Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/06/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]dear chris, thank you very much for this synopsis. bharani Message: 11 Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:47:51 -0400 From: Chris Crawford <chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com> Subject: Re: [Leica] IMG: Quetzales To: "Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>" <lug at leica-users.org> Message-ID: <CC0917BC.179B1%chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" He probably served in the military. Doubt Guatemala has enough white people to fill the army, and there are probably a lot of Hispanicized Mestizos and Indians whose loyalties lie with the Hispanic ruling class. Your photos show something about Hispanoamerica that most anglos don't understand. The Spanish conquered centuries ago, but in many parts of Latin America, most of the people never adopted Spanish language or culture. Even Mexico, whose people were more Hispanic than most Latin Americans, has millions of Indians who still speak languages like Nahuatl (the language spoken by the Aztecs and most other Indians in central Mexico). Some of them don't know Spanish, which condemns them to poverty and political weakness because they cannot participate in Mexico's economic or political life. Mexico's government has not done much to help them. The dirty little secret of Spanish America is that the Spanish still rule there. The countries became independent in the 1820s, but the independence movement was led, for the most part, by Criollos (Pure-blooded white Europeans who were born in the colonies, but whose ancestors came from Spain). The Spanish government in Madrid always feared that the Criollos would take over the colonies, if allowed too much power, so the top jobs were reserved for Peninsulars (Spaniards born in Europe). The 1776 revolution in Britain's colonies confirmed these fears (The British colonists had far more power and political rights than the Spanish colonists did), and the Spanish government actually forbade possession of, publication of, or even the reading of the American Declaration of Independence! British newspapers were allowed to publish it as soon as it arrived in King George's hands! The disruptions of the Napoleonic Wars (France invaded Spain) allowed the Criollos to take over the administration of their colonies, and when the wars in Europe ended, they declared their independence. Nearly 200 years later, the tiny white minorities in countries like Mexico and Guatemala still rule. Some of these countries are not even that poor. Mexico is classed by the UN as an Upper Middle Income country! Problem is, 99% of the wealth is held by 1% of the population there. These countries and their history fascinates me because part of my family came to the USA from Spain. New Mexico is the only part of the USA with a large white Hispanic population. A lot of the colonial racial prejudices are alive and well there, with the Hispanos (the whites) treating brown-skinned Mexicans like dirt, and openly declaring that work was something whites made non-whites do. I lived there a couple years, and loved getting to know my family's cultural heritage, but the racism there was a real turn off. -- Chris Crawford Fine Art Photography Fort Wayne, Indiana 260-437-8990 http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 Become a fan on Facebook