MEXICO CITY, March 8 (Reuters) – Mexico on Tuesday approved
the first pilot program to plant genetically modified corn, a
sensitive topic in the country that touts itself as the
birthplace of corn and where small farmers worry the high-tech
grain may contaminate native varieties.

The Agriculture Ministry granted a permit to global biotech
seed maker Monsanto (MON.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to plant no more than 2.47 acres (1
hectare) with genetically modified corn in the northern state
of Tamaulipas.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Mexican miner Fresnillo
downplayed any acquisition plans for now and said it will
invest $800 million this year on expanding projects and
exploration in its quest to become the world’s No. 1 producer
of silver.

“Given current metal prices, we think that all the
companies we could be interested in purchasing carry a price
tag that is out of reach,” Fresnillo’s (FRES.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (FRES.MX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief
Executive Jaime Lomeli told reporters on Wednesday.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Mexico will not discourage
capital inflows even as the country prepares for U.S. interest
rate hikes and a possible exodus of short-term overseas
investment, Finance Minister Ernesto Cordero said on Tuesday.

“We do not believe in putting controls on foreign capital
coming to Mexico,” Cordero told reporters, repeating his pledge
not to curtail the foreign investment that has helped to drive
up the value of the Mexican peso MXN=.

TIERRAS COLORADAS, Mexico (Reuters) – Just after Christmas, drug hitmen rolled into the isolated village of Tierras Coloradas and burned it down, leaving more than 150 people, mostly children, homeless in the raw mountain winter.

The residents, Tepehuan Indians who speak Spanish as a second language and have no electricity or running water, had already fled into the woods, sleeping under trees or hiding in caves after a raid by a feared drug gang on December 26.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican copper giant Grupo Mexico said on Thursday its most aggressive year of investments in mine expansions places the company on a firm footing in coming years for expected copper deficits.

Grupo Mexico, which has the world’s largest copper reserves, is spending $1.9 billion in its mining division to increase output, including revamping its massive Cananea copper mine, reopened for the first time after the end of a three-year strike.

MEXICO CITY, Jul 29 (Reuters) – Mining and transportation
giant Grupo Mexico said on Thursday a proposed merger of two of
its railroad units could come by the first quarter of next year
depending on a green light from Mexico’s competition
commission.

Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) controls Ferromex, the largest
railroad company in Mexico. In 2005, Grupo Mexico bought
another Mexican railroad, Ferrosur, through a subsidiary but
antitrust regulators objected.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – President Felipe Calderon’s conservative National Action Party (PAN) won the governorship of the sparsely populated Baja California Sur, a state dominated by the left for most of the last decade, election results showed on Monday.

PAN candidate Marcos Covarrubias won 40 percent of the vote with the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, coming in second. The PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years before being ousted by an election in 2000, is eyeing a presidential comeback in 2012.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – More Mexican tortilla makers are turning to financial markets to hedge against the soaring cost of corn, helping to dull price spikes for the country’s staple food and reduce the chances of social unrest.

Four years ago, thousands of protesters spilt into the streets when prices for the flat corn patties jumped almost 20 percent. Now, with U.S. corn futures near 2-1/2-year highs and jitters around the world about rampant food inflation, consumers worry there will be a flashback to 2007.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) – Friendlier ties between Taiwan and China are allowing Central American nations to deepen economic links with the communist giant, increasing Chinese influence in a region dominated by the United States.

Central American businesses say the isthmus has been held back by its long support of Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by Beijing as part of China, denying the banana and textile exporting countries free access to the world’s No. 2 economy.

MEXICO CITY, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Mexican miner Fresnillo
says aggressive expansion plans at its local mines will vault
it into first place as the world’s top silver producer next
year.

Mexico will push ahead of Peru in 2011 as the world’s No. 1
silver producer largely due to Fresnillo’s domestic growth,
Chief Executive Jaime Lomelin and Chief Financial Officer Mario
Arreguin told Reuters on Thursday. All of Fresnillo’s operating
mines are in Mexico.