High performance: the 11th Bravo Business Award honorees put the important things first--people.

The common thread that binds the business leaders of Latin America can be summed up in one word: excellence. As the world rockets toward ever-deeper globalization, as interdependence and information--even understanding--become the norm for cultures as disparate as China and Mexico, the United States and India, Brazil and Spain, so too do the basic, most important things.

Excellence in this sense isn't simply wizardry with financial balance sheets, although our finance and CEO categories have plenty of flashy numbers-runners. Nor does it mean fanaticism about detail, or customers, service or sales. Got that, too. Read through the following pages, and you'll end up reading last about the humanitarians and environmentalists. Then go back and start over. The bankers talk about providing financing to immigrants. The technicians want to connect everyone, not just the big paycheck-earners. The industrialists wax poetic about teamwork, getting the best of people, developing leaders and winners.

In the end, it's really about the people, not the widgets, not the cents per share. As the old saw goes, "Watch the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves." For the Bravo Business Awards honorees, watching out for the people--employees and customers, rich or poor--means greater rewards than simply another quarter of positive returns. Excellence means humanity first. (For a list of the Bravo winners, see page 60.)

LEADER OF THE YEAR

RICARDO LAGOS 

President of Chile

ACHIEVEMENTS The long-predicted collapse of the Chilean juggernaut--it averaged 8% growth for most of the 1990s--isn't coming on Lagos' watch. After a slight dip in the late 1990s as Russia and Asia reeled, the free trade model of the region instead exported its way out of the mess. Growth averaged 4.3% during Lagos's six-year term ending this December as he inked deals with the European Union and South Korea and started serious talks with the Asian giants. Unemployment steadily fell and exports boomed.

Yet Lagos did take one prescient step back to his big-government roots as an economist, signing off on a multi-billion dollar road and subway project that provided immediate employment to thousands in their worst hour, early in his term, and finally tackled Chile's awful traffic and pollution problems. As the latest opposition politician to manage a never-ending transition to full democracy, Lagos handled with aplomb both the right's outrage at sputtering attempts to prosecute the aging General Augusto Pinochet, and the outrage of victims' families that Pinochet might die in peace of old age without facing them in court.

BACKGROUNDER A doctorate in economics from Duke University in North Carolina, Lagos made an early name for himself in leftist politics by advocating nationalization of the economy as the only means to break the elites grip on production and end poverty. Keeping his anti-dictatorship credentials intact, Lagos nevertheless managed to later make the hard right turn from his Socialist roots to centrist leadership, accepting the open-market gospel of the dictatorship while occupying a middle ground once utterly smothered by the center-left Christian Democrats.

QUOTE "There are those who have repeated for years that economic growth automatically produces social justice. How wrong they are to wait for this! The market distinguishes, it discriminates, according to how much money each person has for consumption. Equality and social justice require political will. They demand the design and implementation of realistic policies, so that the fruits of growth are distributed among all of Chile's families. This is the essence of our task as government."

MOST INNOVATIVE LEADER

The government official who has enacted the farthest-reaching reforms in Latin America

ALBERTO ALEMAN ZUBIETA

CEO, Panama Canal Authority 

ACHIEVEMENTS Just beginning a new, seven-year term, Aleman has been working to save his country's single biggest asset--a major two-ocean port, one which generates nearly US$1 billion in tolls and service fees annually--from oblivion. He needs public approval to widen the canal to prepare for an era named on the assumption that the canal itself soon won't matter: post-panamax. (So-called "post" panamax ships are too wide to cross at Panama.) Spending on preliminary improvements has topped $1.50 billion, but private estimates put the project at many billions more.

BACKGROUNDER A former construction executive educated at Texas A&M, Aleman served as CEO of the commission that ran the canal until the 1999 U.S. handover to Panama. He then oversaw its transfer to domestic control.

QUOTE "When we present the plan, we want it to be a serious proposal, given that this decision is transcendental for our country."

FRANCISCO GIL DIAZ

Finance Minister, Mexico

ACHIEVEMENTS Unlike many politicians, "Paco" Gil Diaz is plain-spoken, confident--and delivers: Mexico's inflation and exchange rate have been stable during his run as Finance Minister while financial markets deepened and matured. Public spending and debt have declined steadily while tax collection rose even as tax rates fell.

BACKGROUNDER Gil Diaz studied at the University of Chicago, a kind of free-market incubator for Latin American economists of his generation, under Nobel Prize-winning economists Milton Friedman and Robert A. Mundell. Did stints at Mexico's Central Bank and the Finance Ministry, as well as in the private sector as head of Mexican telecom Avantel.

QUOTE "Subsidies, artificially low prices, budget transfers and market manipulations provide in some circumstances greater prosperity. But, soon or later, given the current conditions of information and sophistication of the market, it sends one down an alleyway with no exit."

PEDRO PABLO KUCZYNSKI 

Prime Minister of Peru

ACHIEVEMENTS Mostly on Kuczynski's watch, the country has experienced 47 consecutive months of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, expected to be sustained in coming years. Exports are booming, inflation is low, and Peru's currency rating is just below investment grade. Government spending is at 1% of GDP.

BACKGROUNDER Widely known as PPK, Kuczynski has a strong track record in private business, heading the investment vehicle Enterprise Fund and serving as vice chairman of Chilean steel maker CAP, as well as chairman of First Boston International and managing director of First Boston Corporation. Until a recent shakeup pushed him into the position of Prime Minister, Kuczynski was Minister of Economy and Finance (for the second time this decade), as well as Minister of Energy and Mines in the early 1980s.

QUOTE "A country where half the people are poor is not viable in the long term. That is why we must intensify the struggle against poverty."

FINANCER OF THE YEAR

The financier whose efforts have generated profits as well as led to increased access to financing in Latin America

JOSE IGNACIO GOIRIGOLZARRI

President and COO, BBVA 

ACHIEVEMENTS As most of his competitors simply dug in, Goirigolzarri pushed BBVA into the next big thing: U.S. Hispanic banking. He took the Spanish bank BBV into Latin America in the mid-1990s, managed it during the merger of BBV and Argentaria, later focusing on the stronger Mexico business (and making the tough choice of cutting loose Brazil operations), only to lead more recently the charge into white-hot growth of U.S. Hispanic and immigrant banking.

BACKGROUNDER The Bilbao, Spain native has been in his current job since December 2001. He has a doctorate in Economics at Universidad Comercial de Deusto and studied finance and strategic planning at Leeds University in the United Kingdom.

QUOTE "We have a powerful and recognized brand in an attractive position: The U.S. Hispanic market, with a population of 37 million, an average household income of US$34,000--double the Latin American average--and permanently evolving financial needs, which offers clear opportunities for BBVA's growth."

JORGE LONDONO SALDARRIAGA

President, Bancolombia

ACHIEVEMENTS Bancolombia led the region's banking sector overall in 2004, thanks in no small part to Londono's work on the merger of various financial assets held by industrial conglomerate Grupo Empresarial Antioqueno into a US$12-billion powerhouse, now double the size of its nearest competitor in terms of assets and client base and Latin America's 15th-largest bank. On the heels of the merger, he's moving to increase the bank's profile in mortgages and pensions while shoring up corporate and investment banking. Bancolombia is the only Colombian company trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

BACKGROUNDER Londono has been president of Bancolombia since 1996 and was previously a member of its board of directors for three years. He has also served as president of brokerage Suvalor and vice president of insurance company Suramericana de Seguros.

QUOTE "Bancolombia is committed to its clients, serving every segment of the market, and every sector of the economy."

YOUSSEF NASR 

Group Managing Director, South America, HSBC 

ACHIEVEMENTS Despite spending years at the head of the U.K. bank's U.S. operations, Nasr is a man who understands emerging markets intimately, key as growth has slowed in developed countries. Named to his post in October 2003, Nasr has moved to build a brand-driven business on acquisitions in private-label credit cards for retailers and consumer banking. The moves paid off big in 2004.

BACKGROUNDER Nasr joined the HSBC Group in 1976, holding executive positions in New York, London, Toronto and Vancouver. He holds undergraduate and master of arts degrees from Cambridge and is a Harvard MBA.

QUOTE "We have identified the consumer finance sector as a [primary] growth area in India, China and Mexico and Brazil. In Brazil alone, you could conceivably have between 40 million and 50 million people moving to [higher] class standards of living. So we want to be early in with consumer finance businesses so that we can ride the wave of consumerism."

CEO OF THE YEAR

The Latin American company executive who has increased profits and sales as well as developed new international markets for a company with more than US$1 billion in annual sales

MAURICIO NOVIS BOTELHO

President and CEO, Embraer

ACHIEVEMENTS Embraer continues to gain altitude: It now holds two-thirds of all undelivered regional jet orders. Its hottest products are planes with between 80 and 118 seats, unheard of before the early 1990s and now in demand thanks to the rise of low-cost and emerging-market carriers that need the smaller planes for profitable short-hop, direct flights. Also this year, the Brazilian plane maker landed a partnership deal to build customized spy planes for the U.S. Army and Navy.

BACKGROUNDER Botelho took the controls of Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica--Embraer for short--in 1995, when the company was effectively bankrupt. The group pioneered a maquiladora approach to aircraft building in a lucrative niche of commuter planes. Now Embraer sells to airlines around the globe.

QUOTE "Do not lose a sense of the business, which is not to produce aircraft. It is to serve your customers. This is what really makes and creates value."

HORST PAULMANN KEMNA

President and Chairman of the Board, Cencosud

ACHIEVEMENTS Most Chileans know Cencosud for the friendly elephant logo of its flagship Jumbo hypermarkets. What few grasp is just how jumbo the parent company has become. Cencosud has been on a supermarket acquisition spree in Argentina and Chile and floated a US$332 million stock offering--the largest initial issue in Chile's history. In early 2005, Cencosud paid $835 million for upscale department store Almacenes Paris.

BACKGROUNDER Born in Germany, young Horst's family landed in the southern Chilean city of Temuco, where they ran a dance hall that the brothers later decided to turn into a supermarket. That business grew into Cencosud, now a $2.50 billion multinational with stakes in supermarkets, hardware stores, malls and department stores, as well as consumer credit.

QUOTE "I have always believed that growth is essential. When we left Temuco we did it because we knew that if we stayed in Temuco that we would be devoured by larger competitors that surely would come from Santiago."

PAOLO ROCCA

President and CEO, Techint Group

ACHIEVEMENTS Grandson of the company's founder, Rocca took charge of the business after his father's death in 2003. Rocca is leading a Latin American consolidation through a US$2.30 billion purchase of Mexican steel producer Hylsamex, to be combined with Techint's stakes in Venezuela's Siderurgica del Orinoco and Argentina's Siderar. The new operation will be Latin America's biggest steel producer in terms of output and post projected annual revenues of $5 billion.

BACKGROUNDER Compagnia Tecnica Internazionale, later Techint, was founded in 1945 by Italian steel maker and engineer Agostino Rocca. Paolo is best known for pushing the company to the cutting-edge in terms of its product quality and technology in the name of global competitiveness.

QUOTE "By increasing our research and development [on] products designed for use in the most demanding fields, we are responding to the needs of industry and reinforcing our competitive advantage."

CEO OF THE YEAR

The Latin American company executive who has increased profits and sales as well as developed new international markets for a company with less than US$1 billion in annual sales

GERARDO DE NICOLAS 

CEO, Desarrolladora Homex

ACHIEVEMENTS De Nicolas is riding high on Mexican mortgage lending, aggressively targeting moderate-income buyers in the country's top four markets: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana. In 2004, the company launched an initial public offering, raising US$183.5 million. It put the funds to work in 2005 buying Casas Beta, the seventh-largest builder in Mexico. Homex also struck a deal with U.K. bank HSBC to provide mortgages and will take advantage of government housing initiatives.

BACKGROUNDER Founded in 1989 in northwestern Mexico, Homex builds for ordinary people, pouring cement on 13,400 affordable, entry-level and middle-income homes annually in more than 30 developments in 14 states in Mexico. Its homes range in price from $15,000 to more than $100,000.

QUOTE "What has happened in housing in the last few years has been a success story, in which a series of circumstances made it possible to serve the enormous demand for housing facing this country."

CONSTANTINO DE OLIVEIRA JUNIOR

President, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes

ACHIEVEMENTS Gol was low-cost before low-cost was cool, scooping up huge market share (projected to be 35% by year end) and well-positioned to grow. In 2004, Gol issued US$281 million in stock to fund expansion, including aircraft and flights to Southern Cone neighbors, as well as a potential new low-cost carrier in Mexico by mid-2006.

BACKGROUNDER When de Oliveira announced in early 2000 that he would launch a low-cost airline in Brazil (his father runs Brazil's biggest passenger-bus company), the former amateur race car-driver and pilot saw that Gol might eventually do for South America what Southwest Airlines did in the United States--democratize air travel through discounting. Gol mushroomed into Brazil's second-largest carrier.

QUOTE "Gol is not the result of one, two or three years of successful operations in the Brazilian domestic market but the result of 54 years of experience in passenger transport in Brazil."

PEDRO LUIZ PASSOS

Joint-chairman of the Board, Natura

ACHIEVEMENTS Feeling pretty is universal: After years of selling cosmetics directly to consumers in Brazil, Natura now expects to expand to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Uruguay and Costa Rica and spend US$20 million to grow into Mexico. In late April, Natura opened its first store in Paris. To fund this growth, the company issued $248 million in an initial stock offering in May 2004.

BACKGROUNDER Brazil's biggest cosmetics firm sells bio-friendly shampoos, perfumes, body creams and oils made with natural ingredients from the Amazon rainforest. Founded by Luiz Seabra, Natura began in 1969 as a street stall and grew slowly through the 1970s, increasing its line and offering a beauty consultation service. In 1989, four companies merged to form the current structure, offering much the same services but on a larger scale.

QUOTE "In the coming years, the speed of internationalization of the brand will be greater than the speed of growth inside Brazil."

INTERNATIONAL CEO OF THE YEAR

The multinational company executive who has increased company profits and sales while opening new markets in Latin America

GUY DOLLE

CEO, Arcelor

ACHIEVEMENTS As the global steel industry brutally consolidates, Luxembourg's Arcelor is pushing to keep ahead with an emerging-markets strategy focused on Brazil, Russia, China and India. Last year it acquired control of Brazilian steel-pipe company CST as well as Acindar in Argentina. Now it is combining controlling stakes in Belgo, CST and Vega do Sul into a single entity. Dolle's strategy: Buy companies with low-cost inputs and high growth potential.

BACKGROUNDER With sales of US$36.86 billion and shipments of 43.9 million tons of steel in 2004, the $10 billion merger of Usinor, Luxembourg's Arbed, and Aceralia of Spain is a major player in all of its main markets.

QUOTE "I want to help Arcelor become one of the leaders of the steel industry, producing approximately 80 to 100 million tons--that is twice the size of today--and being able to deliver continuous value to its shareholders. That's a big goal."

THOMAS A. GALES

Vice President for the Latin America Division, Caterpillar

ACHIEVEMENTS The world's largest earth-moving equipment maker reported record 2004 sales of US$30.25 billion and record profits of $2.03 billion for the year. Latin America has kept pace with headquarters, achieving a 37.8% increase in sales to more than $2.37 billion in sales in 2004. Exports drove growth.

BACKGROUNDER The familiar yellow-and-black 'dozers and trucks made by Caterpillar make the construction, mining and farming worlds go around. The Peoria, Illinois manufacturer is the world's leading maker of heavy machinery, with approximately half of all sales going to customers outside of the United States, maintaining Caterpillar's position as a global supplier and leading U.S. exporter.

QUOTE "I'm often asked, 'What sets Caterpillar apart?' I proudly answer that it is Cat's dedication to providing the right solution for its customers at exactly the right time."

CARL-HENRIC SVANBERG

President and CEO, Ericsson

ACHIEVEMENT Only a few years ago, telecom equipment maker Ericsson--despite decades of history serving Latin American customers--had become a sad punch line in the telecom bust. Awful quarter after awful quarter finally turned around as Latin America division revenues zoomed up 60% in 2004 to US$2.19 billion. Part of the story is wireless: Cellular-phone usage has boomed, and Latin Americans have not hesitated to upgrade to newer technology, leading carriers to buy into latest generation networks supplied by the Swedish company, among others.

BACKGROUNDER Svanberg joined the company in April 2003, having left Assa Abloy Group after nearly a decade--and after having turned it into the world's largest lock company through dozens upon dozens of acquisitions. A native Swede, Svanberg hopes to expand into multimedia, upselling handsets to richer phone users while keeping the base made possible by wide adoption of the GSM standard.

QUOTE "One of my fundamental principles: As a manager, you must know your job. You must know your company, your technology, your numbers and your competitors. You have to do it all and that takes a while."

TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

The executive whose efforts have the greatest impact on technology development in Latin America

KEITH GOODWIN

Senior Vice President, Worldwide Channels, Cisco Systems

ACHIEVEMENTS Cisco Systems reports that the recently promoted Goodwin increased sales by 50% during the last two years on the job, making the company's Americas International sales region (Latin America plus Canada) the tech company's fastest-growing sales area during the period. Revenues from what Cisco denotes as "advanced technologies," those the company believes can become US$1 billion categories, grew 90% in those two years, Cisco reported. These products include home networking, storage, Internet telephony, and security. (Cisco does not break Latin American sales data away from United States results.)

BACKGROUNDER After his performance in the Americas International sales area, Goodwin has headed to the global stage, recently taking over the portion of the tech giant's business that handles selling through third parties, known as channel sales. He now oversees 25,000 resellers.

QUOTE "Our goal is to work together with local government leaders, educational institutions and businesses to accelerate Internet penetration."

HUGH GRANT

President and CEO, Monsanto Company

ACHIEVEMENTS Transgenic crops already cover more than 18 million hectares in Latin America. Yet in much of Latin America Monsanto couldn't collect a dime. Monsanto's seeds were illegal, although farmers across the region planted just the same. Battle half-won (the Brazilian government buckled; Argentines simply don't want to pay), the company now must negotiate royalties. Monsanto also paid US$1.40 billion for Seminis, gaining 40% of the U.S. vegetable-seed market and 20% of the world market.

BACKGROUNDER Huge percentages of U.S. crops are from biotech seeds, which can boost yields by 70%. A 22-year veteran of the company, Grant become CEO in May 2003.

QUOTE "When the farmer purchases Monsanto seed, or a biotech seed, he's purchasing a piece of information that allows him to grow crops either in a different environment, or to grow them with a reduction in the amount of pesticides that he uses. We charge for the use of that information."

DANIEL HAJJ 

CEO, America Movil

ACHIEVEMENTS True to the model of his famous father-in-law, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, Hajj took America Movil deep into enemy territory, swiping up bargains as foreign pretenders fled and expanding the wireless brand into 12 countries and to 73.8 million lines. Sales shot up 58% to US$12.10 billion, while net income hit $1.50 billion.

BACKGROUNDER America Movil executives believe a bigger net catches more fish. While most carriers were shy about prepaid cellular, the Mexican outfit saw the light, making its phones and minutes cards available at every drugstore and newsstand where it had a license. Since spinning off from fixed-line giant Telefonos de Mexico just five years ago, America Movil has done in a half-decade what Latin American government hadn't done in a century: get cheap, working phones into the hands of its citizens.

QUOTE "During 2006 we expect to have more than 100 million clients."

ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE YEAR

The individual who has done the most to promote the environment in Latin America

MARIA ANDRADE HERNANDEZ

General Director, Pronatura Peninsula de Yucatan

ACHIEVEMENTS Thanks to Pronatura, a huge swath of wild land on the Yucatan Peninsula will be protected, part of a historic US$3 million deal in Campeche state involving state and federal governments, local communities, Pronatura and The Nature Conservancy. Close to 150,000 hectares of tropical forest in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve--home to the world's largest population of jaguars--will be permanently protected from farming and development. The forests of Calakmul collect the region's fresh water, which flows underground toward the Yucatan Peninsula's coasts, including the tourism centers of Xcaret and Cancun.

BACKGROUNDER Pronatura's mission is to preserve the flora, fauna and priority ecosystems and to promote social development in harmony with nature. Andrade has been involved with the organization for the past decade. The U.S. conglomerate 3M and the Earth Foundation provided funding for the transaction.

QUOTE "What are Cancun and Xcaret going to do in 20 years when there's no water?"

MARCEL CLAUDE

Vice President South America & Antarctica, Oceana

ACHIEVEMENTS Marcel Claude is a disaster for any business interest bent on fouling the earth in search of profits. Unlike the hazy, hippy image most green leaders conjure up, Claude is a former Central Bank economist who can speak in terms of economic return and bottom lines. He even wears a suit and tie.

BACKGROUNDER The driving force behind Fundacion Terram, Claude famously wrote while still at Chile's Central Bank that the wood pulp and chip business was a simple rape of the land with no economic payoff whatsoever for the country. (He was either fired or stepped down from the bank, depending on whom you ask.) Claude's work sparked an awakening among a generation of docile Chilean youth that their country's stewards might not have more in their sights than becoming rich at any cost. Today Claude runs his intellectual skewers through Chile's giant salmon industry.

QUOTE "Chile's economic growth has another facet that is being ignored--an important loss of natural capital and an increase in pollution. Those additional costs to society must be included in any profitability analysis."

DENER GIOVANINI

General Director, Renctas

ACHIEVEMENTS Fueled by poverty and stiff demand from wealthy buyers, the US$20 billion-a-year illegal trade in animals, plants and their products is the world's third-largest criminal activity after weapons and drugs. Because of its biodiversity, Brazil has become a favorite of wildlife traffickers. Every year, 38 million Brazilian specimens are illegally sold abroad. Ninety percent die during capture and transport.

BACKGROUNDER Giovanini in 1999 started Renctas, a Brazilian network to fight animal trafficking. In just a few years, he has affiliated 600 organizations and 39,000 individuals, developing police training, animal ransom schemes, educational campaigns, scientific research and literature. Giovanini receives regular death threats for his trouble.

QUOTE "Certainly the vast majority here know that selling animals like this is illegal. However, because of the inefficiency of the Brazilian legal system nobody takes this issue very seriously, and so it continues. That's why our biodiversity is ending."

HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR The individual who has done the most to improve the welfare of people in Latin America

MILENA GRILLO

Founder and Executive Director, Fundacion Paniamor

ACHIEVEMENTS One of the ugly truths of life in Costa Rica's idyllic beach towns is that poverty has bred a generation of child sex workers. Grillo has stirred up politicians, health workers, the tourism industry and ordinary Costa Ricans with a simple idea: No, it's not normal, and it has to stop. In 2004, Paniamor got more than 30 companies to sign a sex-trafficking code. Costa Rica nevertheless remains near the top of the 2004 list of chronic sexual exploiters and traffickers--No. 2 among 104 countries.

BACKGROUNDER Created in 1987, Paniamor's purpose is to enforce the rights of Costa Rican minors. It does so by providing information and training services, engaging in advocacy, and by offering preventive attention to socially disadvantaged adolescents. QUOTE "In the last decade we have concentrated heavily on the victims and the causes of exploitation, but we have left aside as untouchable the subject of demand, the abusers and their intermediaries."

JAIME JARAMILLO

Founder, Fundacion Ninos de los Andes

ACHIEVEMENTS Known in Colombia as "Papa Noel" (Father Christmas), Jaramillo is a walking social aid agency focused on Colombia's street children. He seeks out throwaway kids in drain pipes, garbage heaps and under bridges. His foundation serves 6,000 of them a year, expanding programming recently to prisons, home repair for the poor and teaching leadership to young people.

BACKGROUNDER Born in Manizales, Colombia, Jaramillo's regular career has been as an oil industry consultant. In December 1973 he saw a girl get run down in the street after stopping to pick up an empty box for a doll. As a result of that incident, Jaramillo dressed up and gave out Christmas gifts. That grew into the foundation.

QUOTE "For me, a real leader is someone who while rising pulls others up with him as he goes, and shows how to help others and oversees them and whose faith, passion, love, and dreams are contagious, who inspires and motivates others to make the world better."

JORGE ROJAS ZEGERS

President, Corporacion de Ayuda al Nino Quemado

ACHIEVEMENTS Half a million children from low-income families are burned each year across Latin America. Chilean physician Jorge Rojas Zegers has made it his mission to see that each of them has access to free care and rehabilitation. Begun a quarter century ago at Chile's Hospital Roberto del Rio, the corporation so far has helped 70,000 kids.

BACKGROUNDER Rojas Zegers runs the U.S. non-profit foundation to develop, finance and coordinate the treatment of burn patients, particularly through expatriate communities in the United States, their U.S. embassies and the Organization of American States. In November 2003, it opened a second rehabilitation center in the northern Chilean town of Antofagasta to help children in northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and beyond.

QUOTE "If 25 years ago we had not believed that we could respond to the hopes of so many burned children, we would not now be trying to build on that hope."