June 13, 2017 Newsletter
THE REGION
Colombian airline granted 15 years to operate in Argentina
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Colombian-based airline Avianca can begin flying in Argentina on July 11 after winning a concession to operate in the country for 15 years, the City Paper in Bogota reports. The carrier plans to service 16 routes in the country. The airline plans to invest about $180 million, including the purchase on six planes. “We have to connect Argentina, a country with fewer internal flights than 30 years ago,” Avianca CEO Germán Efromovich tells La Nación newspaper. COSTA RICA
Scientists able to produce biofuel from pineapples
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You can’t get blood out of a turnip, but apparently you can get power from a pineapple. The Costa Rica News reports that researchers from University of Costa Rica, the Research Institute of Engineering and the Central American Network of Engineering Institutes were able to gasify pineapple scraps to generate electricity. Costa Rica is the region’s top producer of pineapples, with more than 50 thousand hectares under cultivation. Environmentalists blame pineapple plantains for polluting water and creating other ecological problems. PERU
Air quality standards lowered at the request on mining industry
In the face of criticism from the mining industry and the president, regulators in Peru relaxed air quality standards, Reuters reports via Business Insider. President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and mining industry leaders complained that the previous set of standards was unrealistic and beyond the capability of current technology. Peru is the world’s second leading copper producer. Details
MEXICO
Top avocado growers look to increase shipments to China
The China Daily reports that Mexican avocado exports to China have grown from 16.7 tons in 2009 to more than 10,000 tons in 2016. Avocado producers are hoping to increase shipments as the nation strives to become the top exporter in the world. Currently almost 80 percent of Mexican avocado exports are to the United States. Details
Mexican sugar producers asking for probe on U.S. fructose dumping
The Mexican sugar industry insists that there is “solid” evidence that the United States dumped fructose on the Mexican market, Reuters reports.. The issue looms even as the two countries try to work out an agreement on sugar trade. “This issue with the U.S. sugar industry is not over,” Juan Cortina, the head of the Mexican sugar trade association, tells reporters. Details
FUN IN THE SUN
Visit Xanadu, which is close to Xunantunich
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Off the coast of Belize, Xanadu on Ambergris Caye prides itself on offering eco-friendly vacations. Surrounded by natural vegetation, the resort is just off the second-largest coral reef in the world. Xanadu offers numerous activities, including snorkeling, zip lines, and cave tubing. The resort offers excursions on the main land, including tours of the Lamanai jungle river and the Mayanan ruins at Xunantunich.