Traffic jam: Mexican trucks--a decade and a half after the North
American Free Trade Agreement--sit and wait at the U.S. border.
Mexican Gabriel Rivas Vega, 40, works as a transfer driver in Mesa
de Otay, in the Mexican state of Baja California. Mesa de Otay is the
second-busiest Mexican border entry point in terms of cargo . . .
Just say yes: cheap cocaine is flooding U.S. streets. Time to let
the Bolivians figure a way out for us.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that a new U.S. drug
strategy is long overdue in the South American Andes. What will take
some special insight, however, is accepting that Bolivian . . .
Goodwill tour.
Always a lightning rod for opinion, U.S. President George W. Bush
recently toured Latin America looking to strengthen relations, visiting
Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. Supporters . . .
Equal share.(The Coffee Source )
EQUAL SHARE After many painful experiences in the global coffee
market, Arnoldo Leiva, general manager of The Coffee Source in Costa
Rica, finally decided to sell directly to clients. "There is . . .
Good neighbors.
More than a quarter century since its proposal, we're just now
coming to grips with free trade across North America. It's hard to
believe that the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) had . . .
Plastic for the masses: credit-card companies target small
businesses more than ever in Brazil.
A little more than a year ago, Marcos Haddad, owner of Sao Paulo
company Cafe Editora, did what most small business owners in Brazil did:
He and his partner used a personal credit card to pay . . .
The hunter.(Entrevista)
Luis Pena Kegel is general director of Banorte, the only Mexican
bank still in Mexican hands. During his more than two decades in the
financial world, Pena has held posts as the business . . .
Small sacrifice.
Just after his reelection, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva began calling his ministers "heroes." He was referring
to the fact that the ministers, usually former executives and some . . .
Shopaholics.
In Brazil, big companies have taken new steps that will concentrate
major areas of the country's economy. In one the biggest business
deals ever to take place in the country, Petrobras, the . . .
Venezuela: mayhem begins.
Venezuela's economy ran into a rough patch as the
country's inflation skyrocketed in January, expected at press time
to reach 27%, three times the anticipated target for 2007 of 10% to . . .
The tortilla mess.
What do poor Mexicans have to do with polar bears? Plenty in our
increasingly tiny global economy. Decisions made with the best of
intentions on one continent-economic development in . . .
Coast to coast.
With the stroke of a pen, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa
and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, signed an
accord creating the Amazonian Multimodal Axle (EMA), which will . . .
Money to burn.
MONEY TO BURN Brazilian sugar companies are spreading the gospel of
ethanol--fuel made from sugar or corn--across the developing world, from
the Caribbean to sub-Saharan Africa. Though ethanol has . . .
LT events: Latin Trade Bravo Business Awards.
Every year, more than 350,000 LATIN TRADE readers worldwide
nominate a broad array of Latin American leaders in government,
business, finance and technology, as well as mavericks in . . .
Argentina: good, bad and semi-ugly.
Argentina's economy is on the rebound. Jobs are on the rise.
So is credit access. Industrial and overall economic output indicators
have climbed steadily since the economy imploded at the end of . . .
LT roundtable: Panama Canal.
The Panama Canal expansion project, at a cost US$5.25 billion, has
a slew of international bankers lining up to finance it, making it
possibly Latin America's largest infrastructure project of . . .
Society of virtue: socially responsible companies grow in
efficiency, uniformity and credibility.
Public recognition of an organization stems directly from how it
builds upon its social capital, and for the length of its existence, how
it exercises certain virtues, including integrity, respect . . .
Middle ground.
Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega is working to change the way his
people look at themselves and at their neighbors.
His message: The country doesn't have to choose between the
United States and . . .
Baby steps.
BABY STEPS Despite all the media hype and debates, there is still
some confusion about what the Miami Summit actually agreed on. Many
Brazilians, for example, believe the Miami Summit agreed to . . .
Bigger than life.
The comparison would infuriate him, but Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez has at least one thing in common with his supposed nemesis, U.S.
President George W. Bush: an outsized ego. Historians . . .
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