On the second floor of a plush Rio de Janeiro mall, Pelé flashed the smile that first captivated global audiences 50 years ago and cut a ribbon to open Swiss watchmaker Hublot's first store in Latin America.
SÃO PAULO, Brazil – When Fabio Miarelli opened coffee cherries at his 220-acre farm in the Sul de Minas region to examine how the beans inside were developing, he found wilted, rubbery granules half the normal size.
More than two decades after the Cold War, during which the United States backed anti-communist military rulers and pushed free-market policies in Latin America, conservative governments have virtually disappeared from the region.
Ecuador, where the fatty beans used to make chocolate have been grown since pre-Columbian times, is surpassing Brazil as Latin America's top cocoa producer after boosting planting and offering education programs for farmers.
