Latin America’s Social Media Adoption Soars
September 22nd, 2011Argentina ranks third in the world in social media usage
By Dan Berthiaume
While Latin America does not yet represent the same type of social networking market as North America, Europe, or the Asia-Pacific region, social networking is rapidly changing the digital landscape of Latin America. According to a new study from comScore, “The Rise of Social Networking in Latin America,” in June 2011, 114.5 million people in Latin America visited a social networking site, representing 96% of the entire online population in the region.
Ortega’s Head of Foreign Investment Opens Up about BPO, Venezuela and Getting the Facts Out There
August 22nd, 2011
By Luke Bujarski
In an exclusive behind-closed-doors interview, Nearshore Americas and market research firm Ovum teamed up to speak with Mr. Alvaro Baltodano, politically appointed head of investment promotion for Nicaragua’s Ortega Administration. From labor capacity to investor perceptions, Mr. Baltodano was very well informed and open to talk about the key issues.
By Patrick Haller
When President Obama made a tour of Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in March 2011, many saw this as a signal of his commitment to the region, and a positive sign that the US would be endeavoring to shore-up its trade relations there.
Colombia’s President Santos Wields Regional Influence
August 9th, 2011Source: Washington Post
PAIPA, Colombia – Juan Manuel Santos is burdened by thorny challenges aplenty as he marks a year in office: sophisticated drug traffickers, criminal gangs marauding in the provinces, hit-and-run attacks by Latin America’s last rebel army.
What Colombia’s president is relieved not to be facing is what his U.S. counterpart grapples with daily: a powerful opposition.
All but token opposition has melted away as Santos forged an agenda that aims to ease the very inequalities that Colombia’s leftist rebels cite as ideological justification for their half-century-old insurgency.
“Fortunately, I’m not in President Obama’s position. I’m fortunate to have 95 percent of the Congress with me,” Santos, his smile widening, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Even the party of the candidate defeated by Santos last year, the Greens, has joined the governing coalition. The media is solidly behind him, his approval ratings consistently top 70 percent and …
Q/A: Argentina Tech’s Biggest Believer
August 8th, 2011
Kolodziej: "Most people involved in tech are fully fluent in English"
By Patrick Haller
Argentina’s tech sector is thriving, despite a less than stellar level of public sector stimulus. One of the most dynamic and tireless believers in Argentina’s potential is Vanessa Kolodziej – CEO of BA Accelerator, and a co-founder of the popular startup advocacy group, Palermo Valley. We caught up with Kolodziej to find out what’s really behind Argentina’s emergence.
Chavez Outsources Chemo Treatment to Cuba
July 18th, 2011Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Cuba late Saturday to begin chemotherapy, after undergoing surgery last month to remove a cancerous tumor.
Before boarding his plane in Caracas, Chavez said he was going away for a few days, but the length of his stay in Cuba is not known.
Earlier in the day, President Chavez delegated some of his powers to Vice President Elias Jaua and Finance Minister Jorge Giordani, after the national assembly approved his trip. He resisted calls from the opposition to temporarily hand over the presidency to the vice president during his absence.
Chavez had surgery in Cuba to remove the tumor and returned home July 4, one day before Venezuela celebrated the 200th anniversary of its independence from Spain.
The Venezuelan leader did not indicate the type of cancer he had, and questions remain about how sick he is. While in Cuba, Chavez also underwent …
Cuba Would Hurt If Venezuela’s Chavez Is Replaced
July 6th, 2011Cuba would plunge swiftly into chaos if Venezuela’s ailing President Hugo Chávez is replaced by someone less willing to subsidize Havana to the tune of $3.5 billion this year, analysts say.
Havana already is divided between older leaders determined to maintain a friendly regime in Caracas at all costs, they added, and others who view Chávez’ subsidies as disincentives to the profound economic reforms that Cuba desperately needs.
Chávez, who has been Cuba’s top ally and benefactor for nearly a decade and considers Fidel Castro as his top political mentor, announced from a Havana hospital Thursday that he has cancer, sparking immediate speculation about his and Venezuela’s political future.
A charismatic populist, he has no clear successor as head of the “21st Century socialism” also embraced in Bolivia and Nicaragua — and plenty of opponents ready to challenge his 12-year grip on power in presidential elections scheduled for next …
If Hugo Goes…
June 29th, 2011Until now, the most frequently asked question about Hugo Chávez’s virtually one-man rule in Venezuela was whether he would be prepared to relinquish power if he lost an election. That question has become even more germane in view of next year’s presidential contest, as El Presidente faces a country arguably in worse shape than at any moment since his regime began a dozen years ago.
Today, however, another crucial question — one that has seldom been posed — looms: What would happen if Chávez were incapacitated and unable to serve as president? What if he died while in office? Who would succeed him? How would a successor be chosen?
The current mystery surrounding the usually omnipresent and glib 56-year-old former paratrooper has given rise to such questions. Since June 10, Chávez has been hospitalized in Havana, Cuba. Senior Venezuelan sources reported that Chávez had surgery on a pelvic …
Chile Advances Three Places in World Competitiveness Ranking
May 25th, 2011Source: Emol via Invest in Chile/Corfo
Chile went up from the 28th place to the 25 position in the 2011 world competitiveness ranking, which is carried out every year by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland and that in this version included 59 countries.
The first five places of the ranking belong to Hong Kong, United States, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland, which respectively occupied the second, third, first, sixth and fourth place in 2010.
Filling out the rest of the top 10 on the list – which has been recorded since 1989 – is completed by Taiwan (8th place in 2010), Canada (7th), Qatar (15th), Australia (5th) and Germany (16th).
In the last positions we find Greece (56th), Ukraine (57th), Croatia (58th) and Venezuela (59th).
In regional terms, Chile is the country with the best evaluation, located in the 25th place, leaving Mexico 13 places behind in the 38th place, …
Venezuela, Argentina Have Highest Inflation in the World, Study Says
April 13th, 2011Source: Latin Business Chronicle
Venezuela posted the world’s highest inflation last year, followed by Argentina, according to a Latin Business Chronicle analysis of data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 186 countries worldwide.
In Latin America, Peru and El Salvador boast the lowest rates.
Venezuela’s rate of 28.2 percent was higher than African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Angola.
Meanwhile, Argentina posted an inflation of 26.6 percent last year, according to Rodrigo Alvarez, chief economist at Ecolatina, a private consultancy in Buenos Aires co-founded by former economy minister Roberto Lavagna.
Argentina’s government reported an inflation rate of 10.9 percent last year, but private-sector economists doubt official figures after years of manipulation of the state statistics agency INDEC.
Except for Venezuela and Argentina, all countries in Latin America last year posted single-digit inflation.
