201712.13
0

TLA TIMES | December 13, 2017

in TLA News

A Snapshot of LatinAmerican News

 

SNAPSHOT

Bolivia’s military spending as pct. of GDP.

Source: data.worldbank.org

EXCHANGE RATE


Figures from Dic. 13 Source: www.xe.com

FUN IN THE SUN

Book a trip to National Library of Brazil.
  
In a world where you can find any book Amazon carries on an app on your phone, the physical library has lost some of its allure. Still, the National Library of Brazil seems worth a visit. The building was erected in 1810, but its history goes back more than 50 years before when an earthquake hit the Portuguese Royal Library in Lisbon, causing great damage. It was decided to move much of the collection to Brazil. Today it is the seventh largest library in the world, housing more than 9 million items, including more than 21,000 rare photographs.   Details
BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA

Philippines moves closer to importing cattle from Latin America.

The Philippine Star reports that officials in the Philippines are trying to work with the World Organization of Animal Health to craft regulations to allow the import of cattle from Argentina and Brazil while keeping the nation free of hoof-and-mouth disease. The current proposal involves a six-month quarantine and limits the imported animals to two islands. Details

BRAZIL

Domestic sneaker company money boots Nike from top spot.

Brazil-based Olympikus is the No.1 sneaker seller in its home market for the first time since 2011, knocking Oregon-based Nike off the top perch, Bloomberg reports. Nike and Adidas muscled in on the Brazilian market with major promotional pushes and grabbed market share when the country played host to the World Cup in 2014 and to the Olympics in 2016. Olympikus underwent a massive restructuring that gave it a leaner manufacturing operation and allowed the shoe-maker to deliver product to retailers more quickly, cutting down the inventory that stores had to carry. The company also acquired a brand popular with older women that helped boost Olympikus’ market share. Details

MEXICO

Ford will make electric SUVs in Mexico instead of Michigan.

Ford is shifting production of a small, electric SUV from a plant in Michigan to one in Mexico, Bloomberg reports via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The model, which has no name yet, is expected to have small margins, so the lower wages in Mexico make it more feasible to build there, one analyst says. The move also frees up the Michigan plant to build a self-driving car that is the works. Details

Ford tells suppliers its moving sedan production out of Mexico to China.

Reuters reports via U.S. News and World Report that Ford has told suppliers it is moving production of two midsize sedans from a plant in Hermosillo, Mexico and one in Spain to China. The models affected are the Fusion and Mondeo. The change won’t take place until 2020. Ford had already said it was moving production of the compact Focus from Mexico to China. Sales for both the Fusion and Mondeo are down by more than 20 percent this year. Details

Michoacan avocado growers rely on vigilantes to keep drug cartels out.

Business Insider reports that in the heart of avocado country, growers must fight for control of their land with the infamous drug cartels. The avocado business can be lucrative as well. At one point, authorities believe, the Knights Templar cartel was getting more money from avocados than from drugs. The farmers rely on vigilante groups known as autodefensa to fight back against the cartels. In the town of Tancitaro, the autodefensa has evolved into a kind of municipal law-enforcement agency, financed by avocado growers.  Details