All too often, news reports, statistics, and the media refer to the Latino community as one uniform group of people, sharing a common culture and language. This is a serious fallacy. While some common values exist, there are substantial cultural and practical differences between the many groups that make up the Hispanic population of the United States. Disregarding these differences is akin to disregarding the differences between the peoples of different English-speaking nations – unrealistic at best.

Immigrants from many different nations contribute to the United State's growing Latino population, and they bring with them a wide range of cultural and economic experiences and values. That's not to say that different Hispanic communities do not have any cultural values in common – they do:

·        Strong family bonds – Latinos believe strongly that families should look after each other and that successful individuals should contribute to their family's welfare. It's normal for elderly parents to be cared for by their daughters.

·        Strong cultural identification – Latinos are passionate about their culture and heritage.

·        Religious faith – as a legacy of Spain's colonial heritage, almost all Spanish-speaking countries are strongly Catholic or Christian.

It is probably these similarities that so often lead people to assume that there are no significant cultural differences between different Latino communities. To understand this diversity a little better, it is worth considering the many different countries from which Latino communities can originate. Mexico is the largest and most obvious contributor, but countries such as Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Cuba, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic all have migrant communities in the United States. In fact, the whole of Central & South America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean is represented.

With such a large geographic area being represented as one community, it becomes more obvious that substantial diversity must exist within the Hispanic community. Some of the main differences are:

• Pre-immigration educational and economic status – the standards of education and the GDP of Latinos' countries of origin varies widely. As in any society, educational and economic circumstances play a significant role in setting cultural values and expectations.

• Cuisine – indigenous Mexican cuisine is quite different from indigenous Honduran or Cuban food.

• Personal experiences leading to migration – some areas of South and Central America have always been politically turbulent and this will inevitably lead to differing personal experiences and reasons for migration. Such variation will naturally lead to differing expectations and values for migrants.

• Language – although Spanish is the common language, there are many regional variations in use that can sometimes substantially alter the vocabulary in use.

• Color and self-identification – Hispanic is no longer available as a choice to indicate racial grouping for the US Census survey. It is now widely considered that its historic inclusion was incorrect, and Latinos tend to identify themselves with a variety of ethnic groups, according to their backgrounds.

Cultural diversity within the Latino community is very real. While Latinos are often identified as one group, and in some cases identify themselves as one group, the diversity of their backgrounds and experiences means that their cultural, economic and social expectations are as varied as their countries of origin.