Asian Latin Americans


Asian Latin Americans are Latin Americans of Asian descent. Asian immigrants to Latin America have largely been from East Asia or West Asia. Historically, Asians in Latin America have a centuries-long history in the region, starting with Filipinos in the 16th century. The peak of Asian immigration occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries. There are currently more than four million Asian Latin Americans, nearly 1% of Latin America's population. Chinese, Japanese, and Lebanese are the largest Asian ancestries; other major ethnic groups include Filipinos, Syrians, Koreans and Indians, many of whom are Indo-Caribbean and came from neighboring countries in the Caribbean and the Guianas. Brazil is home to the largest population of East Asian descent, estimated at 2.08 million. The country is also home to a large percentage of West Asian descendants. With as much as 5% of their population having some degree of Chinese ancestry, Peru and Mexico have the highest ratio of any country for East Asian descent. Though the most recent official census, which relied on self-identification, gave a much lower percentage.
There has been notable emigration from these communities in recent decades, so that there are now hundreds of thousands of people of Asian Latin American origin in both Japan and the United States.

History

The first Asian Latin Americans were Filipinos who made their way to Latin America in the 16th century, as slaves, crew members, and prisoners during the Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines through the Viceroyalty of New Spain, with its capital in Mexico City. For two and a half centuries many Filipinos and Chinese sailed on the Manila-Acapulco Galleons, assisting in the Spanish Empire's monopoly in trade. Some of these sailors never returned to the Philippines and many of their descendants can be found in small communities around Baja California, Sonora, Mexico City, Peru and others, thus making Filipinos the oldest Asian ethnic group in Latin America.
While South Asians had been present in various forms in Latin America for centuries by the 1800s, it was in this century that the flow into the region spiked dramatically. This rapid influx of hundreds of thousands of mainly male South Asians was due to the need for indentured servants. This is largely tied to the . Without the promise of free labor and a hostile working class on their hands, the Dutch colonial authorities had to find a solution – cheap Asian labor.
Many of these immigrant populations became such fixtures in their adopted countries that they acquired names of their own. For example, the Chinese men who labored in agricultural work became known as "coolies". While these imported Asian laborers were initially just replacement for agricultural slave labor, they gradually began to enter other sectors as the economy evolved. Before long, they had entered more urban work and the service sector. In certain areas, these populations assimilated into the minority populations, adding yet another definition to go on a casta.
In some areas, these new populations caused conflict. In Northern Mexico, tensions became inevitable when the United States began to shut off Chinese immigration in the early 1880s. Many who were originally bound for the United States were re-routed to Mexico. The rapid increase in population and rise to middle/upper class standing generated strong resentment among existing residents. These tensions lead to riots. In the state of Sonora, the entire Chinese population was expelled in 1929.
Today, the overwhelming majority of Asian Latin Americans are either of East Asian, or West Asian descent, many of whom arrived during the second half of the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s. Japanese migration mostly came to a halt after World War II, while Korean migration mostly came to an end by the 1980s. Chinese migration remains ongoing in a number of countries.
Settlement of war refugees has been extremely minor: a few dozen ex-North Korean soldiers settled in Argentina after the Korean War and some Hmong settled in French Guiana after the Vietnam War.

Roles in labor

Asian Latin Americans served various roles during their time as low wage workers in Latin America. In the second half of the nineteenth century, nearly a quarter of a million Chinese migrants in Cuba worked primarily on sugar plantations. The Chinese "coolies" who migrated to Peru took up work on the Andean Railroad or the Guano Fields. Over time the Chinese progressed to acquiring work in urban centers as tradesmen, restaurateurs and in the service industry. By the second decade of the nineteenth century, approximately 25,000 Chinese migrants in Mexico found relative success with small businesses, government bureaucracy, and intellectual circles. In the 1830s, the British and Dutch colonial governments also imported South Asians to work as indentured servants to places such as Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Curaçao and British Guiana. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Japanese immigrants reached Brazil and Peru. Much like the Chinese, the Japanese often worked as indentured servants and low wage workers for planters. Japanese work contracts were notably more short term than those of the Chinese and the process was closely monitored by the Japanese government to dissuade abuse and foul play. In both cases, the influx of Asian migrant workers was to fill the void left in the Latin American work forces after the abolition of slavery. Employers of all kinds were desperate for a low cost replacement for their slaves so those who did not participate in any illegal slave operations turned to the Asian migrants.

Geographic distribution

Four and a half million Latin Americans are of Asian descent. The number may be millions higher, even more so if all who have partial ancestry are included. For example, Asian Peruvians are estimated at 5% of the population there, but one source places the number of all Peruvians with at least some Chinese ancestry at 5 million, which equates to 20% of the country's total population.
The Chinese are the most populous Asian Latin Americans. Significant populations of Chinese ancestry are found in Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Costa Rica. Nicaragua is home to 14,000 ethnic Chinese; the majority reside in Managua and on the Caribbean coast. Smaller communities of Chinese, numbering just in the hundreds or thousands, are also found in Ecuador and various other Latin American countries. Many Latin American countries are home to barrios chinos.
Most who are of Japanese descent reside in Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay. Japanese Peruvians have a considerable economic position in Peru. Many past and present Peruvian Cabinet members are ethnic Asians, but most particularly Japanese Peruvians have made up large portions of Peru's cabinet members and former president Alberto Fujimori was of Japanese ancestry who was the only Asian Latin American to have ever served as the head of any Latin American nation. Brazil is home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan, numbering about 1.7 million with ancestry alone. Brazil is also home to 10,000 Indians, 5,000 Vietnamese, 4,500 Afghans, 2,900 Indonesians, 2,608 Malaysians, and 1,000 Filipinos.
Korean people are the third largest group of Asian Latin Americans. The largest community of this group is in Brazil with a population of 51,550. The second largest is in Argentina, with a population of 23,603 and with active Koreatowns in Buenos Aires. More 10,000 in Guatemala, and Mexico, This last with active communities in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Coatzacoalcos, Yucatan and Mexico City. More than 1,000 in Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Honduras and Peru where Jung Heung-won, a Korean Peruvian, was elected mayor in City of Chanchamayo. He is the first Mayor of Korean origin in Peru and all of Latin America. There are small and important communities in Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Puerto Rico.

Emigrant communities

Japan

numbered 250,000 in 2004, constituting Japan's second-largest immigrant population. Their experiences bear similarities to those of Japanese Peruvian immigrants, who are often relegated to low income jobs typically occupied by foreigners.

United States

In the 2000 US Census, 119,829 Hispanic or Latino Americans identified as being of Asian race alone. In 2006 the Census Bureau's American Community Survey estimated them at 154,694, while its Population Estimates, which are official, put them at 277,704.

Composition

Notable Asian Latino persons

Argentina
  • Juliana Awada, former First Lady of Argentina, Lebanese Argentine.
  • Carlos Balá, actor of Lebanese descent.
  • Yamila Diaz-Rahi, model of Lebanese descent.
  • Dumbfoundead, rapper Argentine-born Korean American Rapper.
  • Liu Song, table tennis player; Chinese Argentine.
  • Ignacio Huang, actor; Taiwanese Argentine.
  • Hoshitango Imachi, ex-sumo wrestler, Japanese Argentine.
  • Mario Alberto Ishii, political and mayor of the region José C. Paz, Japanese Argentine.
  • , actress and model, Korean Argentine.
  • Chang Sung Kim, actor, Korean Argentine.
  • María Kodama, writer of Japanese descent.
  • , martial artist, Japanese Argentine.
  • "Señorita Lee"; model, actress and television host; Korean Argentine.
  • , martial artist, Japanese Argentine.
  • Carlos Menem, lawyer and politician, former president of Argentina, Syrian Argentine.
  • Eduardo Menem, politician and brother of Carlos Menem, Syrian Argentine.
  • Jessica Michibata, fashion model; Japanese Argentine.
  • producer and TV director, Japanese Argentine.
  • Leonardo Nam, actor; Korean Argentine.
  • Jae Park, Korean American singer-songwriter born in Argentina.
  • , painter, Japanese Argentine.
  • María Eugenia Suárez, actress and singer; Japanese Argentine.
  • Alicia Terada, politician, Japanese Argentine.
  • Marco, actor; Korean Argentine.
  • Chanty, actress, model and singer; Filipina Argentine
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
  • Edgardo Abdala, footballer, Palestinian Chilean
  • Carlos Abumohor, businessman and investor, Palestinian Chilean
  • Roberto Bishara Adawi, footballer, Palestinian Chilean
  • Diamela Eltit, writer, Palestinian Chilean
  • Fernando Chomalí Garib, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Santiago, Palestinian Chilean
  • Daud Gazale, footballer, Palestinian Chilean
  • Ricardo Marzuca, professor at Universidad de Chile, Palestinian Chilean
  • Daniel Jadue, politician, Palestinian Chilean
  • Sergio Jadue, football executive, Palestinian Chilean
  • Alfonso Leng, composer; Chinese Chilean
  • Miguel Littin, movie director and screenwriter, Palestinian Chilean
  • Luis Musrri, footballer, Palestinian Chilean
  • Miguel Nasur Allel, businessman and football club owner, Palestinian Chilean
  • Carlos Ominami, economist and politician; Japanese Chilean
  • Quintín Quintana, businessmen; Chinese Chilean
  • José Said, businessman, Palestinian Chilean
  • Álvaro Saieh, businessman, Palestinian Chilean
  • Arturo Salah, former football player, Palestinian Chilean
  • Fernando Solabarrieta Chelech, journalist, TV presenter, Palestinian Chilean
  • Rafael Tarud, politician, Palestinian Chilean
  • José Zalaquett Daher, lawyer, Palestinian Chilean
  • Marko Zaror, martial artist, actor, Palestinian Chilean
Colombia
  • Shakira, of partial Lebanese descent
  • Farina, Colombian rapper and reggaeton singer of Peruvian and Lebanese descent.
  • José Kaor Dokú, ex-soccer player and ex-military; Japanese Colombian.
  • , Colombian actress, partial Japanese descent.
  • Yu Takeuchi, mathematician; Japanese Colombian.
  • , actress and model; Japanese Colombian.
  • Laura González, Miss Colombia 2017; Lebanese descent.
  • Jordy Monroy, footballer, born in Colombia; Armenian origin
  • Nydia Quintero Turbay, former First Lady of Colombia; Lebanese descent.
  • Julio César Turbay Ayala, former lawyer and politician, Also former President of Colombia; Lebanese descent.
  • Manuel Teodoro, American journalist of Colombian and Filipino descent.
  • Lisa, Japanese singer-songwriter; Colombian mother
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
  • , journalist and TV host; Chinese Honduran
  • Hajime waki, Musician; Japanese Honduran
Mexico
Nicaragua
Paraguay
  • Mario Abdo Benítez, President of Paraguay; Lebanese descent.
  • Mitsuhide Tsuchida, footballer, Japanese Paraguayan.
Panama
  • Jorge Cham, web comic creator of Piled Higher and Deeper, Chinese Panamanian.
  • Bruce Chen, pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, Chinese Panamanian.
  • Roberto Chen, Panamanian footballer of Chinese descent
  • Federico Fong, musician, Panamanian-born father of Chinese descent
  • Marelissa Him, model, part Chinese on her father's side
  • Shey Ling Him Gordon, Panama's delegate to the Miss World 2007 competition, Chinese Panamanian.
  • Sigrid Nunez, American writer
  • Mehr Eliezer - Winner of Señorita Panamá 2019, Indian Panamanian.
Peru
Puerto Rico
Uruguay
  • Alberto Abdala, Former Vice-president of Uruguay; Lebanese Uruguayan
  • Barbara Mori, Uruguyan-born Mexican actress; Japanese and Lebanese descent
Venezuela