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It sure seems many more people like to give their opinion about various Latin American countries in this forum. With the authoritative nature some here give their opinions on Latin America and its people, the least one would expect is that they at least visited the countries they talk about.
Hmm...
Maybe its too soon and hopefully more votes will come, but I already see a trend. lol
I was surprised to see that there is not a single hit for Cuba before I remembered that this is an American forum. Here in Canada if someone's been abroad once, besides the USA, that destination will be in the Caribbean and it's almost always either Cuba or the Dominican Republic.
I was thinking that as well but I was a little hesitant on bringing it up. Belize sort of falls in that grey area where it can be sometimes included as being part of Latin America and Anglophone America. Though Belize was technically founded by the Spanish explorers, it was never fully colonized by them because of the lack of resources. It would later go on to be colonized be the British. The official language is English but over 30% of the country speak Spanish as a first language and Belize is actually a Hispanic/mestizo majority country. For what it's worth, there's actually a distinct Belizean dialect of Spanish called "Kitchen Spanish". Some people include Belize as being part of Latin America while others don't. It really depends. On a personally note, my grandfather was born in and is of Belizean descent and speaks English, Spanish and Belizean Creole.
I was thinking that as well but I was a little hesitant on bringing it up. Belize sort of falls in that grey area where it can be sometimes included as being part of Latin America and Anglophone America. Though Belize was technically founded by the Spanish explorers, it was never fully colonized by them because of the lack of resources. It would later go on to be colonized be the British. The official language is English but over 30% of the country speak Spanish as a first language and Belize is actually a Hispanic/mestizo majority country. For what it's worth, there's actually a distinct Belizean dialect of Spanish called "Kitchen Spanish". Some people include Belize as being part of Latin America while others don't. It really depends. On a personally note, my grandfather was born in and is of Belizean descent and speaks English, Spanish and Belizean Creole.
While Belize is part of the Anglophone Caribbean, because the official language is English, and the vernacular is a creole dialect based on English, a substantial part of its population, indeed the largest part of it, have ties to Central America, and speak Spanish. Many as a first language.
The Belizean Mestizos, the immigrant mestizos (Salvadorean/Honduran/Guatemalans), as well as the Mayas are all as Hispanic ion orientation as those in the neighboring countries.
Only the Creoles and the Belizean Garifuna arent, but even with the latter, there are close ties with the Garifuna of Honduras and Guatemala.
Belize is a de facto bilingual/bicultural society, even if this isnt officially recognized. It is therefore very different from its counterparts, Guyana, and Suriname, which are rigorous in their isolation from the Luso/Hispano worlds.
To arrive in Guyana and Suriname is to arrive in a Caribbean island lodged against the Amazon. Once one leaves Belize City, Dangriga, Belmopan, and a few other settlements, one can be in any Central American nation.
I was surprised to see that there is not a single hit for Cuba before I remembered that this is an American forum. Here in Canada if someone's been abroad once, besides the USA, that destination will be in the Caribbean and it's almost always either Cuba or the Dominican Republic.
It's the heavily anti-Castro Cuban lobby that prevents the US from lifting its outdated policy on Cuba. I mean if US can have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, Vietnam, China, Turkmenistan, Bolivia, it can have such relations with Cuba.
It's the heavily anti-Castro Cuban lobby that prevents the US from lifting its outdated policy on Cuba. I mean if US can have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, Vietnam, China, Turkmenistan, Bolivia, it can have such relations with Cuba.
You would think President Obama would've tried to change that out-policy cold war by now. I guess not.
You would think President Obama would've tried to change that out-policy cold war by now. I guess not.
He's tried to an extent (increasing the visit opportunities by Americans) but not enough.
The thing is if you are a US citizen and want to visit Cuba legally now, it's really not that hard to do so. There are bunch of travel programs that can make that happen easily.
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