Hosting of spanish site with 50% traffic in South America

Advice needed on whether to host my site in Spain or South America

[johoney]

Hi - My sites attract approximately 50% traffic from Spain and the other 50% from central and South America.

Does it make SEO, and speed sense to host it in Spain or South America.

Currently its hosted in the US. I've only heard bad things about hosting in South America and Spain is expensive.

I also heard at Search Engine Strategies that its a good idea to host your site close to your audience.

All opinions welcome. And if you can recommend hosts all the better.

Saludos