Mexican retailers to boost 2008 investment 17 pct

MEXICO CITY, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Mexican retailers plan to increase investment by 17 percent this year to open and remodel stores despite a sluggish economy, the National Association of Supermarkets and Department Stores said on Wednesday.

"The expected investment in 2008 is $3 billion, which will result in an 11 percent expansion in sales floors," ANTAD President Vicente Yanez told a news conference.

Last year, ANTAD members invested $2.56 billion.

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This story is significant because Mexico is planning on investing much more money than in previous years. The sales floors will be expanded greatly.

Mexico court clears Portillo move

Mexico's Supreme Court has ruled that the former president of Guatemala, Alfonso Portillo, can be extradited to his home country to face fraud charges.

Mr Portillo, in office from 2000 to 2004, is wanted over the disappearance of $15.7m (£7.9m) earmarked for the defence ministry.

Mexico authorised his extradition in 2006, but Mr Portillo's defence team challenged the move in several courts.

Mr Portillo denies any wrongdoing and his lawyers say their fight will go on.

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This story is significant because a man is being accused for the stealing of a large sum of money. This former president is in a very bad position because Mexico is trying very hard to find him guilty.

Scholar: NAFTA has helped Mexico, but not enough

10:15 p.m. January 27, 2008

NAFTA has done the job it was negotiated for, but it has not been enough, a Mexican political economist says.

Gustavo Vega, director of the Center for International Studies at the prestigious Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City, said that while NAFTA has helped create more jobs for Mexicans, it has not helped create enough of them.

Still, had it not been for passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, Mexico would have suffered a much-greater financial crisis after its economy crashed in December 1994, he said.

“It helped us to recover from the crisis sooner rather than later,” Vega told the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California San Diego on Tuesday. Two million jobs were created in Mexico between 1995 to 2001, according to Vega. “But we need a million every year. It is not enough,” he said.

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This story is significant because NAFTA did not bring about the many jobs Mexixo expected. They feel as if NAFTA has done some good but has not fulfilled all the expectations.

Assessment Complete

Mexico's Cantarell Dec oil output hits 2007 low

MEXICO CITY, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Crude oil output from Mexico's huge but aging Cantarell offshore field fell to 1.260 million barrels per day in December, the energy ministry reported on Saturday.

It was the field's lowest monthly output level last year and a 16 percent drop from December 2006's 1.493 million bpd.

The fall in output meant Cantarell, the jewel of Mexico's oil industry since the late 1970s but now in decline, accounted for just 43 percent of Mexico's oil production in December. For years it had accounted for 60 percent of output.

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This article is very significant because oil is at the top of many countries priority lists and this will effect many countries.

Mexico peso, stocks rise on US stimulus plan optimism

MEXICO CITY, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso firmed for the third straight day on Thursday and stocks jumped amid optimism about U.S. government and central bank efforts to boost the world's largest economy.

The peso MEX01 strengthened 0.39 percent to 10.898 per dollar, while the benchmark IPC stock index .MXX rose 1.03 percent to 27,905.13 points.

The U.S. Congress and the White House agreed on the details of a $150 billion package, first announced last week, to stimulate the economy of the United States which many investors fear is slipping into a recession.

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While many investors fear that the U.S. will slowly slip into a recession, the value of a Mexican peso increased by .39 percent. This can only mean good things for the Mexican economy.

Mexico anti-drug official says target of hit men

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's deputy attorney general said on Thursday that three men arrested in Mexico City last week with shoulder-fired rockets, rifles and a submachine gun were planning to kill him.



Jose Luis Santiago, the point man in the country's war on drug gangs and the official in charge of extraditing drug bosses to the United States, said the suspected hit men may belong to the Sinaloa Cartel, which dominates Mexico's Pacific Coast cocaine smuggling routes.

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The Mexican deputy attorney general claims that three men arrested with firearms and explosives were out to kill him. The deputy attorney general is one of the leaders in the country's war on drugs.