An article in the Dec. 4, 2008, Wall Street Journal that covered all six columns at the top of page A13 was titled, "Spain's Bets Sour in Latin America."

Two brief excerpts:

"On Wednesday [Dec.3] Argentina's lower house of Congress approved a government-backed bill to expropriate two airlines owned by Spanish travel company Grupo Marsans SA. Argentina offered to pay one peso (thirty cents) for the Aerolineas Argentinas and a smaller airline, Austral. The measure is expected to sail through the Senate."

"Repsol [a major oil company] has two-thirds of its global production and half of its energy reserves coming from Argentina. The company is trying to shed the perception that Argentina could expropriate its former state oil company, YPF SA, which was sold to Repsol a decade ago.
"Repsol has isolated its risky Latin American investments in a separate entity and sold part of it to an Argentine banker with links to President Cristina Kirchner."