For much of the last decade, Mexico and Brazil were a study in contrasts. "Brazil Takes Off" was a typical magazine cover, depicting Rio's huge statue of Christ literally blasting off. The equivalent story for Mexico was "The War Next Door: Why Mexico's Drug Violence is America's Problem Too."

In the past two years, however, the roles have been reversed. Riots in São Paulo and the downfall of billionaire Eike Batista have badly dented Brazil's glamorous image. Meanwhile, a succession of bold moves by Mexico's charismatic new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, have finally awakened foreign observers to the fact that Mexico is Latin America's new "country of the future."

"...[N]ow there is a new trade horizon. At the Group of 8 summit meeting, official talks were launched for an E.U.-U.S. free-trade agreement....On the surface, this is good news for everyone. The collective interests of the world's first- and second-largest markets would be served by an agreement that would boost combined G.D.P. by almost 1 percent. There is great hope that cooperation would reduce unnecessary regulation on both sides of the Atlantic."

"Banking regulation may not be the most voter-friendly topic. Yet the reality is that the best way to create employment in the periphery is by ending the fragmentation of the financial system that continues to plague Europe. As long as Greek, Portuguese, Spanish or Italian entrepreneurs need to pay a premium of between 4 and 6 percent above what their German counterparts pay on bank loans, how can they possibly start new businesses?"

"To argue that 'Mr Monti promised reform and ended up raising taxes' is to grossly misunderstand an imperfect but positive labour reform, pension changes and progress on competitiveness, tax evasion and corruption."

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi's Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) gives the populists' opponents a new weapon: support while structural reform takes hold. As he implied on Thursday, purchases are rewards for the countries implementing good reforms. Conversely, the ECB can stop OMT if it judges national policies to be "deserving" of punitive rates. Draghi should not hesitate to use this power to preserve credibility: while monetary policy operates within democracy, it is not itself be democratic.

"With all its imperfections, Europe today is the largest single market in the world, featuring effective anti-trust regulations, curtailing economic nationalism, and promoting free trade agreements with counties as far away as Asia and Latin America. New potential members are eager to join, from booming Turkey to crisis-ridden Iceland. Despite all the talk of stalling, Turkish membership will eventually come to pass."

"La radicalización económica de este tercer Gobierno kirchnerista ha redoblado el control estatista en materia de comercio exterior e industria, tratando de reemplazar la iniciativa privada con fuerza estatal."

El aislamiento no es sostenible. La libertad es más eficiente —y justa— que el estatalismo.

"As the U.S. gears up for an important presidential election, Argentina is a sad reminder of how crony capitalism is the enemy of genuine development."

Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, says that "big, international banks like Santander and BVA are well diversified. Of the others, quite a few need capital — but how much? That's the unknown and Bankia has undermined faith in financial reporting."