I witnessed the local gap between rich and poor in a striking form while working in Malaysia but this did not compare with the stark differences I later found on an extended trip to Colombia, Chile, Peru and Brazil. Here the gap was not only economic. I found that it was also one of ignorance on the part of the middle classes. If I questioned one of them about the peasantry the usual response was an impatient, disdainful "I don't know anything about such people".
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