Culturally speaking: Why do People think Latin America is a color blind Environment?

I've been doing a lot of research on Latin America and I was surprised to read about the amount of discrimination towards Blacks in Latin America. For example, Colombia has a "Civil Rights Department" Specifically for Afro-Colombians who face discrimination. Also Venezuela and Ecuador has the same issue.I also read there is conflict in Brazil with people of African descent. In addition I also found out of the black macre in The Dominican Republic that was carried out in order to purify the race. In Cuba Blacks are not allowed to work high ranking jobs because they are reserved for the Non-Blacks Cubans. I always thought Latin America was a color blind Environment until a few years ago when I started learning about Latin American politics.