Disney Unveils First Latino Princess: Are Activists Right to Be Angry?

Disney had latino and hispanic characters appearing in their films, shorts and television shows since short "Don Donald" (1937) (it contained the character Donna Duck which was Donald Duck's first love interest before the character Daisy Duck was created) and the company's real 6th full length feature film,"Saludos Amigos" ("Hello Freinds") which was made and released in 1942 . In fact, Disney even had a studio under another name making films for the mexican and south American markets of which many never aired or was released in the North American USA/Canada market. I know this because, in the 1970's i had received, as a Christmas gift, the book "The Art of Walt Disney" which detailed the history of the company and this part was described in the book. Also when I was a child, Disney records released several LP albums containing stories (like books on tape) from their TV shows and feature films which my parents gave me a few of them and I had played them often. One of them, "The Littlest Outlaw" (12/22/1955) was the story of a little Mexican boy, Pablito who steals a horse in order to save the horse from death at the hands of an abusive owner and trainer. That story was made for TV and aired on the Wonderful world of Disney television program. Another Disney LP was "Songs From South Of The Border", a compilation of songs from "Saludos Amigos", "Melody Time", and "The three Caballeros". The funny part is my family is not Latino or Hispanic at all, I'm an American of German Irish decent. Therefore I know that Disney always had these characters and they range from heroes to villains. It is that with Sofia and "Once Upon a Princess" Disney is just placing Latinos and Hispanics front and center which was naturally going to happen anyway.

But I going to back to Saludos Amigos because it is an interesting story.
http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/...
"Saludos Amigos is the sixth full-length animated feature film in the Disney animated features canon, released in 1942. It is the first of the six Disney "Package films" made during World War 2, when many members of the production staff were drafted into the war. Due to this decrease in resources, the company could not afford to make feature-length stories during this time and instead produced films composed of multiple shorter segments. Set in Latin America, it is made up of four different segments; Donald Duck stars in two of them and Goofy stars in one. It also features the first appearance of José Carioca. Saludos Amigos was popular enough that Walt Disney decided to make another film about Latin America, The Three Caballeros, to be produced two years later. The film was made partially because several Latin American governments had close ties with Nazi Germany, and the US government wanted to counteract those ties. Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters were popular in Latin America, and Walt Disney acted as ambassador."
Here are a few of Disney's Latino/Hispanic Characters.(pictures of the characters to be added later)
Donna Duck from "Don Donald"
José Carioca (voiced by Jose Olivera and Rob Pualsen) from "Saludos Amigos", "The Three Caballeros" (1944) and "Melody Time" (1948) and cameos in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988)(when all the characters spill out of Toontown at the end, he is there.) , and "The house Of Mouse". Yeah, he is kind of important to Disney along with Panchito Pistoles.
http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/...
"José was created during the World War II events via the "Good Neighbor Policy" to enforce Brazil's cooperation. He represents every aspect of the typical Brazilian folk: he is smart and friendly, always on a good mood. His clothes represent the Brazilian "Malandros" ("Ladies Men" in Portuguese), and his happiness resembles that of Rio de Janeiro. From the end of the Second World War until 1949, American films were not allowed to be exported to Occupied Europe, which included Disney cartoons. To find a new market to make up for this, Walt Disney focused on the South American market, and used José Carioca to help promote this."

Panchito Pistoles - full name - Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González - from "The Three Caballeros" and cameos in the house of Mouse. the Segment where he desribes Christmas traditions in Mexico from "The Three Caballeros" is used in many Disney holiday videos.

The Aracuan Bird from "The Three Caballeros", "Melody Time" and several Donald Duck shorts and The House of Mouse episodes. Voiced by Pinto Colvig and Frank Welker.

Audrey Rocio Ramirez from "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001) and it's sequal."Milo's Return". Voiced by Jacqueline Obradors. favorite quote from her, "Two for Flinching."

Tito from "Oliver and Company" (1988) and Ramone from "Cars"(2006), "cars 2" and all the pixar "cars shorts" were both voiced by Cheech Martin.


http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/...
"Gabriella is a Deaf Latina mermaid, who uses only Sign Language, and dreams of becoming a singer in Disney's 1992-93 television series The Little Mermaid, which is set between both its prequel and 1989 film. Gabriella's sign language is translated by her octopus friend Ollie. This character is based on a real person who was a fan of the show and died during its first season"

Pedro from "Lady and the Tramp" - the dog pound scene.

LaCienega Boulevardez from "The Proud Family"

Angelica ( Penélope Cruz) from "Pirates Of The Carribean, On Stranger Tides" (2011)

Greasy from "Who Framed Rodger Rabbit".

Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) from the "High School Musical" movies.

"Ferdinand The Bull" (1938)
and a ton more characters.