"♪ I Like to Be in [Latin] America ♪"

Latin America, once held in very low esteem as backward, by North America and Europe, has come into its own as a progressive region on many fronts. The El Salvador Congress has just overridden a presidential veto, to approve a ban on smoking in closed spaces. Obviously, they have really taken a bold step in a country where, as most of its neighbors, democracy isn't all that firmly established, after decades of autocratic rulers and bloody civil wars. In this regard, so did Honduras, which, back in February, passed a law that allows relatives to call the police on their kin, if they smoke around the house. Whether one may find it somewhat extreme, it's just another example of how seriously that country has taken the idea that smoking is deadly.

Something to think about, the next time you hear someone disparaging Latin America.