PANAMA CITY - Until recently, Latin American leaders treated
racism as if it were somebody else's problem. South American
presidents in 2000 even issued a statement condemning its
resurgence in "other parts of the world." If Afro-Latin
Americans were poorer and less educated than whites, and
underrepresented in government or corporations, the thinking
went, it was a problem of class, not skin color. Then, a quiet
but stunning U-turn. Governments have not only stopped ignoring
racism but are drafting anti-discrimination laws, negotiating a
tough hemispheric agreement to deter racism and counting the
number of blacks in their midst -- all moves that activists say
are needed to lift the veil of invisibility that has shrouded
Afro-Latin Americans for centuries. These advances have not come
with the searing drama that marked the U.S. civil rights
movement. But for a region where many blacks have long led a
marginalized existence, it is heady stuff. "That there is an
awareness that you need to create government ins