"Naturalistic" views on the socio-spatial segregation of Latin American cities tend to dominate academic and public policy discussions. Social inequality or "classism", which is indeed strong and persistent traits of these societies, would make segregation inevitable and efforts to control it would be illusory. In contrast, the authors argue that there are no cultural, sociological or economic obstacles to reducing segregation. The authors highlight the importance of land policies focused on reducing segregation given the growth of ghettos characterized by desperation and crime in historically segregated poor neighborhoods.