Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
Yeah, I'm well aware of all this, given I lived there, in such an environment, and married into such a family.
Doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of Latin Americas aren't conventionally "white". The upper classes are numerically small. Mexico City, Lima, Bogota, Quito, even Santiago, are all very "brown" cities. Few residents look straight outta Heidelberg.
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I'd generally agree with this. But (although their Hispanic/Latino identity is perhaps up for debate) I think the average Brazilian is a lot "whiter" than is commonly believed. Most Brazilians are mixed, but the average is around 60%-70% European by ancestry, and by American standards, most people who are not "visibly black" would be considered white. And Southern Brazil in particular is really, really white.
Cubans (even non-diasporan Cubans) are generally speaking a lot whiter than people often realize as well, in part because Cuba continued to get lots of immigration from Spain through to the Spanish-American War. The average Cuban is over 80% European by ancestry. Most Cubans are white to "off-white" - with a notable Afro-Cuban community as well of course.
On the other hand, despite their own national conception suggesting otherwise, Costa Ricans are just as Mestizo as other Central Americans.
As an aside, I think that American standards for what a "white Hispanic" is are in part drawn by what white Cubans and the like (who tend to be a little mixed) look like - because I've noticed when people meet actual Spaniards from Spain, they tend to be confused they are pretty much indistinguishable from other Western Europeans.