THE Transnordestina railway is sup-posed to carry soya beans, iron ore and other commodities from farms and mines in Brazil's northeast to ports in Ceara and Pernambuco, and then on to markets in China. Brazil has spent more than 6bn reais ($1.8bn) on the project since work began a decade ago. But cows still amble along its unfinished tracks. In Lima and Bogota workers can spend half as much time commuting as they do at the office. In Brito, a village on Nicaragua's Pacific coast, there are no paved roads, electricity or running water. "It's like we're still living in the era of Columbus," laments a fisherman.
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