Latin America: Yanqui Goes Home

Among U.S. investors in Latin America, Kaiser has long had an enviable record of readiness to make big commitments, willingness to take in local investors as partners, and consideration for local political sensitivities. But in Córdoba, Argentina, two weeks ago, when Kaiser reluctantly called a ten-day shutdown of its auto assembly lines in order to work off a prohibitively large backlog of unsold cars, hundreds of workers seized 50 supervisors, locked them in a paint shop, and held them hostage until local Kaiser Boss James McCloud agreed to keep the plant in...