HONG KONG — On the way to the airport in early 1990, I saw a strange face among the profusion and confusion of election posters. Not a European grandee, or indigenous Indian, or mestizo, or mulatto. It was more like Chinese, but surely not in this heart of Latin America.
Who is that? I asked Mario, the front-runner in the presidential race. Oh, just one of the many candidates who are opposing me, he declared loftily — no one to be interested in.
Others in the entourage called the candidate "El Chino" or "Chinaman," a term of affection as well as disparagement.
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