Corporacion Andina de Fomento Sells $1 Billion of 10-Year Notes

Corporacion Andina de Fomento sold $1 billion of 10-year notes, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

CAF sold the bonds to yield 4.5 percentage points above U.S. Treasuries, said the person, who declined to be identified.

[Source] -- Bloomberg

Weekend Newswire: Latin America

Bolivia and US agree to improve bilateral ties
Bolivian President Evo Morales has called for a complete overhaul of his country’s strained ties with the US. He urged “mutual respect” between the two nations, saying Washington should not interfere in Bolivia’s affairs.


Venezuelan Bonds Sink to Six-Week Low as Chavez Takeovers Fuel `Distrust'
Venezuela’s benchmark bonds fell to a six-week low after President Hugo Chavez announced the government will take over the hot-briquetted iron industry and other metal companies.


Chavez Takes Control of Venezuela's Hot-Briquetted Iron, Steel Industries
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the government will take over the hot-briquetted iron industry and other metal companies, increasing its control over the nation’s mineral-wealth industries.

Venezuelan Oil Keeps Attracting Bidders in Bets That Chavez Isn't Forever
Chevron Corp. and Total SA are pursuing new Venezuelan oil projects after President Hugo Chavez tore up past agreements, seized assets of contractors and expelled producers that wouldn’t accept new terms.


Cash short Venezuela negotiating loans from Brazil
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose administration is facing cash shortages as oil revenues plunge, is negotiating loans from Brazil’s development bank to fund infrastructure projects, revealed the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.


Brazilian Stocks Gain on Signs of Rising Demand, Commodities; Bolsa Rises Brazil’s
Bovespa index climbed, capping a weekly advance, on speculation domestic demand is recovering and as investors bought commodities to hedge against a weakening dollar.


Brazil's Vale Lowers This Year's Planned Investments to $9 Billion From $14 Billion
Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world’s biggest iron-ore producer, said falling costs and a stronger dollar allowed it to cut 2009 planned capital spending by 37 percent.


Mexican Billionaire Salinas May Enter California to Boost Hispanic Banking
Banco Azteca, controlled by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas, says the financial crisis offers the bank a chance to enter the U.S. market and lure Hispanic customers.


Pemex Is `Too Optimistic' About Chicontepec Development, Board Member Says
Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, should reconsider its $11.1 billion plan for the Chicontepec field because lower oil prices make the investment less attractive, said newly appointed board member Fluvio Ruiz.

Slavery in Bolivia... The BBC and UN finally catch on

The BBC grew some "huevos" today and ran a report on the ongoing use of near slave labor on Bolivian plantations. Pretty appalling to think this is going on in the Americas.


A friend of mine, whose father made his way to the United States selling cabbages on the streets of post-war Korea proposed a question to me the other day. "What is the big deal in particular about Bolivia? After all, you have seen Slumdog Millionaire, there's really poor people everywhere and I'm sure India has a lot more and a much dire levels of poverty than Bolivia does."


Perhaps his perspective has some truth to it. It does not however, change the fact there is a democratic country in the Americas which has pockets of slavery. I say pockets because I am sure this is a one of the extreme examples the media has chosen to focus on, hurting the Bolivian farmers out there who are good people, who do treat their workers fairly and are just trying to earn a living.

Here are a few excerpts from the BBC report

"A senior UN official recently described as "unacceptable" the alleged forced labour of indigenous people by landowners in Bolivia. The BBC's Andres Schipani reports on the contentious issue of "slavery" from the eastern province of Santa Cruz."

...

"All my life I've been here and at the end of it I have nothing and have nowhere else to go," she says.

Her hamlet of 13 Guarani families - all workers on the plantations near the town of Camiri in Alto Parapeti region in the eastern province of Santa Cruz - built a school but ranchers destroyed it, she says.

"They didn't want us to learn, they want things to be like they always have been," Teresa's granddaughter, Deisy, says.

...

The other side, a.k.a, the owners of the large plantations has this to say for themselves.

"The idea that there is slavery here is absurd … Offering loans and selling food is not a debt trap but a favour because there are few banks and shops in the region," says Eliane Capobianco of the rancher's association Fegasacruz, in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, the opposition heartland.

Click here for the complete BBC report

Trouble brewing in Bolivia... Family of Morales critic 'attacked' -- Reuters Video

Mar. 8 - A former Bolivian vice president and known opponent of President Evo Morales said a government lynch-mob tried to burn down his house while his family were still inside.

Helen Long of Reuters reports.

If you'd like to read more about this story, check out this article from the Latin American Herald

LA PAZ – The former vice president of Bolivia and opposition leader Victor Hugo Cardenas complained on Saturday that a “government-party mob” attacked his house in a community on the Bolivian altiplano and fears for the life of his wife and three children who were staying there.

Cardenas, an intellectual Aymara who was vice president during the first government of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (1993-1997), told the media that peasant followers of President Evo Morales occupied at noon his house near Lake Titicaca.

Latin America in the news

Good readings from the end of the week on Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil and Bolivia

1) Argentina Said to Change Loan Swap Terms for Overseas Investors - Bloomberg

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina plans to offer international investors terms in an exchange of government debt that differ from those given to domestic holders, a government official said.

The Economy Ministry is still developing the terms of the debt swap for foreign investors, according to the official, who declined to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak to the media. Overseas creditors will get a different bond than locals got in exchange for the so-called guaranteed loans they hold, the official said. The bonds will be denominated in foreign currency and will be subject to international law, the official said.


2) Chavez to Tap Into Development Fund for Spending (Update1) - Bloomberg

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela will spend $1.65 billion from its National Development Fund in the first quarter, as the oil-exporting country maintains public spending after a drop in crude prices, President Hugo Chavez said.

Venezuela plans to invest $225 billion in oil and non-oil projects over the next four years, Chavez said today in comments broadcast by state television. Venezuela’s socialist economic policies will help shield it from the effects of the global recession, he said.


3) Brazil to Cut Growth Forecast on Economic Slowdown (Update3) - Bloomberg

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil will reduce its growth forecast because of the global credit crunch and economic slowdown, Energy Minister Edison Lobao said.

Before recessions in the world’s largest economies, Brazil had expected average annual economic growth of 4.9 percent between 2008 and 2017, Lobao said today during public hearings on a revised 10-year energy plan. Revisions to the annual figures are expected in March or April.


4) Bolivia’s Gas Investors to Spend $530 Million in 2009 (Update1) - Bloomberg

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Bolivia’s energy minister said the country expects to boost oil and natural-gas investment to $530 million this year as ventures with Russia and Venezuela fill a void left by private investors.

Gazprom OAO, Russia’s natural-gas exporter, agreed to develop deposits in Bolivia’s gas-rich eastern lowlands, Bolivian Hydrocarbon and Energy Minister Saul Avalos said in an interview Feb. 4 at his La Paz office. Venezuela and Bolivia’s state oil companies plan to invest $240 million to explore in Bolivia.

“The amount of investment this year is higher than before the nationalization,” Avalos said.

South-South Cooperation: Andean Community (Comunidad Andina - CAN) to be modernized

Mincetur, Peru's Ministry of Commerce and Tourism announced that the country's of the Andean Community (Comunidad Andina - CAN) have plans to work together to redefine the community in order to promote a more modern and efficient environment for investment and trade.

The news comes on the heels of the upcoming meeting CAN is having with the European Union in regards to a FTA the two economic unions have in the works.

Bolivia which is also a member of CAN had previously been against the FTA agreement with the EU, but stated that it is open to negotiations and willing to compromise if certain changes are made.

If you would like to read more on this story and can read Spanish,
check out ---> this article published on Andina.com

South-South Cooperation: Venezuela's PDVSA begins drilling in Bolivia's Vibora Field

Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), announced today one of its oil rigs began operations in Bolivia. Drilling is reported to have begun in the Vibora field, roughly 170 km north of the city of Santa Cruz.


Not a bad headline for Morales and his supporters who voted "yes" for a new constitution just days ago which allows for Morales to run beyond his term limits and which is partly designed to empower indiginous rights.

Bolivians back Morales Charter - Reuters

Jan 26 - Bolivian President Evo Morales appears before a crowd of supporters to claim victory in a controversial election that grants him the right to run for re-election

Bolivian voters approved a new constitution to give the poor indigenous majority more power, let socialist President Evo Morales run for re-election and hand him even tighter control over the economy.

Aymara, Quechua, Guarani and other indigenous groups who suffered centuries of discrimination in South America's poorest country largely backed the new constitution and exit polls showed it was approved with around 60 percent support.

Penny Tweedie reports.

News reel: Economic Meltdown p1 – South America

Click on article titles to access the full copy from parent websites


Peru in Talks to Borrow From U.S. Fed, China, Valdivieso Says – Bloomberg - Jan 15, 2009

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Peru is in talks with the U.S. Federal Reserve and China’s central bank to swap its currency for dollars as the government seeks to boost liquidity amid the global credit crunch, Finance Minister Luis Valdivieso said.

The country may tap another $9 billion in loans from multilateral lenders to help finance about $35 billion in mining, energy and other development projects, Valdivieso said in an interview with Bloomberg television last night at the Finance Ministry in Lima.


Brazil Company Debt Payment Aid Points to Larger Need in Region - Bloomberg - Jan 15, 2009

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s plan to provide more than $20 billion to help companies roll over maturing international debt may point to even bigger financing constraints in the rest of Latin America, according to Standard & Poor’s.

Brazil’s central bank President Henrique Meirelles unveiled plans yesterday to tap reserves for helping 4,000 or more companies meet international debt payments this year. Brazilian companies have $61.6 billion of foreign debt coming due this year, including $44.9 billion of obligations that mature in less than a year, Schineller said, citing central bank data.


Brazil’s Exports May Plunge 20 Percent in 2009, Barral Says – Bloomberg - Jan 15, 2009

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) – Brazil’s exports may plunge 20 percent this year on slumping demand and falling prices as world economic growth slows, Foreign Trade Secretary Welber Barral said.


Argentina’s Buzzi Says Government’s Plan Isn’t Enough (Update1) – Bloomberg - Jan 15, 2009

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Argentine farm leader Eduardo Buzzi, president of the country’s Agrarian Federation, said measures announced by the government yesterday aren’t enough to help farmers facing drought and falling commodity prices.


Ecuador Bank Drafting Bill for Second Currency, Hoy Reports – Bloomberg - Jan 15, 2009

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuador’s central bank is preparing legislation that would allow it to issue a currency to be used alongside the dollar, Quito-based newspaper Hoy reported, citing a draft of the bill it had obtained


Bolivia breaks relations with Israel over Gaza invasion – MercoPress- Jan 15, 2009

President Evo Morales announced Wednesday that Bolivia severed diplomatic ties with Israel as an act of solidarity with Palestinians suffering from the current offensive in the Gaza strip.

Rising food prices hit home -- Bolivia's poor, whom sit at "the heart of South America" -- go hungry as food prices continue to rise

Apologies if entries this weekend where a bit "lacking." I was traveling and simply had little access to computers.

Following up to this mornings post, in which I discussed in brief the tremendous untapped agricultural capacity of South America, emphasizing Brazil and Argentina, I present the other side of the story via this video from Reuters.



Bolivia, South America's poorest country used to feed over half a million people using UN donations. Those same donations, in the wake of rising fuel costs, can feed a mere 200,000 today, leaving many with empty stomachs as the video above describes.

The question remains... Yes, no one doubts the "richness" of Latin America, but how do you translate natural resources or un-tapped agriculture potential into sustainable development? Second, how do these countries keep their resources from being exploited by multi-nationals or corrupt and greedy locals?

Most Latino's learn in school and as they grow up their countries are richly endowed with resources, giving their countries the potential to emerge from poverty and develop their countries. Sadly, this has not been the case for any Latin American country, perhaps Chile being a unique example once again.

Chile did succeed to a certain degree in this, putting much of their copper wealth towards sustainable economic development goals. The Chilenean economy emerged significantly more competitive and efficient compared to its neighbors in South America.

Let us not forget the high-cost and much suffering on the parts of some people who lived through the Pinochet dictatorship and the reforms of the "Chicago boys."

Bolivia, itself, in the past 15-20 years has developed its own agricultural capacities in the low lands of the country. I learn new things about Bolivia everyday, society is quite fragmented between the mestizo population (and European descended), and the indigenous community. Despite social and racial problems, a countries people, endowed wit vast resources as Bolivia should not be going hungry.

Bolivia is a unique country in South America, the good man Erneste "Che" Guevara called it the "heart of the America's," and that it is. I hope to see the country with my own two eyes one day before I pass further judgment, but no less, regional methods or a more cohesive internal movement should be put in place to at least alleviate malnutrition and hunger in Latin America.

The continent is poor, but always prided itself as being a poor continent which at least "did not go hungry." This age old myth (yes... myth), is now also on the verge of disappearing as food prices around the world continue to rise.