Latin American Economy & Business - December 2013 (ISSN 1741-7430)

Anyone following Mexico’s business press and the comments of manufacturing managers and analysts in recent months, particularly in the industrialised north of the country, could be forgiven for getting a little confused. After a lifetime of over half a century the maquiladora sector – in-bond assembly plants largely focused on the US market – is reported to be either on the verge of death, or at the dawn of a new golden age. Surely both things can’t be true at the same time?