LATIN AMERICAN: Economies Rebounding Even As U.S. Falters.

M.HERALD/ Mimi Whitefield:    "When the U.S. economy is mired in deep recession, an economic tsunami generally washes over Latin America and the Caribbean.
     But this time the worst recession in seven decades only caused a wave that rippled across the region in 2009, said economist Manuel Lasaga. And, in most cases, the wave wasn't strong enough to knock anyone down.
      The region weathered the worldwide economic crisis largely without the inflationary spirals, debt defaults, bank collapses, capital flight and currency devaluations of the past."
    AND:  ``It's almost like the United States and Latin American switched places,'' said  Manuel Lasaga, president of Miami consulting firm StratInfo. ``This time Latin America is the region with the good economic indicators.''