Latin American
Current issues
Lesson #7
The Richest man in Latin America
Carlos Slim Helú [ˈkaɾlos esˈlim eˈlu];
• a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
• From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world.
• Known as the "Warren Buffett of Mexico“
• has extensive holdings in a number of Mexican companies
• has amassed a fortune in the fields of
• communications, real estate, airlines, media, technology, retailing, and
finance. Currently the chairperson and chief executive of Latin America's
largest mobile-phone carrier in 2010
• His net worth as of December 2014 is estimated at $72.6 billion.
Top five richest men in the World
• Bill Gates (net worth $76 billion),
• Carlos Slim Helu (net worth $72 billion)
• Amancio Ortega (net worth $64 billion)
(Spanish fashion executive )
• Warren Buffett (net worth $58.2 billion)
• Larry Ellison (net worth $48 billion).
Pablo Escobar
• Was a notorious and wealthy
Colombian drug lord and an exclusive
cocaine trafficker.
• In 1983, he had a short-lived career in
Colombian politics
click
America’s
greatest
structure:
Click – how the locks work
Why build the Panama Canal?
Draw arrows where canals are needed
Reason to build the canal
Click – 2 min trip through canal
How they built the canal
Click – building the canal
PANAMA CANAL
Commercial break
(… in case you were having a bad day…)
Expansion project
How the canal works
What is a “lock”?
Why are locks needed?
How does it make the canal
possible?
Current Issues in Latin America
1. Drugs
2. Illegal Immigration
3. Current Trade issues
Drug Products
Mainly three drugs
1. Cocaine from Columbia, Peru, Bolivia
Coca is ONLY found in Andes
2. Marijuana from Jamaica
3. Heroin from Columbia (from opium poppies)
I. Drug Trade from Latin America
Plants used to produce drugs
Poppy Plant
For Opium
Coca Plant
For Cocaine
Results of Drug Trade
Effects of Cocaine
Effects of Heroin
(an opiate)
$51 billion cost to government / year
1.5 million arrests / year
2 million currently in jail for drug crimes
(1/100 of population – most in world)
Drug Smuggling
1. 90% of all US cocaine enters via Mexico
was via the Caribbean into Florida
2. United States imports 75 % of their exports
– The major drug trafficking organizations
(drug cartels) are Mexican and Colombian
– generate $20 to $40 billion
3. “Mules” are used to carry drugs
Bricks of
Cocaine
click
Where it drugs come from
… and where they go…
How drugs get here
click
The Old Way:
The new way: narco-submarine
click
The narco-sub, not submerged…
To stop drug importation:
Increase in last couple years
II. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
1. Smuggling
2. Trafficking
click
Definitions
•Trafficking – a person is trafficked if
she/he agrees under false pretenses
to relocate for employment reasons
and is forced into involuntary forms of
Labor
•Smuggling – a person is smuggled if
she/he seeks and pays for assistance
to cross borders without documents,
but is allegedly free once arriving in
the new country
Definitions
•Trafficking – a person is trafficked if
she/he agrees under false pretenses
to relocate for employment reasons
and is forced into involuntary forms of
Labor
Definitions
•Smuggling – a person is smuggled if
she/he seeks and pays for assistance
to cross borders without documents,
but is allegedly free once arriving in
the new country
Why do people sneak into the US?
The main reason people CHOOSE to break
the law and illegally immigrate is for
higher wages and for jobs that Mexico
does not have.
Smuggling
• Smuggling means someone helps
the illegal into the US.
• That person is called coyotes
• Coyotes charge from $300 to
$50,000 per person.
• Often, the price is so high, the illegal
will spend years of FORCED LABOR
paying off debt.
• Sometimes… forever…
Common Sites of Forced Labor
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agriculture and food processing
Construction
Domestic Workers
Sex industry
Restaurants
Assembly plants
Garment and textile workers
Estimates of Force Labor
Exact figures are difficult to calculate
because
trafficking is illegal and hidden
•
2.4 million
women, men and
children are victims of forced labor yearly
• 1.4 million are in commercial sex work
• 760,000 are economically exploited
• 600,000 are in mixed commercially and
sexually exploited
Human Trafficking
•Human Trafficking – Modern
slavery
•Over 4 million persons trafficked
a year – U.N. estimate
• 7-10 billion dollar a year illegal
industry
•Third largest illegal industry in the
world (drugs and arms sales)
What are we doing about it?
• The Justice Department created a unit to
pursue human trafficking cases
• The FBI currently has 212 ongoing human
trafficking investigations
• The Justice Department has initiated 60
investigations in the past four months.
• Last year, federal prosecutors charged 222
defendants and won 98 convictions.
Image analysis
Combination of
maps and
graphs
What does this image show about the
relationship we have with Mexico?
Current Trade
Look for details…
Who do these
guys represent?
Who is this?
Who does he represent?
What are these
guys doing that
might not be
good for us?
3. Current Trade imbalance
How can we best benefit
from our poorer neighbors
to the south?
How can they benefit
from their wealthy
neighbor to the North?
Friday documentaries
Drug Smuggling (45min)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM9liK1Sa1g
Human Trafficking (45min)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX5ReSxBaFw