It's the law. (Panorama).

IMMIGRATION 

The U.S. government filed a lawsuit against Tyson Foods for allegedly conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens to work in its food-processing factories. An investigation in which U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents posed as smugglers allegedly captured Tyson managers on tape making deals to illegally bring about 130 Mexicans into the United States over a two-and-a-half-year period. If the food company is found guilty, government attorneys will ask Tyson to surrender some of its profits during the period.

PETROCHEMICAL

Brazilian petrochemical companies Oxiteno, Politeno and Suzano filed an anti-trust complaint against new competitor Braskem. The trio claim that powerhouse Braskem, which began operations last year, will increase the price of ethylene while reducing national output. Braskem has called the allegations an attempt by the competition to win better terms for buying ethylene.

LABOR

A Chilean appeals court overturned a ruling that required Telefonica CTC Chile to pay US$10 million in bonuses to union workers. The court not only freed CTC Chile from the charges, which were a provision of a labor contract that ran through June 2002, but it ordered the union workers to pay for legal fees.

MINING

The U.S. Justice Department reached a settlement in a lawsuit against Asarco, a U.S. subsidiary of Grupo Mexico. The agreement allows Asarco to sell a 54% stake in Southern Peru Copper Corp. to its holding company, American Mining Corp. Under the terms of the deal, Asarco must also set up a US$100 million fund, guaranteed by Grupo Mexico, to pay for at least 20 environmental cleanup projects the company is responsible for in the United States.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo vetoed a bill that would have eliminated monthly fees for fixed telephone service, which is controlled by Spanish-owned Telefonica del Peru. Toledo said the move would be unconstitutional since a 1994 contract between the government and the telephone company called for such a fee. Telefonica had vowed to reduce the monthly charge by 31%, as well as offer lower rates for low-income households, if the measure was vetoed. The Peruvian phone company also will seek government permission to eliminate the 60 free minutes customers receive in their basic monthly service contract.

SOURCE: National Law center for Inter-American Free Trade ([e-mail]); Translegal, LLC ([e-mail])