Latin America: Quotes of the Year

Noteworthy quotes on Latin American business during 2011.

BY LBC STAFF

Latin Business Chronicle selects some of the most memorable quotes of the year on Latin American business.

 “You can well say 'you can drop dead due to heart failure' due to lack of resources. But no, I am prepared, I have got my pills. I have got $35 billion [available] in cash."   
Petrobras CFO Almir Barbassa, in Latin Business Chronicle, August 1, 2011

“There's no menu or formula for success.”

Avianca Chairman German Efromovich in Latin Trade, March/April 2011, crediting a combination of persistence, passion, loving what he does and work, work, work for his success.

“It's going to be the decade of Brazil."
Rodolpho Cardenuto, President and CEO of SAP Latin America, in Latin Business Chronicle, March 29, 2011.      

“I've never felt more positive than I do today." 
 Woods Staton, CEO of Arcos Dorados, at Bravo Council in Rio de Janeiro, on his outlook for Latin America

“The one who sells doesn't have it and the one who buys doesn't want it.”

Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, attacking food and energy speculation at the Latin Trade Symposium, October 2011.

“I went to the University of Chicago, but it's not a religion."

Mexican Central Bank Governor Augustin Carstens in The Wall Street Journal, June 3, 2011, on how he is not always orthodox on economic issues

“It's like working with the mafia.”

Executive at the local subsidiary of a major international firm in Argentina, on dealing with Argentine trade officials like Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno, as quoted by

The Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2012

“Colombia - the risk is not only that you want to stay, but also invest." 
Osvaldo Robles, Manzanillo International Terminal, at the Business Future of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, June 13, 2011, rephrasing the popular official slogan of Colombia.

“We are colonizing the people who colonized us.”

Pablo Giacomini, executive director, treasury services advisor Latin America, J.P. Morgan, on Latin American companies growing acquisitions in Europe, at the LT CFO Event in Miami.

“Thank you, China.”
Jose Antonio Rios, chairman of global crossing Latin America, on how China is helping Latin America by buying it's raw goods, at the Latin Trade Symposium

“Frankly, we need some of that in the United States."
Donald Trump on President Ricardo Martinelli's corporate approach to running Panama, as quoted by the Christian Science Monitor, July 7, 2011.