The "Latinos" are not one race or one culture for that matter. The fact is that over 60% of Latin American immigrants come from Mexico, whose culture was shaped by a mixture of the various Indian cultures mixed in with a bit of the European Spanish and, yes, los norteamericanos. Most Cubans who are here, in contrast, are largely of European cultural heritage, as the blacks and mulattos disproportianately stayed in Cuba. Argentineans are largely of European ancestry, while Dominicans are largely mulatto or black. Of course, none of this stopped the Irish/Italian YOKELS I grew up with from referring to Latin Americans as "Spanish," even if they were obviously Dominicans of African ancestry.