MercoPress of Montevideo reported that Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega insisted that the government is keeping spending under control as he sought to calm anxiety about the deterioration of the government’s accounts.

So asserts Joshua Goodman in La Nación of Buenos Aires.  The dream of the late President Hugo Chávez was to use Venezuela’s oil wealth to spread the influence of his “revolution” throughout Latin America.  The dream seems to be “fading under the weight of an economic crisis.” 

Buenos Aires Herald reported that Argentina’s automotive industry saw sharp falls in November compared to the same month of the previous year,

In La República of Lima Alejandra Cruz Cuevas reported that Latin America has the lowest level of value-added manufacturing growth in the world.   

Prensa Libre of Guatemala City reported that Panama continued to follow a path of economic prosperity and development in 2013. 

In O Globo of Rio de Janeiro Carlos Alberto Sardenberg contemplated the disappointing trajectory of the Brazilian economy

Ever antagonistic to Kirchnerista policy, James Neilson of the Buenos Aires Herald observed that Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner insists on reinforcing her “economic model.” 

The Latin American Herald Tribune of Caracas lamented that lawmakers supporting the Venezuelan Government, along with three others from the opposition who recently switched sides, awarded President Nicolás Maduro special powers to rule for 12 continuous months

Doug Gray wrote in The Rio Times of Rio de Janeiro that some of the world’s biggest oil companies have joined forces in a successful bid for Brazil’s first Pre-Salt offshore oil field, Libra. 

La República of Lima interviewed Arnoldo Reyes of PayPal, the global leader in electronic payments, who travels to Peru regularly.