202 Latin American indigenismo Pueblo perform a snake dance in northern Mexico in 1900 Indigenous cultures in Latin America were threatened throughout the 20th century, and European-based culture continues to dominate the region today prejudice against Indians in daily life continued, and the “whitening” of Latin America persists to the modern day as evidenced by Latin American film, television, and advertising In Peru, a stark division exists between the country’s indigenous groups in the highlands and the white, black, and mestizo population of the coastal region Peruvian Indians literally existed outside the national community The middle-class indigenismo movement of Peru advanced national solidarity by calling for the integration of these two distinct populations Men such as Víctor Rẳl Haya de la Torre took the ideas of indigenismo and created a political movement based on the belief that true national values came from Peru’s indigenous cultures Haya de la Torre and others rejected European culture in favor of building a national iden- tity from the cultural heritage of Peru’s Indian peoples In addition, Peru’s constitution, promulgated on January 18, 1920, recognized the legal existence of Indian communities and protected these groups through special laws aimed at indigenous development and culture The creation of the Indian Affairs Department in the Ministry of Development was charged with supervising the implementation of the constitutional measures designed to protect the rights of Indian peoples Despite such seeming advances in Indian legal rights, reality painted a different picture Change was very slow, and many of the constitution’s laws designed to protect Indians were delayed or only partially enforced Although the adherents of indigenismo likely felt they acted with the best intentions, indigenismo in Latin America existed as a construction of the white