Mexico City. Photo: Yetto (flickr)

Are the southern states of Mexico – Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca – getting left out of Mexico's economic growth?

An April 24 article in the Economist suggests that there is a growing socio-economic gap between these three southern states and the rest of Mexico. In 2000, Mexico’s GDP per capita was $7,495, compared to a combined average of $3,634 for Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca, according to a World Bank report. Furthermore, the percentage of people living in extreme poverty – less than $1 a day – was 54-56 percent in the south, compared to 23-25 percent nationwide.

Recently, the government has proposed using large-scale infrastructure projects to address this economic disparity.

In 2001, then-President Vicente Fox released his Plan Puebla Panamá, a project to link southern Mexico and Central America with northern Mexico. It primarily provides funding for building highways and new air and sea ports.

More recently, current President Felipe Calderón announced plans for a six-year, $28.7-billion road investment project. A significant part of the plan focuses on southern coastal regions.

Critics argue that investing in infrastructure isn’t enough to promote economic growth in the south. José Antonio Aguilar, a government official from the state of Puebla (another southern state), tells The Economist that they have experienced “a total transformation” in state infrastructure "but we haven’t been able to turn this into growth in income." Likewise, Miguel Pickard for CorpWatch.org worries that these top-down approaches tend to overlook Mexico’s poor.

To what extent will these ambitious infrastructure projects close Mexico's north-south poverty gap?

Muslims in Malaysia and elsewhere are boycotting Dutch imports in the wake of an incendiary Internet-posted movie by Dutch legislator Geert Wilders. The right-wing politician means to provoke with his 15-minute anti-Islamization movie, Fitna, which many say equates Islam with terrorism.

In Malaysia, where more than six of every 10 inhabitants are Muslim, the Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the film. The Religious Council has also urged the boycott of Dutch products, saying it created unnecessary tensions.

One of Malaysia’s leading supermarket chains initiated a "soft boycott" in 40 stores by marking the products with red labels. The chain buys $18.8 million worth of Dutch goods a year, ranging from dairy products and cosmetics to electronics.

Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said that a boycott would make the Netherlands "close shop" since the world's 1.3 billion Muslims make up the wealthiest population and are also the biggest importers. “We must not be afraid of losing trade with them. If we do, then we won't be thinking as Muslims, but more for our own self interests," he said.

The Dutch are fearful that the boycotts will affect their businesses. Malaysian dairy giant Dutch Lady Milk Industries took out full-page newspaper advertisements to denounce the film. Dutch businesses are even threatening to take legal action against Wilders if their businesses were affected by his film.

Oman, Jordan, Singapore, Pakistan and the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are among others who have condemned the film.