April 2010
Congress blasts Arizona immigration law
El Economista - Mexico's Camara de Diputados on Thursday approved a statement expressing dissatisfaction with the anti-immigrant law passed last week in Arizona and urged Mexicans to implement a trade embargo against the U.S. border state.
eleconomista.com.mx/internacional/2010/04/30/diputados-senadores-contra-ley-arizona
ICA awarded Mitla Tehuantepe road project
El Semanario - Empresas ICA today was awarded the 20-year concession to build and operate the Mitla Tehuantepec toll road span in Oaxaca. The estimated cost of the project is 9.23 billion pesos ($755 million).
Alfrdo Harp acquires 9.9% of Vitro shares
El Financiero - Glass maker Vitro announced that the businessman Alfredo Harp Helu purchased 9.86 percent of the capital of the company through a trust, with the possibility of extending the purchase. Several Sadas holding 14.39 percent of shares, entered into a n agreement with Harp.
www.elfinanciero.com.mx/ElFinanciero/Portal/cfpages/contentmgr.cfm
Korean firms plan to invest $2.2 billion in Mexico
Maquila Portal - Eight Korean companies plan to make investments of around $2.2 billion in Mexico this year, Whan Bok Cho, Korean Ambassador to Mexico, said yesterday. “For Korea, Mexico is a very important country," he said.
Zambrano says Cemex is back to expansion
Sentido Comun - After overcoming the worst crisis in the cement industry in the past 75 years, Mexican cement and construction materials manufacturer Cemex is back on the path of expansion as a lean and agile company, said Lorenzo Zambrano, its president and CEO.
Marhnos teams with Turner on Latin projects
Sentido Comun - Marhnos, a Mexican construction company, said it has partnered with Turner International, a U.S. company, to jointly participate in 100 real estate projects in Mexico and Latin America over the next five years. The company will be called Marhnos Turner.
Moderna appoints Monroy Carillo new president
entido Comun - Grupo La Moderna, Mexico's largest pasta producer, named Luis Miguel Monroy Carrillo, 48, the new chairman of the board to replace his father, Eduardo Monroy Cardenas, who at age 84 is retiring to become chairman emeritus.
Pemex gas sales expand 2% in first quarter
Sentido Comun - Petroleos Mexicanos, the state oil monopoly, said automotive gasoline consumption increased by 2 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period of 2009. Largest domestic sales were in March, averaging just over 831,000 barrels per day.
Mexico's lower house approves reforms to country's competitition law
Submitted by mexbiznews on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 5:10amDow Jones
Mexico's lower house of Congress on Thursday approved legislation that will give the country's anti-trust agency greater powers to punish firms and executives that violate competition laws.
The bill would allow the Federal Competition Commission to levy fines of up to 10% of a company's annual sales and seek prison terms of up to 10 years for individuals found guilty of anticompetitive practices, according to a communique from the Chamber of Deputies press office.
The legislation, which now passes to the Senate, was approved with 386 votes in favor and 15 against.
The bill would also give the commission, known as the CFC, the power to conduct surprise on-site investigations, among other new faculties.
Bank of Mexico Gov. Agustin Carstens last week urged lawmakers to approve the bill, saying the lack of competition in key sectors of the economy kept the prices of some goods and services unusually high, even during last year's recession.
Even though the CFC's powers were greatly expanded in 2006, when several reforms to the competition law went into effect, including higher sanctions and immunity for whistle blowers, they still fall short of international standards.
Its maximum fine, about 86 million pesos ($7 million), is a far cry from the 10 percent of a firm's annual sales that competition regulators can levy in other countries.
Enforcing competition laws is an uphill battle in Mexico, where a number of industries--including broadcasting, telecommunications, and cement--are dominated by one or two powerful business magnates.
First lawsuits filed against Arizona immigration law
Submitted by mexbiznews on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 4:51am
Los Angeles Times
Attorneys on Thursday filed the first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a new Arizona law that makes it a state crime to lack proper immigration papers and requires local police to determine whether people are in the country legally.
The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders sued in U.S. District Court, arguing that the law is an unconstitutional intrusion into the federal government's ability to regulate immigration and that it would lead to racial profiling. Two police officers — one from Tucson, one from Phoenix — filed separate suits.
And the American Civil Liberties Union and Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, or MALDEF, which successfully overturned California's 1994 anti-illegal-immigrant ballot initiative Proposition 187, held a raucous news conference outside the state Capitol promising their own lawsuit.
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arizona-immigration-20100430,0,2843409.story
