How a Chinese venture in Venezuela made millions while locals grew hungry
Venezuela and China agreed to hundreds of projects to kickstart growth in the South American country. After billions in investments, however, little materialized. A USD 200 million rice plant illustrates the graft and incompetence that opponents say crippled development by Venezuela’s leftist regime. The project was meant to feed millions. In Delta Amacuro, a remote Venezuelan state on the Caribbean Sea, a Chinese construction giant struck a bold agreement with the late President Hugo Chávez. The state-run…
China’s Conquistadors Are Marching Across Latin America
When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers. Or so says the old African proverb. But in Latin America, the grass seems to be doing rather well from the ongoing jostling between the US and China. In August El Salvador was the latest in a string of Central American countries to switch diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China. In Panama, US protests managed to prevent the opening of a new Chinese embassy on the mouth of the canal but with 26 diplomatic agreements signed in the last year, it is merely…
Chinese investment in Latin America
As São Paulo hosts the World Economic Forum on Latin America 2018, it is time to consider China’s important influence on economics and business in the region since the Forum’s last meeting in Brazil, in 2011. With foreign trade worth $4 trillion, China is the world’s most important trading country. Besides the US, it is also the most important trading partner for 100 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. During South America’s golden decade from the early 2000s, the region…
