A confrontation on 10 February between local police and the community in Pichanaki, (province of Junín), could have major implications for oil and gas production in Peru. According to the government, around 500 people invaded Peruvian army barracks temporarily leased to Pluspetrol, an Argentine oil company with a licence to explore nearby Block 108. Police used tear gas to clear the area: violent clashes broke out, leaving one student dead from bullet wounds, along with 37 civilians and 30 police officers injured. The protestors say that not one but three people were killed in the clashes. A number of other…
The Mexican gold and silver mining entrepreneur, Alberto Bailleres, has launched one of the first ‘post-reform’ private sector energy companies in the country. The new firm, Petrobal, will form part of Bailleres conglomerate, which also includes mining companies Peñoles and Fresnillo, department stores Palacio de Hierro, and insurance company Grupo Nacional Provincial (GNP). According to the US magazine Forbes, Bailleres is Mexico’s second-richest man, with assets totalling US$18.2bn. Petrobal’s first chief executive is Carlos Morales Gil, previously an E&P director at the state-owned oil company Pemex, who resigned in February 2014 after a 30-year career at the company. Morales Gil…
Mexico and Brazil have been negotiating the future of their automobile trade agreement, which is due to expire on 19 March. Mexico, with a flourishing automotive industry, wants the two countries to move to free trade in vehicles and auto parts, while Brazil, struggling with recession, wanted to maintain a system of import quotas. The outcome of the negotiations also has implications for Argentina, which is a party to the agreement. Until last year, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, in that order, have been the ‘big three’ of the Latin American automobile industry. But in 2014 the line-up changed to Mexico,…
In early February, Fernando González, chief executive of the Monterrey-based Cemex, one of Latin America’s largest multinationals, told Reuters that the group was considering selling off some of its assets in Europe, Asia and the Mediterranean as part of a strategy to pay off debt. Some 5%-10% of Cemex Latam Holdings (CLH) might also be divested, with 50% of the earnings generated also being used to pay debts. The problem with Cemex is that it expanded too fast in the period running up to and including the 2008/09 global downturn. Having gone on an international acquisition spree and turned itself…
On 9 February Netflix, the US online film and TV series distributor, said it would begin to offer its services across Cuba “as soon as Internet access improves and credit and debit cards become more widely available”. The California-based company said it was able to offer its service immediately to anyone in the country able to access and pay for it in hard currency. The move was made possible by the US-Cuba diplomatic thaw, which includes an agreement allowing US telecoms companies to develop the island’s Internet infrastructure. According to Netflix, Cuba is the eighth country in Latin America to…
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