What's shakin in Latin America?

Obama leaves for Mexico and prepares for regional summit test - MercoPress

United States President Barack Obama heads to Mexico Thursday and then continues on to Trinidad and Tobago for the fifth Summit of the Americas. Security concerns along the US-Mexico border are expected to top Mr. Obama’s discussions with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, while the summit provides an opportunity to reinvigorate the US hemispheric ties and forge a regional response to the global economic downturn, according to a Voice of America report.

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Peru's economy likely to have grown 3.1% in 1Q 2009 - Andina

Lima, Apr. 14 (ANDINA).- Peru's economy might have grown 3.1 percent in the first quarter, according to the Lider index estimates, which shows economic trends in the short term, stated today the Ministry of Economy and Finances (MEF).

Peruvian economy keeps growing despite global crisis. Photo: ANDINA/Archive

This estimate is lower than the 3.8 percent reported by the Ministry in last month's report.

Under the new estimates, the economy would have grown by 2.2 in February, lower than the three percent predicted previously, however the Ministry keeps its March estimate of 3.9 percent.

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Bilateral commission to study power sales to Chile - BNAmericas

Argentine and Paraguayan government officials have agreed to establish a bilateral commission to study the technical feasibility of selling power to Chile.

The commission will have 180 days to carry out the study, Paraguay's presidential website reported.

Paraguay would receive roughly US$140mn/y from the energy sales, according to Carlos Cardozo, the landlocked country's director of the EBY joint venture, which administers the Yacyretá hydroelectric dam on the Argentine-Paraguayan border.

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Supermercados chinos - Danwei, Nancy Lu (Chinese run supermarkets in Argentina)

At first glance, this book may seem uninteresting. After all, nobody reads manuals.

But upon closer inspection, you realize that this is a Chinese-Spanish language manual for running a supermarket. Open it and you find the distinctive Rioplatense Spanish of Argentina, with useful phrases such as “Gracias a vos: 谢谢你” (thank you) or “Yo tampoco tengo monedas: 我也没有硬币” (I don’t have coins either).

One finer detail of the book is that it is written in simplified Chinese, addressed to a mainland audience. Yet the name in traditional Chinese at the bottom of the cover indicates something about the author — he is Taiwanese.

The evolution of the Chinese-run supermarkets provides an interesting snapshot of the changing Chinese presence in Buenos Aires. While most Chinese-run supermarkets were originally opened by immigrants from Taiwan, there is a shift towards these businesses being sold to and run by mainland Chinese. This book is further evidence of that trend.

Kazakh musician Mamer's album to debut

Short promo for Mamer's debut album - EAGLE.

Mamer comes from Xinjiang in Western China and sings in Kazakh language. Album released on Realworld Records Spring 09. Big thanks to Poppy Sebag-Montefiore for making the video with Mamer in Beijing!

Special thanks to Danwei.org -- http://www.danwei.org/

Korean nationals are leaving China as the financial crisis spreads

Great article from Danwei, about how Korean nationals are leaving China because of the worsening global economy. Danwei is a website about media, advertising and urban life in China which does a great job of combing their own knowledge and observations of China with great skill at reading in between the lines of what Chinese state media reports.

Here's an excerpt of the article:

Beijing and Shanghai are home to tens of thousands of Korean nationals whose lives and businesses have been hit hard by the snowball effect of the downturn. The Korean won's decline against the RMB forced many Korean businesses to scale back or close down, and drove up the relative price of education in China. An exodus of failed business owners, out-of-work foreign employees, and foreign students left shops and services competing for a substantially smaller Korean population, and has driven many of them out of business, too.

The cover feature of the March 16 issue of CBNweekly profiles a few Koreans living in the communities of Wangjing (望京) in Beijing and Gubei (古北) in Shanghai who have decided to remain in China despite economic uncertainties.

To read the rest of this article from Danwei click here.