Contenders for the US Democratic presidential nomination have held a live translated debate on the US' main Spanish-language TV station.
Seven presidential candidates were at the historic event, including the three front runners, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former South Carolina Senator John Edwards.
Moderators from the Univision television network asked questions in Spanish and the candidates, wearing earpieces, heard a translation in English. The answers were given in English and translated into Spanish for viewers.
The format did not favour New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Senator Christopher Dodd, both fluent Spanish speakers.
Mr Richardson was even cut off when he sought to answer a question in Spanish, and he chided Univision for allowing an English-only format.
One of the main topics at the debate was immigration.
Mr Richardson described the fence along the US-Mexico border, which Senators Clinton, Obama and Dodd voted for, as a horrendous example of misguided Washington policy.
He said that if you build a 12ft wall, people will make a lot of 13ft ladders. He added that it was a terrible symbol of America.
Most candidates also emphasised their immigrant roots, with Mr Obama mentioning that his father came from a small village in Africa, while former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel mentioned his French heritage.
In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W Bush received about 40% of the estimated 7.6 million Hispanic votes.
Univision planned to sponsor a similar debate among Republicans next week, but cancelled after only one contender, Senator John McCain, agreed to participate.
The US has no official language, though some English-only activists have tried to encourage official use of English. Some local jurisdictions sensitive to changing US cultural norms have reacted by passing local laws requiring the use of English for government business.
The estimated number of people of Hispanic cultural origins in the US in 2006 was 44.3 million, making them the largest ethnic or race minority.
