Cultural organization or illicit association? Latin Kings between Madrid and Barcelona

Abstract

This paper analyzes the ways in which the differential social attitude towards latin kings and queens in different parts of Spain results in substantially different public policies towards them. To prove this, we discuss the first results of an I-D+i public research project that has allowed us to carry out fieldwork with groups of Latin Kings & Queens in Barcelona and Madrid. The policies in both cities are radically different, and so are the situations on the ground. This paper focuses in two moments of the process which had an important public impact: the investiture of the Organización Cultural de Reyes y Reinas Latinos in Catalonia (in July 2006), and the judicial process for illegal association against the group of Latin Kings linked to the Sagrada Tribu América Spain in Madrid (in April 2007). This comparison reveals that the differences in the situation of both collectives respond more to the nature and consequences of the public policies implemented than to some presumed sociocultural traits of the young migrants.