Discount pharmacy chain grows in Mexico Owner also subsidizes clinics, and he wants to run for president
Victor Gonzalez sells cheap medicine and health care to Mexico’s poor, and it has made him very rich.
In eight years, his chain of Farmacias Similares, or Similar Pharmacies, has grown from a single store in Mexico City to 3,239 across Mexico and is spreading throughout Central America, as well as parts of South America.
His catchy advertising - a cartoon doctor and an army of scantily clad models - has helped make Gonzalez, 58, a household name. His slogan is “The Same, Only Cheaper.”
Now, Gonzalez wants to run for president, though the law is against him.
Gonzalez refuses to divulge his net worth, but his eight companies - manufacturing, transporting or selling pharmaceuticals - generated around $400 million in sales last year. His group claims to control one-quarter of Mexico’s $9 billion drug industry.
More: journalnow.com
Victor Gonzalez sells cheap medicine and health care to Mexico's poor, and it has made him very rich.
In just eight years, his chain of Farmacias Similares, or Similar Pharmacies, has grown from a single store in Mexico City to 3,239 across Mexico and is spreading throughout Central America as well as Argentina, Ecuador and Chile. A pharmacy opened in the Peruvian capital of Lima on July 29, and Colombia is next.
His catchy advertising _ a cartoon doctor and an army of scantily clad models _ has made the 58-year-old Gonzalez a household name. His slogan is "The Same, Only Cheaper."
Now
With new auto plants, Detroit South grows in Mexico
For Mexico, the recent groundbreaking of a new $650 million auto factory was worth celebrating. President Vicente Fox and other dignitaries attended the event. Local executives from General Motors, the investor, flew in to the central state of San Luis Potosi, where the assembly plant now under construction is expected to eventually employ up to 1,800 people and churn out as many as 160,000 compact cars a year.
During the past dozen years, many foreign manufacturers rushed to build factories in states like Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, earning the trend a nickname: Detroit
Mexico's Fernanda grows into hurricane
Forecasters promoted Tropical Storm Fernanda to hurricane status early today, but it held little threat to land.
Fernanda was well out to sea in the Pacific and was moving to the west-northwest, away from the Baja California Peninsula. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it had winds of about 75 mph.
A second disturbance trailing behind Fernanda was gaining force and forecasters said it could grow into a tropical storm. But it, too, held little danger to those ashore.
More: chron.com
Globalia names partner in Mexico airline bid
Spanish tour group Globalia has joined with privately-owned Mexican firm Grupo Angeles to bid in the privatisation of two of Mexico's major airlines, Globalia Chairman Juan Jose Hidalgo said on Saturday.
Mexican holding company Cintra (CINTRAA.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) has said both Aeromexico and Mexicana, which account for around 80 percent of Mexican aviation, will be controlled by Mexican investors, and any foreign investor must join a Mexican-led consortium.
A Globalia spokeswoman said earlier in the week the unlisted owner of Air Europa had joined with a Mexican partner, but would not name the firm. She
Mexicos uncertainty grows with parallel government
The uncertainty over Mexicos political future has taken a new twist after supporters of the defeated presidential candidate elected him to lead a parallel government that will spend the next six years opposing the man who won the election.
By a show of hands, hundreds of thousands of supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador voted for the former mayor of Mexico City to head the alternative government that will oppose the administration of the president-elect, Felipe Calderon. Suitably enough, the vote was taken in the central plaza, or Zocalo, which has been home to his
Mexico economy grows 3.3 pct in third quarter
Mexico's economy grew 3.3 percent in the third quarter, dragged down by weakness in the manufacturing sector despite strong farm output.
Compared to the second quarter, gross domestic product expanded by a seasonally adjusted 2.15 percent, the government said on Wednesday.
It had predicted third-quarter growth of around 3.5 percent from the same period a year ago, while a Reuters poll of analysts produced a consensus forecast of 3.2 percent growth.
Manufacturing grew only 0.2 percent in the third quarter as sluggishness at factories, including assembly plants that supply the struggling U.S. auto industry, limited
Wave of immigration from Mexico grows in the Northeast
Sunday morning in this small, Hudson Valley city: More than 1,000 parishioners, most from Mexico, pack Spanish-language Masses at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Afterward, many families flock to El Azteca for its authentic tacos. If somebody needs a ride home, there are at least a dozen local taxi companies catering to newcomers born in the Mexican states of Puebla and Jalisco.
New residents from Mexico have, in the last four years, opened dozens of businesses that have begun to reinvigorate the ailing downtown district; they are the region's fastest growing community.
It's
Wave of immigration from Mexico grows in the Northeast
Sunday morning in this small, Hudson Valley city: More than 1,000 parishioners, most from Mexico, pack Spanish-language Masses at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Afterward, many families flock to El Azteca for its authentic tacos. If somebody needs a ride home, there are at least a dozen local taxi companies catering to newcomers born in the Mexican states of Puebla and Jalisco.
New residents from Mexico have, in the last four years, opened dozens of businesses that have begun to reinvigorate the ailing downtown district; they are the region's fastest growing community.
It's the
NFL seeks Hispanic demographic as sport grows in Mexico
By Kent Somers, The Arizona Republic
The NFL is the monolith of professional sports leagues, so powerful in its hold over fans and sponsors that it's hard to imagine that it could grow in popularity.
Yet that's the plan, and a chief target is Mexico and the Hispanic market in the United States.
The NFL sees those markets as vital to continuing the phenomenal growth the league has enjoyed over the past 50 years. That's why NFL officials view the Arizona Cardinals' game against the 49ers in Mexico City on Sunday as
U.S. Choice Hotels Opens Three Hotels in Mexico City
U.S. hotel chain Choice Hotels International Inc. opened three new hotels in Mexico City, the chain said on May 11, 2006.
Choice Hotels is headquartered in Silver Spring, in the U.S. state Maryland.
Two of the hotels are in the tourism zone Zona Rosa, while the third hotel is located in the neighbourhood Colonia Roma, Choice Hotels said. The hotels in Zona Rosa are of the brands Quality Inn and Quality Suites, while the hotel in Colonia Roma is a Quality Inn one.
In Mexico, Choice Hotels has also hotels of the
