Mortality National mortality statistics for Latinos, even if they are available, are not reliable. Until recently, neither national data sets nor death certificates contained Latino identifiers.4 Despite this, there have been some comparative studies of mortality rates between Latinos and non-Latino whites by specific causes. While these studies have limitations, they do suggest that mortality rates due to diabetes are higher for both Latino men and women than for non-Latinos.18 These rates are especially high among Mexican and Puerto Rican women, appearing as the fourth leading cause of death for these two groups.19 The single greatest complication of diabetes across Latinos is heart disease. While data are not available on the heart disease mortality that is secondary to diabetes, we do know that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among Mexican Americans, who make up 63% of the U.S. Latino population. Within this group, Spanish speakers have the highest cardiac mortality.16 Although cardiovascular mortality is declining in this country, it is declining more slowly in the Latino population and is still the leading cause of death among older Latinos.20