Lorne Matalon

Latest Stories (16)

Illegal trade thrives along Mexico-Guatemala border

Jun 30, 2016
People and goods cross freely, despite help from the U.S.
Migrants transiting Mexico once depended largely on a series of trains known collectively as La Bestia (the beast). Following raids on the trains that began in 2014, migrants say they walk long distances in the Mexican interior to avoid mobile and fixed checkpoints.
Lorne Matalon/Marketplace

The struggles of Mexican fair trade coffee producers

Jun 28, 2016
Fair trade coffee works for many Mexican growers - but there are also roadblocks
In the Mexican state of Chiapas,  coffee is part of the culture. A buyer showed off a sample of coffee beans he had just bought for distribution within Mexico.
Lorne Matalon/Marketplace

Microfinance is big business in Colombia

May 3, 2016
The country is a center of microfinance, providing small loans to the poor.
Elizabet Abella prepares food that she sells in the central market in Barranquilla, Colombia. She received a microloan to build her business from Opportunity International, a Christian organization that operates in 28 countries.
Lorne Matalon/Marketplace

How West Texas is surviving the oil bust

Apr 27, 2016
The nation's highest-producing oilfield in west Texas hasn't seen a drop in production. Until now.
A frack operation in the Permian Basin of Texas, the nation's highest-producing oilfield. The Basin was once the floor of an ancient seabed that today is laden with hydrocarbons.
Lorne Matalon/Marketplace

Panama Canal prepares for bigger vessels

Dec 30, 2015
The changes will allow for ships that can carry up to three times the cargo.

Desperate patients smuggle prescription drugs from Mexico

Jan 20, 2014
Physicians and law enforcement are tracking a relatively new trend -- U.S. patients smuggling of prescription medicine in bulk from Mexico.