Latest news with #Guatemalan-born
Miami Herald
11-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
The AI revolution is leaving Latin America behind. Can the region catch up?
A new study has left me wondering whether Latin American leaders are wasting their time on trivialities instead of tackling the region's biggest threat — its catastrophic lag in artificial intelligence (AI). Latin America makes up 6.3% of the world economy but accounts for only 1.6% of global investment in AI, according to the study commissioned by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). It's the region investing the least in AI. While the United States spends $78 billion a year, Asia $61 billion, Europe $22 billion and the Middle East and Africa combined $3.6 billion, Latin America invests only $2.6 billion a year in AI, the study says. Even worse, AI investments fell in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Peru between 2019 and 2023, the study says. Brazil currently leads the region's AI spending with $1.1 billion, followed by Mexico ($660 million), Chile ($163 million), Argentina ($146 million), Colombia ($136 million) and Peru ($77 million.) Despite these sobering numbers, there's relatively little public debate in the region about its AI challenges. I follow Latin America's news daily and rarely see presidents warning about the dangers of remaining passive amid the greatest technological revolution in centuries. Recently, several top tech entrepreneurs told me that Latin America is so far behind in AI that it should focus on its competitive advantages: food, other commodities, energy and tourism. Countries should stick to traditional exports and add value to them, they argued. Luis Von Ahn, the Guatemalan-born billionaire who founded the CAPTCHA online security test and the 500 million-user Duolingo language platform, told me he doesn't know of a single large language model developed in Latin America — not even a more modest version of ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or China's DeepSeek. 'Everything is being done in the United States and China, and a bit in Europe,' he said. Even more worrisome, some Latin American countries are investing in call centers and customer support firms, industries doomed to be replaced by AI, he warned. 'That's a huge waste of time. Call centers are likely to vanish within five years,' he told me. When I asked him what Latin American countries should do, Von Ahn recommended developing AI applications to make key industries like agriculture and tourism more efficient. 'Even with the smartest AI, tourism will survive and humans will keep eating avocados,' Von Ahn told me. 'That's where I'd focus, not on outsourcing.' Raúl Katz, co-author of the new ECLAC study and director of business strategy research at Columbia University's Institute for Tele-Information, told me that — whether in traditional or new industries — countries have no choice but to invest in AI adoption. 'If Latin American companies don't ramp up AI use in billing, logistics, distribution and supply chain processes, they'll fall even further behind and so will their countries' economies,' Katz warned. The region's biggest problem is that more than 95% of its companies are small or medium-sized firms, which lack the money or skilled staff to adopt AI and boost productivity. Building data centers matters, but 'the main obstacle isn't infrastructure — it's companies' capacity to adopt new technologies,' he said. The solution, he added, is to invest in tech institutes across each country to help small businesses adopt AI, like Germany and Japan do, and to boost college graduation rates. While 52% of Americans over 25 have a college degree, only 22% of Brazilians and Mexicans do, according to ECLAC. Asked about Von Ahn's suggestion to focus on food and tourism, Katz said that AI adoption is essential even there. 'To add value to your agricultural exports, you'll need AI,' he said. 'There are many ways in which you can increase your yields in agriculture using AI to measure the soil's humidity and estimate how much fertilizer or seeds you will need.' In short, Latin America's choice isn't between commodities or technology. It's about adopting AI to boost productivity across all industries. If Latin America keeps sleepwalking through the AI revolution, it will face massive job losses, slower economic growth and a new wave of migration. Either the region puts AI at the top of its agenda, or its future will look grimmer than its present. Don't miss the 'Oppenheimer Presenta' TV show on Sundays at 9 pm E.T. on CNN en Español. Blog:
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pollo Campero chicken chain to open second Minnesota outpost this week
The Guatemalan-born fast-food chicken chain Pollo Campero is opening its second location in Minnesota. On March 25, it'll open the doors in Brooklyn Center at 1340 Shingle Creek Crossing. The new outpost has been in the works for a while, with details emerging as far back as 2023. Its other location, situated in West St. Paul, has been in the state for more than a decade. While this is just the second location, the company said in early 2024 that it plans to open 10 restaurants around the Twin Cities in the not-too-distant future. To welcome its long-awaited Brooklyn Center restaurant, Pollo Campero will host a grand opening event with giveaways and prizes on Tuesday, March 25, at 10 a.m. After the opening, Pollo Campero will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Yahoo
The city sent his home for the last 5 years down a flood channel along with many others
A team of Los Angeles workers watched while waters from the Arroyo Seco flood channel carried away Alejandro Diaz's belongings as he broke down his home of the last five years Monday morning. "It's an injustice," Diaz, 29, said in Spanish with tears streaking down his face. "The city doesn't care about anything other than destroying our lives even though we don't bother anyone. In all my time here none of us have bothered anyone." After sunrise, the city went to work clearing an encampment along the parkway between the 110 Freeway and the flood channel that's existed there since the beginning of the pandemic. The shelters were dismantled by city workers and scraped off the flood channel floor with pitchforks, shovels and bulldozers while those who lived in them watched. Diaz's home in the channel went viral last year, with news stories highlighting his skills in adding windows, bamboo fencing and a garden framed in bright yellow siding. But last week, people living along the channel received paper notices warning them that their personal property could not be stored in a city park and would be removed during a scheduled cleaning, which the city typically does 72 hours after a warning is posted. The shelters sat on the opposite side of the flood channel from the Arroyo Seco Bike Path and a park. The city targeted the shelters for cleanup because they are in a high-risk fire area, officials said. The cleanup was done by the city's Department of Recreation and Parks while Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez deployed outreach teams with LAHSA to contact the residents ahead of Monday's event. Like many others living next to the flood channel, Diaz worked in construction, but could not find steady work. He occasionally found jobs as a day laborer in the parking lot of a local Home Depot, but said that he keeps to himself as much as possible. He is among tens of thousands of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. The number of unhoused people in the county in 2024 dropped for the first time in five years but 2025 totals have not been released because the count was delayed due to the recent fires. As cleanup crews operated Monday, Diaz kicked down his fence, smashed out the windows and rolled large boulders from his garden down into the flood channel. His girlfriend, Wendy, watched with their dog, Papi, a mixed-breed German Shepherd. In a fit of frustration, the Guatemalan-born immigrant punched a dog house until his knuckles bled and cried when he thought about all the work he put into his slice of land that he had called home for the last five years. "They don't know what they're doing to him," Wendy said. Diaz asked that somebody take a picture of his home before and after the cleanup to show that he was here. "I bet they won't clean any of it the right way," he said as he hugged his dog. Wendy and Papi stood by him later when he cried again. Ahead of Monday's sweep, volunteer advocate Elizabeth Gustafson with the group Northeast Neighborhood Outreach sent a letter asking the city to reconsider, saying housing is limited and the people living along the flood channel work together to maintain their homes. "Not only are sweeps disruptive to the unhoused people who have created community, mutual support, and neighborliness along the Arroyo against all odds, they are also an obscene waste of city resources, and they accomplish nothing," Gustafson wrote. "Angelenos are facing a staggering housing crisis, and it makes little sense to destroy homes and communities that have carved out a shred of stability amidst an untenable situation." At another shelter, Los Angeles Police officers joined park rangers pushing their way into Cesar Augusto's home. Officers knocked on his door and then forced their way inside as his puppy, Salome, barked at them. Officers told Augusto to clear out as cleaning crews began to dismantle the piles of items he gathered, including tools and cookware. Augusto, 44, arrived in Los Angeles roughly 20 years ago from Guatemala. He struggled to find steady work as a house painter after his employer died several years ago. "There's no shame in what they're doing," he said about the city's cleaning operation. "God is always watching. He knows what happens." Augusto's girlfriend sat nearby with their pup. They did not know where they would go next and watched as the treads of a bulldozer flatten their belongings. A park ranger tried to shout questions to Augusto about his belongings over the roar of heavy machinery. "Do you want any of it?" the ranger yelled. "I'm giving you plenty of time." Lorena Amador, 51, was woken up to workers ripping down one of her shelter walls and telling her she had to leave, she said. Her goal for the day was to salvage her bedding and jackets and a park ranger was helping her out by holding some of her bags while she moved up and down the channel walls by rope. As a bulldozer approached her shelter, she moved to the flood channel to wash her hair. The Arroyo Seco was an ideal alternative to living on the city streets, she said. "We all know each other and we all got along," she said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
25-02-2025
- Los Angeles Times
The city sent his home for the last 5 years down a flood channel along with many others
A team of Los Angeles workers watched while waters from the Arroyo Seco flood channel carried away Alejandro Diaz's belongings as he broke down his home of the last five years Monday morning. 'It's an injustice,' Diaz, 29, said in Spanish with tears streaking down his face. 'The city doesn't care about anything other than destroying our lives even though we don't bother anyone. In all my time here none of us have bothered anyone.' After sunrise, the city went to work clearing an encampment along the parkway between the 110 Freeway and the flood channel that's existed there since the beginning of the pandemic. The shelters were dismantled by city workers and scraped off the flood channel floor with pitchforks, shovels and bulldozers while those who lived in them watched. Diaz's home in the channel went viral last year, with news stories highlighting his skills in adding windows, bamboo fencing and a garden framed in bright yellow siding. But last week, people living along the channel received paper notices warning them that their personal property could not be stored in a city park and would be removed during a scheduled cleaning, which the city typically does 72 hours after a warning is posted. The shelters sat on the opposite side of the flood channel from the Arroyo Seco Bike Path and a park. The city targeted the shelters for cleanup because they are in a high-risk fire area, officials said. The cleanup was done by the city's Department of Recreation and Parks while Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez deployed outreach teams with LAHSA to contact the residents ahead of Monday's event. Like many others living next to the flood channel, Diaz worked in construction, but could not find steady work. He occasionally found jobs as a day laborer in the parking lot of a local Home Depot, but said that he keeps to himself as much as possible. He is among tens of thousands of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. The number of unhoused people in the county in 2024 dropped for the first time in five years but 2025 totals have not been released because the count was delayed due to the recent fires. As cleanup crews operated Monday, Diaz kicked down his fence, smashed out the windows and rolled large boulders from his garden down into the flood channel. His girlfriend, Wendy, watched with their dog, Papi, a mixed-breed German Shepherd. In a fit of frustration, the Guatemalan-born immigrant punched a dog house until his knuckles bled and cried when he thought about all the work he put into his slice of land that he had called home for the last five years. 'They don't know what they're doing to him,' Wendy said. Diaz asked that somebody take a picture of his home before and after the cleanup to show that he was here. 'I bet they won't clean any of it the right way,' he said as he hugged his dog. Wendy and Papi stood by him later when he cried again. Ahead of Monday's sweep, volunteer advocate Elizabeth Gustafson with the group Northeast Neighborhood Outreach sent a letter asking the city to reconsider, saying housing is limited and the people living along the flood channel work together to maintain their homes. 'Not only are sweeps disruptive to the unhoused people who have created community, mutual support, and neighborliness along the Arroyo against all odds, they are also an obscene waste of city resources, and they accomplish nothing,' Gustafson wrote. 'Angelenos are facing a staggering housing crisis, and it makes little sense to destroy homes and communities that have carved out a shred of stability amidst an untenable situation.' At another shelter, Los Angeles Police officers joined park rangers pushing their way into Cesar Augusto's home. Officers knocked on his door and then forced their way inside as his puppy, Salome, barked at them. Officers told Augusto to clear out as cleaning crews began to dismantle the piles of items he gathered, including tools and cookware. Augusto, 44, arrived in Los Angeles roughly 20 years ago from Guatemala. He struggled to find steady work as a house painter after his employer died several years ago. 'There's no shame in what they're doing,' he said about the city's cleaning operation. 'God is always watching. He knows what happens.' Augusto's girlfriend sat nearby with their pup. They did not know where they would go next and watched as the treads of a bulldozer flatten their belongings. A park ranger tried to shout questions to Augusto about his belongings over the roar of heavy machinery. 'Do you want any of it?' the ranger yelled. 'I'm giving you plenty of time.' Lorena Amador, 51, was woken up to workers ripping down one of her shelter walls and telling her she had to leave, she said. Her goal for the day was to salvage her bedding and jackets and a park ranger was helping her out by holding some of her bags while she moved up and down the channel walls by rope. As a bulldozer approached her shelter, she moved to the flood channel to wash her hair. The Arroyo Seco was an ideal alternative to living on the city streets, she said. 'We all know each other and we all got along,' she said.
