Features Region: Latin America

As an engine in the Mexican economy, Cummins annually exports $1.2 billion worth of goods while its annual domestic sales approach $400 million. Cummins employs around 6,000 people who work at four manufacturing plants, as well as a technology center and a distribution center. There they make new and remanufactured parts for diesel engines, fuel […]

It’s perhaps the world’s biggest company that few know about, even though they can taste and smell its work every day. Swiss-based Givaudan creates flavors and fragrances found in one of every three consumer items in the world, says Fabiola Rojo, the company’s deputy regional counsel for Latin America. Givaudan began operating in Latin America […]

Working for a Brazilian energy producer with extensive on- and offshore oil and natural gas exploration, perhaps it’s not surprising that seafaring analogies come easy to Leandro Escobar Silva. How stormy those seas were in March 2014 (figuratively, anyway), when Escobar became legal manager of the Rio de Janeiro entity then known as OGX. “It […]

With 25 percent of the country’s land marked as wildlife protected area, the Republic of Costa Rica has spent the last decades focusing on green and renewable energy. The country’s been so successful that, according to María Fernanda Esquivel, in 2021, its energy matrix consists of 99.2 percent clean energy generation—compared to 19.8 percent in […]

By all accounts, shopping for products has never been easier: a couple taps and click on a computer or phone and within days, the package is at the front door. That is, if everything goes as planned. And when it doesn’t—lost packages, delivery of incorrect or damaged products—Ricardo Lagreca, senior legal director at Mercado Livre […]

There was a time when Olga Victoria Prieto Zamora believed that motion was the potion to professional growth. So the young lawyer would spend a few years each with Latin American law firms or companies, then moved on, eager to apply her learnings elsewhere and garner new insight. But she seems to have settled down […]

It was a good match: Juliana Bastianello Baldin was helping clients understand Brazil’s complex legal system, while GTIS, one of her clients and a real estate investment firm, was trying to expand into the country. Now, as Baldin celebrates a decade at GTIS and manages its legal team in Brazil, she can also reflect on […]

From bribes to public fraud to extortion, corruption is a growing issue in Latin America. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the region loses five percent of gross domestic product because of corruption every year. Daniel Tapia is working to change this culture as much as he can. As chief compliance officer at América […]

Brazilian legal operations can be a challenging for attorneys, says Mariangela Bartz. Fast-changing business conditions, complex regulations and taxes, and a high number of lawsuits—especially related to labor disputes—can come on suddenly, like a tropical downpour. Given than context, Bartz wasn’t surprised to find a heavy caseload of lawsuits awaiting her on her first day […]

Taking maternity leave isn’t too difficult in Brazil. That’s because the Brazilian Labour Code offers special protections to pregnant employees, including 120 days of paid leave that can be extended a further 60 days if agreed on with the government. Problems arise when the new mothers try to resume their roles—only to find they’ve been […]