Southeast Mexico

Hi-Tech Emerging Here Too

By: Staff Report

    Long a maquila afterthought, Mexico ’ssoutheastern corridor is emerging from the shadows cast by the rest of the country.

    Pockets of industry have existed in states like Veracruz and Puebla for decades. Indeed, Volkswagen has had an automobile assembly plant in Puebla since 1954 and today assembles the New Beetle and other models in Puebla . Likewise, the ports of Veracruz have always been a magnet to industrial growth and that state is home to important plastic and chemical companies.

    But it is the emergence of states like Yucatán , Campeche and Guerrero that is most noteworthy. States that previously were lucky to attract cut and sew operations are joining the rest of the nation in the push for high technology.

    Two programs — Plan Puebla-Panama and Marcha Hacia el Sur — spearheaded by Me xico President Vicente Fox can only help facilitate continued development.

    Plan Puebla’s objective to improve the quality of life of citizens of Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatan; as well as the central American countries of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua and Panama. More than $4 billion was pumped into the project during its first year – mostly on infrastructure improvements.

    Marcha Hacia el Sur is a federal project that involves the same Me xican states. The federal government works with the states to streamline the investment process for companies wishing to establish...

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