairly typical of Latin America where the people in charge are mostly of European stock and those in less lofty positions more often have Amerind or African ancestry. The exceptions like today's Bolivia are noticable for their rarity.
Advertising billboards in the region often portray blonds and people with light eyes and skin, something rarely seen on the street. Nobody seems offended by this, rather the advertisers believe it will attract customers.
Norteamericano cultural imperialism, or is it homegrown? The latter, I believe. We've seen the same thing in India and in Quebec, a province where many women are blond but few men or children share the trait. Imagine that.
