To get the maximum bang for its cash and also to satisfy local ownership rules, Telefonica has built its Latin American empire mostly through consortia that it leads but only partly owns.

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Cisneros also aims to build a broader Latin American media empire than Murdoch has in mind.

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Although his empire expands to Latin America, the United States and Europe, oil-rich Middle East countries so far have not been part of it.

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Already, Latin America, freeing itself from empire, had put on the new liberal clothes.

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When decent profits were being made in one part of a corporate empire, say, just as an example, Latin American telephone systems, then those profits were used internally to fund the purchase of North American hotel chains.

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