Latin America

Slinging fish tacos at a stall in Grand Central Market on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles was never Ana Sanchez's idea of heaven. But the job pays enough so that she can wire money to her mother and daughter in Mexico, and last year she sent $1,500. This year Sanchez, 44, reckons they'll be lucky to receive half that. With her wages stagnant and the cost of living climbing, her family in Jalisco state will have to do without. "If it gets bad I won't be able to send any money anymore," Sanchez, a Commerce resident, said Tuesday.

NEW YORK - The painting once hung in the Cleveland Museum of Art. And there was no shortage of people who wanted it in the crowded Christie's auction room. The artwork, "Women Reaching for the Moon," is a blur of a woman in a red dress. It was painted by Rufino Tamayo, the famed Mexican creator of abstract works that combine European and Latino influ- ences. Though bidding started at $500,000, it quickly reached $1 million. The standing-room-only crowd murmured as auctioneer Adrian Meyer parried with the remaining bidders, and workers wheeled in rows of extra chairs.

For all its miscues at home, General Motors Corp. has built a powerhouse operation in Latin America, where its fuel-efficient vehicles could play a crucial role in returning the battered company to health. Since it filed for bankruptcy a month ago, the automaker has been striking deals to shed much of its operations, including its Hummer, Saturn and Saab brands and its Opel division in Europe. GM is closing more North American factories, laying off workers and slashing its U.S. dealership ranks.

The amount of money U.S. immigrants send to their families in Latin America has more than doubled since 2000, and the cash flow home -- except to Mexico -- has recovered from a considerable drop during the Great Recession, a 13-year survey of remittance trends shows. For years, remittances have far outpaced foreign aid in helping lift people out of poverty in Latin America, the study released Friday by Pew Research Center notes. In 2011, remittances totaled $53.1 billion, more than eight times the amount of official aid, the report says.

Latin America has had a good decade. Over the last 10 years, economic growth averaged 4.2%, and 70 million people escaped poverty. Macroeconomic stability, open-trade policies and pro-business investment climates have supported and will continue to support strong growth in the years to come. Crucially, economic gains are being broadly shared. A recent World Bank report found that the middle class in Latin America grew by 50 million people between 2003 and 2009, an increase of 50%. For a region long riven by wealth inequality, this is a remarkable achievement.

The amount of money U.S. immigrants send to their families in Latin America has more than doubled since 2000, and the cash flow home -- except to Mexico -- has recovered from a considerable drop during the Great Recession, a 13-year survey of remittance trends shows. For years, remittances have far outpaced foreign aid in helping lift people out of poverty in Latin America, the study released Friday by Pew Research Center notes. In 2011, remittances totaled $53.1 billion, more than eight times the amount of official aid, the report says.

Latin America's role Re "Lula takes risk with Ahmadinejad," Nov. 23 Yes, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's taking a risk meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- but Lula's not anybody's proxy, and with Latin America so often ignored, Brazil can decide with whom to meet without asking anyone's permission. Ahmadinejad's plan for a new global order to be formed with Africa and Latin America (Brazil and Venezuela in particular) could be bluster or could be serious.

Re "A Stain Spreads Across Latin America," Commentary, April 25: Sergio Munoz sounds quixotic when it comes to solving the problem of criminality in Latin America. The real problem is not institutional weakness but poverty and unchecked population growth (too many beggars for the crumbs falling off the capitalists' tables). The Latin American countries can no longer sustain their population growths, but they continue to breed mindlessly out of superstition and ignorance. Open, democratic societies and the rule of law are abstractions.

Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign has rekindled debate within the Catholic Church and worldwide speculation about the possibility that the church will reach beyond the European clergy who have long held power in the Vatican to choose the next pope. With an eye to vibrant Catholic communities in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, the Sacred College of Cardinals may weigh the pros and cons of selecting the next pope from another continent. Here are cardinals believed to be possible choices: Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is an African prelate seen as a top contender, and at 64 would be better positioned than older candidates to carry on the doctrine of John Paul II and Benedict XVI through what could be a time of growing Catholic influence in the developing world.

MEDITERRANEAN Sites of holy, secular past Sail away on a weeklong Mediterranean cruise that charts a course to ancient towns, historical ruins and important shrines, including a Turkish site reputed to be the former home of the Virgin Mary. In Istanbul, see the imposing Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. Accommodations are aboard the 500-cabin Costa Serena, which has five restaurants, 13 bars and four swimming pools. Itinerary: Venice, to Bari, Italy, Olympia, Greece; Izmir and Istanbul in Turkey; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and back to Venice.

Nutritional products maker Herbalife Ltd. reported a nearly 27% jump in third-quarter profit amid double-digit sales growth in China and Latin America. The Los Angeles company reported net income of $142 million, or $1.32 a share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. That compares with $111.9 million, or 98 cents, a year earlier. Excluding expenses for non-recurring items, the company earned $1.41 a share, well above analysts' expectations of $1.14 a share. Sales grew 19.3% to $1.2 billion.

The new Toyota Corolla has barely hit car dealers but Toyota is already saying it plans to export the U.S.-built version of the compact sedan to 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean starting next year. Toyota said about 7,500 of the cars, which will be built at the Toyota factory in Tupelo, Miss., will be exported next year. “These shipments are expected to build upon Toyota's all-time record export of more than 124,000 U.S.-assembled vehicles to 21 global markets in 2012, an increase of 45% over the prior year,” the automaker said in a statement.

Let's not pull any punches: The very best thing about “The O. Henry Prize Stories 2013” is the inclusion of Deborah Eisenberg's “Your Duck Is My Duck.” No disrespect to the other 19 contributors - who include Tash Aw, Donald Antrim, Jamie Quatro and Ann Beattie - but in my universe, there are few miracles as rare and beautiful as a story by Eisenberg. She doesn't publish much: 30 or so stories since her first collection, “Transactions in a Foreign Currency,” came out in 1986.

The United States' take-no-prisoners (or, perhaps more aptly, take-too-many-prisoners) approach to drug control has few fans in Latin America, long the most violent battleground in the U.S. war on drugs. Uruguay, the smallest country in the region, has been the first, however, to openly rebel. It is expected soon to be the only nation to legalize the cultivation, sale and use of marijuana on a national scale. President Obama has said on several occasions that "legalization is not the answer.

Lax U.S. gun regulations are enabling the international trafficking of high-powered weapons and fueling the spread of gun violence in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Council on Foreign Relations argues in a report urging President Obama to take action on initiatives that have foundered in Congress. More than 70% of the 99,000 weapons recovered by Mexican law enforcement since 2007 were traced to U.S. manufacturers and importers, the council report said, citing data from the eTrace program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Last week, Mexican authorities arrested Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, the leader of the Zetas, Mexico's deadliest and most feared drug cartel. In Mexico, the news was met with relief, although there is also apprehension that his arrest will lead to a convulsion of violence; historically, taking out cartel kingpins has meant power struggles within organized crime groups, schisms that leave many dead in their wake. Treviño Morales, known as Z-40, was apprehended - along with a bodyguard and a third man, reported to be the cartel's accountant - without a shot being fired as he traveled along a back road near Nuevo Laredo and the U.S. border.

Expanding its reach from two countries to the entire Western Hemisphere, Netflix Inc. will launch its successful online film and television subscription service across Latin America in a bid to maintain its sky-high subscriber growth and stock price. The Los Gatos, Calif., company, which boasts more than 23.6 million subscribers and has become the nation's No. 1 movie rental provider, announced Tuesday that this year it will expand into 43 countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean but not Cuba.

RIO DE JANEIRO - The first pope from the Americas, making what many hope will be a triumphant homecoming to his native continent, will find a massive audience that reflects both hope for a shift in the Roman Catholic Church and deep skepticism that he can right a social imbalance that has sent hundreds of thousands into the streets in protest. The Argentine-born Pope Francis, on his first overseas trip since his election in March, arrives Monday in the world's largest Catholic country, Brazil, where he will walk the Stations of the Cross on the glittering Copacabana Beach and visit a slum so poor and violent it is sometimes called the Gaza Strip.

MOSCOW - Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden officially applied for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday, his attorney and the WikiLeaks organization announced. The application is for temporary refuge, not permanent political asylum, and Snowden is expected to continue exploring options in Latin America or elsewhere. "It is a compromise step as Russia doesn't want to utterly spoil its relations with the United States, as tense as they are," said Olga Kostina, head of the rights organization Soprotivleniye.