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Save these dates / Guarde estas fechas September 27th to 30th, 2015: Permanent Secretariat 37th Hemispheric Congress, Panamá June 6th to 9th, 2016: 37th Hemispheric Congress, , Miami Upcoming venus:  Polonia 2016; Bolivia 2017; Nicaragua 2018.

Nelson Tarke President CAMACOL  2015-2017 Dear Friends, I am honored to have been chosen by members of the Latin Chamber of Commerce of the United States to lead this organization in the first two years the way to its centenary. We are celebrating 50 years of life that have been made possible by visionaries who understood the need for a Hispanic chamber, Cuban based in the beginning, when Miami began to feel the first effects of an economic and social transformation that was coming in the early 1960s. We have gotten this far thanks in part to the support of the members of CAMACOL, our benefactors and trustees. We are proud to work alongside the State of Florida, the Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami to continue increasing international trade, because we already are a gateway for importing and exporting for most of the world, and most importantly, continue to support our local businesses, which are a valuable source of jobs in our community. We are excited about the new ideas and projects that will begin to develop immediately for the benefit of our members and entrepreneurs from all over the world. CAMACOL's doors are open for everyone and our staff is always willing to help. We hope you pay us a visit and that we can count on your support. Thank you so much, Nelson Tarke Jr. _________________ Estimados Amigos, Me siento honrado de haber sido elegido por los miembros de la Cámara de Comercio Latina de Estados Unidos para dirigir esta organización en los dos primeros años camino a su centenario.  Estamos celebrando 50 años de vida que han sido posible gracias a los visionarios que comprendieron la necesidad de crear una cámara de comercio hispana, verdaderamente cubana en sus inicios, cuando Miami empezaba a sentir los primeros efectos de una transformación económica y social que se avecinaba a principios de la década de 1960. Hemos llegado hasta aquí por el apoyo de los miembros de CAMACOL, nuestros benefactores y fideicomisarios. Estamos orgullosos de trabajar junto al Estado de la Florida, el Condado Miami-Dade y la Ciudad de Miami para continuar incrementando el comercio internacional, porque ya somos para la exportación y la importación una puerta de entrada para todo el mundo, y muy importante, seguir apoyando a nuestros empresarios locales, que son una fuente valiosa de empleos en nuestra comunidad. Estamos entusiasmados con las nuevas ideas y proyectos que empezaremos a desarrollar inmediatamente para beneficio de nuestros miembros y empresarios de todas partes del mundo. Las puertas de CAMACOL están abiertas para todos y nuestro personal siempre estará dispuesto para ayudarles. Esperamos su visita y contamos con su apoyo. Muchas Gracias, Nelson Tarke Jr. Board of Directors / Junta Directiva 2015-2017 President Nelson Tarke Jr.  Regional Director WURLWIND Solutions First Vice President Second Vice President Mercy Saladrigas, Esq. Saladrigas Law Center Dr. Roberto Gutierrez,  MD, PA Treasurer Vice Treasurer Fausto Alvarez  President Fausto Alvarez, LLC Humberto O. Pertierra VP  Corporate Banking Officer Ocean Bank Secretary Vice Secretary José (Joe) L. Chi   President China Latin America Trade Center Luzmary Jimenez  VP of Marketing & Advertising   Associated Grocers of Florida Director of International Relations Vice Director of International Relations Hon. Wifredo 'Willy' Gort  Chairman, Hemispheric Congress Chambers of Commerce Raul Lopez-Perez Vice-Chairman, Hemispheric Congress Chambers of Commerce Directors Alejandro A. Dominguez Regional Director -External Affairs AT&T   Alina Lastra  Audits & Regulatory Affairs Manager Badia Spices Inc.  Alina Menendez  Regional Corporate Sales Manager Latin America, Caribbean & Mexico Ana M. Viamonte Ros,  MD, MPH  Director, Medical Staff Development Baptist Health International   Carolina Rendeiro  Emerge Americas   Dr. Martha Lima  President Remanso ALF Eduardo Cancela  MSP Recovery   Esteban Hernandez  Primero Inc.  Frances Hernandez  WPBT Channel 2 Gabriel Pascual  President Iberica  International Corp. Gueorgui Lago  Winn Dixie Stores Inc.   Hernand V. Gonzalez, Jr. President/CEO The Integrated Marketing Group Irene R. White  Regional Manager Florida Power & Light Dr. Jose A. Vicente  President Wolfson Campus Miami Dade College  Luis López  Vice President of Finance Camilo Furniture Mariela Almanza-Gonzalez  Corporate Office Manager Navarro Discount Pharmacies Mario O. Gutierrez  Manager of Latin Affairs Pepsi Beverages Co.  Martha De La Peña Rojas Sr. Manager Market Development and Community Relations, Florida Blue Nancy Marquez  President  Global Companies Corp.  Olga Núñez  President  Northwestern Meat, Inc. Olga Ramudo President/CEO Express Travel Onay Pedraza  Publix Super Markets Pedro Mesa  Supervisor and Advertising Director Manager of Sedano's Supermarkets Rafael A. Calleja  President & CEO Wind-Solar Energy Consultants Inc. Richard Noriega  Security International Services Honorary Presidents Dr. Horacio Aguirre Director Diario Las Américas  Manuel Balado President Balado National  Tires Inc. Gilberto Almeyda Luis Sabines Cap. William Alexander Honorary Directors Angel Fandiño Anthony Rivas President  Rivas Realty of Florida, Inc. Augusto R. Ledesma International Marketing Advisors Inc. Frank Unanue President Goya Food of Florida Benjamin Leon III  Vice President Leon Medical Centers Daniel Navarro General Sales Manager Mc Arthur Dairy Rafael Olloqui BTS Group Executive Committee Comité Ejecutivo 2015-2017 www.camacol.org

What That Chip in Your New Credit Card Means for You (BusinessWeek)

Better security and, for a while, confusion at checkout. Here's what you should know.

A customer makes a payment using a card with an EMV chip.

The credit cards in most Americans’ wallets are pretty much antiques. They’re easy to counterfeit, thanks to magnetic strips that rely on basically the same 1960s technology used in cassette tapes.

At last they're getting an upgrade, giving them the technology, called EMV chips, used almost everywhere else in the world. The first day of October will be an important date in making this happen.

Some questions and answers:

What's an EMV chip?

An EMV chip is a small computer chip in the front of the credit card that lets the card and the card reader engage in a digital conversation, sometimes called a handshake, to authenticate the transaction. EMV chips (after Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, the companies that created the standard) can’t be copied and counterfeited the way a magnetic strip can. 

A Visa credit card featuring an EMV chip. 

What happens on Thursday?

Card issuers and retailers are already gradually switching to the new technology. October will mark a shift in liability for fraud that is designed to prod retailers to move faster. Usually card issuers are responsible for the costs of credit card fraud. After Oct. 1, retailers that haven’t upgraded to EMV point-of-sale terminals will be liable for fraud that occurs at their stores. Card issuers are still liable for any fraud on cards that don’t have the new technology.

If I don’t have a chip in my card, is that bad?

Not for you. Someone else, either the card issuer or the retailer, will still be liable for fraud that happens on your account. And you’ve got plenty of company. By the end of the year, only about 36 percent of Americans’ credit cards will have EMV chips, Javelin Strategy and Research has estimated. That should jump to 67 percent by the end of 2017. Debit cards are even further behind: Just 13 percent will have EMV chips by the end of the year.

One obvious advantage of an EMV chip is that it facilitates making purchases while traveling outside the U.S. According to the Smart Card Alliance, almost 80 percent of checkout terminals in Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean read EMV cards. In parts of Europe, 95 percent of terminals are EMV-compatible.

How different is the checkout process with EMV cards?

“For consumers, there is going to be a bit of confusion,” said Michael Moeser, director of payments at Javelin. Shoppers are used to swiping their cards quickly and putting them back in their wallets, sometimes before a cashier even finishes tallying the sale. With EMV cards, they must wait until after the cashier is done before inserting the card into a reader, and then must leave the card in place for several seconds while the chip and the network communicate.

What might go wrong?

Expect longer lines, especially as people get used to the new procedures. Distracted customers may walk away with their cards still in the EMV reader, then rush back in a panic to fetch them. Even after clerks and customers learn how to handle the new cards, transactions will probably feel as if they take a little longer. Shoppers will need to learn to wait patiently as their cards complete their handshake with the  network.

How do I know if a retailer is ready to read my EMV card?

You don't. While most large retailers have already upgraded, or will do so soon, many small retailers and restaurants are still figuring out what to do. If you’re not sure, “it’s always safe to swipe first,” said Jamie Topolski, director of alternative payment strategies at financial technology company Fiserv. If you have an upgraded card, you might then be told to insert it into the EMV reader. (You won't be charged twice, experts say.) 

Even if you spot an EMV reader on the checkout counter, it may not be turned on yet. That’s because retailers often need to upgrade not just equipment but software, too. For the same reason, Topolski warned that retailers converting to EMV might not initially be able to offer cash back on debit cards as they used to do. 

Will this kill credit card fraud?

EMV chips make it almost impossible to counterfeit your credit card. They don’t prevent fraud in online transactions. Expect fraudsters to migrate online or focus on shops that still can’t read EMV cards.