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Latin passion fizzles in Taipei

By Yu Sen-lun
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Sep 01, 2002, Page 18

It's 2pm and at Juliana's, a popular dance club on Civil Boulevard, and they are pumping out Latin rhythms. For Adolfo and his friends, its a chance to dance to the music that feels particularly their own.

For Adolfo, who is from Honduras, the passion on the dance floor has been tainted by the recent sex scandal involving Ruben Dario Benitez Palma, first secretary of Paraguay Embassy.

The highly publicized incident, in which a woman identified as "Miss A" accused Palma of transmitting a venereal disease to her and three other local women.

As the accusation was made during the visit of Paraguayan president Luis Gonzalez Macchi, and was supported by two PFP legislators Chin Hui-chu (秦慧珠) and Lee Yung-ping (李永萍), the accusation gained considerable media attention. This quickly degenerated into a smear campaign which has seen many of the features associated with Latin culture -- passion, spontaneity and physicality -- transformed into a perception of Latin Americans as promiscuous.

Tony and Betty Hsu, above, are the All-Taiwan professional Latin dance champions. Revellers, left, dance the night away at a Taipei club. PHOTOS: YU SEN-LUN, TAIPEI TIMES

As the case developed, Palma put forward medical reports proving he did not have any STD during a press conference.

Responding to Palma's claims, Miss A said he was "full of lies! You cannot trust guys from South America. They are all liars." Although it emerged that Ms A's background was rather less simple than it had been portrayed -- a local TV news program reported that she was a hostess and singer at a local bar -- Palma is awaiting a transfer out of Taiwan.

But for Adolfo and many Latin Americans residing Taiwan, the damage has been done.

" Foreigners have it easy here [picking up girls]. But this has nothing to do with being Latin. ... They are very easy. They come to you, saying `you are handsome,' and soon afterwards will give you their numbers. ... There was one time I was seeing five Taiwanese girls at on time.

-- A Latino resident of Taipei who preferred to remain anonymous

"We are just appalled. There are two legislators accompanying the girl, and the they chose [to come forward] when the president of Paraguay was here. It is just a way to create attention," said a man from Guatemala who preferred to remain anonymous. He said he had worked in the same building as Palma and described him as a decent man and not the sort of person to create sex problems for women.

Taiwan's Latin American population is not particularly large, comprising mostly diplomatic staff and students.

According to the National Police Administration (警政署), the total number of foreign residents from Central or South Americas in Taiwan is less than 600. Even if the number of foreign laborers is deducted, this still accounts for less than one percent of Taiwan's foreign residents. The number of Latin American residents in Taiwan has only increased by 147 people over the last five years.

Compared to North Americans and Europeans, Latin Americans are definitely in a minority, and the recent attention has made them feel more vulnerable.

Thanks to the World Cup football game and Ricky Martin, Taipei now has a number of bars playing Latin pop. Adolfo and his friends favor places such as Julianas, which plays a 45-minute session of Latin music at weekends, Zigazaga from Grand Hyatt hotel, which has a Latin night on Wednesday called Club Flamenco, and Carnegie's, which occasionally plays Latin pop.

Although Latin rhythms may have gained some degree of popularity, Adolfo says that despite -- or even because of -- incidents such as the accusations against Palma, Latin Americans gain little benefit from the "Latin Lover" myth. Not only that, but after the recent media attention, the Latin fever that some dance establishments have been playing up is becoming more like a Latin plague.

Adolfo worries about the reputation of Latin Americans in Taiwan. Being both an MBA student and a Spanish teacher at a university in Taipei, he already feels some negative response from his Taiwanese colleagues and students.

"My students were angry over the news and began to think that all Latin Americans were like that," he said.

Some feel that the Palma incident, whatever the ultimate rights or wrongs, have put Latin Americans at an even greater disadvantage than before -- especially when it came to dancing with or dating local girls.

"Foreigners have it easy here [picking up girls]. But this has nothing to do with being Latin," said one man from Central American who wished to remain anonymous. We'll call him Mr L.

L was also angry about the Palma incident, saying the accusation from the Taiwanese girl and two legislators was wrong. "I also went out with her for a few weeks!" he said. "There are always those kinds of girls who like foreigners and like to have many boyfriends," he added.

"They are very easy. They come to you, saying `you are handsome,' and soon afterwards will give you their numbers," L said. "There was one time I was seeing five Taiwanese girls at one time." But L pointed out that this had no relationship to his culture. "They had no interest to know about my culture. It's not even about language or cultural exchange. For them, it's just about being different."

Adolfo may not agree with L's comments about Taiwanese girls, but is convinced that foreigners from English-speaking countries are more popular with Taiwanese. "There may be Latin fever in America, but not here. People still prefer blonde hair and blue eyes," he said.

In other words, for L and Adolfo, the STD incident is just a deformed reflection of those wild nights and passions between foreign men and local girls that take place every weekend at bars all around the city. It's just that this time, it was a Latin American who got involved.

"People really get the wrong idea about Latin culture," said Gabriela from Costa Rica. "There might be an impulsive quality. We are passionate about things and people. We touch and kiss each other a lot. We even say `I love you' very often," adding that this has nothing to do with being sexually promiscuous.

Basically, for Gabriela, it's a male thing rather than a Latin thing. "Some men from my culture, in fact, many foreign men in Taiwan, behave in a disgusting way. They have been irresponsible for too long. So this incident is also a good lesson for them," Gabriela said.

And the music plays on.
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