Are Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador considered part of the Caribbean?
A. Yes, they are part of the continental or Greater Caribbean. They are traditionally seen as part of Latin America (to which the insular Hispanic territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic also belong). These eight Spanish-speaking countries are not traditionally included in the above listing (A.1) of Caribbean countries. List A.1 includes the physical islands of the archipelago (regardless of language affiliation), and the four “linguistic islands” (English, French and Dutch) in an Iberian “sea.” (Latin America should really be called Iberian America, since although French is also a Latin language, French Guiana is not included in Latin America.) The four non-Iberian continental “islands” are Belize in Central America, and Guyana, Suriname and Guyane (French Guiana) in South America. (Note that Spanish is also spoken in English-official Belize.) South and Central America are often thought to be synonymous with Latin America, but they are not. Trinidad, for example,
