But while Mexico has the globe’s wealthiest person, Mexico falls way behind Brazil for most billionaires.
Brazil has a whopping 46, including five with ten billion or more. They are Jorge Paulo Lemann, who made his $17.8 B from beer and is the wealthiest person in Brazil to date; banking magnate Joseph Safra with $15.9 B; the Antonio Ermirio de Moraes & family with $12.7 B, the Dirce Navarro De Camargo & family with $11.5 B made from construction and Eike Batista, 56, who made his $10.6 B from oil and mining.
Mexico has only 13 apart from telecommunications magnate Slim. The others include the Alberto Bailleres Gonzalez & family and the German Larrea Mota Velasco & family, with a net worth of $18.2 B and $16.7 B, respectively, made from mining; the Ricardo Salinas Pliego & family with $9.9 B made from retail and media; Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala & family with $5 B made from beer; the Jeronimo Arango & family with $4 B made in retail; Emilio Azcarraga Jean with $2.5 B made in media; Rufino Vigil Gonzalez with $2.4 B made in steel and Jose and Francisco Jose Calderon Rojas with $2.3 B made in beverages.
Chile accounts for six, including Iris Fontbona & family, who acquired $17.4 B from mining; Horst Paulmann & family, whose $9.7 B has come from retail; and Bernardo Matte, Patricia Matte and Eliodoro Matte with $3.7 B each, all made from paper; and the Maria Luisa Solari Falabella & family whose $3.7 B came from retail.
Both Argentina and Columbia have five each.
Argentina’s five billionaires are: Carlos and Alejandro Bulgheroni with $5.5 B from oil and gas; self-made cable TV and agriculture magnate, Eduardo Eurnekian with $1.8 B; Gregorio Perez Companc who made his $1.5 B from oil and gas; pharmaceuticals billionaire Alberto Roemmers with $1.1 B and widow Maria Ines de Lafuente Lacroze, 68, who inherited her $1.2 B.
Colombia’s Luis Carlos Sarmiento tops the list of billionaires in his country with $13.9 B that is self-made from banking. He is followed by Alejandro Santo Domingo Davila with $11.7 B, all made from beer and Carlos Ardila Lulle with $5.4 B made from soft-drinks.
Rounding out the list is Jaime Gilinski Bacal with $2.4 B made from banking and Woods Staton with $1.1 B made from McDonald’s franchises.
Venezuela is home to three including media mogul, Gustavo Cisneros & family with $4.4 B; beverage king Lorenzo Mendoza & family with $4 B and banker Juan Carlos Escotet with $1.4 B.
Belize has one billionaire as does St. Kitts Nevis. Belize is the home country of self-made retail magnate, Huang Maoru & his family. He stands at $1 B and is #1,342 on the Forbes list.
St. Kitts is listed as the country of citizenship for self-made apparel king, Jacky Xu, who at $1.5 B is the #974 richest person in the world and the #54 in China.
