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Matt Moffett has been bringing Latin America to life with wit, whimsy and insight for nearly 20 years, the last dozen of them at The Wall Street Journal. Moffett marches to his own drum, often working alone, often coming up with original stories long before anyone else. His work has penetrated nearly every tier of Latin American society -- serious when necessary but never missing a chance for the fascinating anecdote or detail.
To illustrate the collapse of the Argentine peso, for example, Moffett described the bunny rabbit a young girl brought to school for show-and-tell. It wasn't a pet but a future lunch entrée. To bring the isolation and quirkiness of Paraguay to his readers, Moffett described the country's inordinate respect for former U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes.
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Matt Moffett, South America correspondent for the Wall Street Journal
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Moffett's reportage on Mexico's industrial development ranged from a revealing profile of a Mexican millionaire modernizing the making of tortillas to the grim story of an impoverished 12-year-old boy working in a factory filled with dangerous fumes. Moffett remained involved in the life of the 12-year-old factory worker after the story was over, offering the youth help and guidance.
Moffett is currently based in Rio de Janeiro, and his work in the region is remarkable. A piece on Argentine shanty towns shows his skill at using telling details to illuminate larger trends. In what could have been a dry story about a university study that shows the importance of land title to slum dwellers, Moffett introduces us to two squatters who settled in the same Rio shanty town nearly 25 years ago. At first, both earned roughly the same amount and occupied shanties on lots of the same size. Now, one family, having petitioned for land title, lives relatively well. Some of its children have high school degrees. The other family, which did not seek title, is still crowded into its shanty. Eight family members have to sleep in the kitchen and dining room and none of its children in has made it past the seventh grade.
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