I don't know about you, but I really know squat about Latin America.
Oh I have been to haiti, Mexico , a few of the Islands.
One of my closest friends here, is puerto Rican, oops, that really us , and next my door neighbor Luis is from Peru, and down on the second floor a Brazialian, I know they speak Portugese there and thats about it.
Oil from Venezuela, drugs from Mexico, Columbia, there is Chavez, meat and oil from Venezula, Gacho's too and the pamaps and my South American mutual funds have recovered nicely, if only Japan would{sigh}.
This is a interesting article of a quick synopses of how Laten America is doing, the shakers and movers as far as major countries.
Thought a few others might know squat too and be interested.
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english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/2011322112136636199.html#---------------------------------------------------
{ Click on link to go to article}
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Obama's visit comes at a time when Latin American countries are rapidly freeing themselves from US hegemony, Castaneda says [AFP]
"US president Barack Obama's current swing through Latin America will probably be short on substance, long on rhetorical flourishes and symbolism, and may include a few announcements affecting American business in the region. More importantly, he will see real success stories, and how Latin America as a whole has changed.
The main change is that Latin America is splitting in two. Indeed, this might be the last trip that a US president ever makes to Latin America. Later visits will be either to South America, or to Mexico and the Caribbean Basin.
Chile's success is old, if still inspiring, news. More than two decades of democratic rule and economic growth practically ensure that, simply by staying the course, the country will achieve lower-tier developed status by 2020.
And there is every reason to believe that it will stay the course, even if president Sebastián Piñera, who will preside over Chile's best economic performance in 15 years, is succeeded by former president and rival Michele Bachelet in 2014.
Even the country's proverbial inequality is beginning to shrink, albeit slowly, and lower-middle-class living standards are finally rising to where they should have been a decade ago.
Brazil's success is also well known. Millions of families have been lifted out of poverty. Inequality has diminished, though from astronomically high levels. The economy is growing at a sustainable pace. As long as China and India maintain their insatiable appetite for commodities, Brazil’s exports will finance today's consumer boom.
In the international arena, the new president, Dilma Roussef, has pulled back from Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's many excesses (indifference to human rights abuses, support for Iran and its nuclear program, and rhetorical anti-Americanism) during his last year in office, and may even have a present for Obama.
Brazil has been mulling whom to pick to renew its air force's fighter fleet, and, whereas Lula favoured France, Roussel cancelled that option and may be leaning toward the US"