While it likely assists to establish the voice, the frequent use of Spanish words within the text are starting to annoy me. When I read, I like to get into the movement of the story and while I can remember or guess at many of the meanings, I find myself unwilling to go look up the ones I do not recognize. To top it off, of the two sites I use for translation, one is screwed up with a Circuit City ad and refuses to translate, and the other doesn't know most of the words.
Now it's easy enough to skim over these and get the drift, but between these and the frequency of long footnotes establishing some background history of the country and the politics, I find the halting of the story too intrusive and have taken to ignore them.
Not a great policy for one dedicated to close reading.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology