Prensa Latina (cover design: unknown; director: M. Fernández Colino), "PEL - Panorama Económico Latinoamericano No. 324: + Arroz Mundial + Precios Bajos," July 1970. Print magazine.

This July 1970 issue of PEL (Panorama Económico Latinoamericano) examines global rice production and pricing, addressing food security concerns across Latin America and the Third World. The cover features bold woodcut-style illustrations in red, pink, black, and cream depicting the rice production cycle: a mechanized combine harvester with operator, scattered rice grains, detailed rice stalks, and Asian farmers working in paddies with conical hats. This visual narrative juxtaposes industrial and traditional agricultural methods, reflecting debates about appropriate technology and development models for agricultural modernization in the Global South.

This issue marks a significant transition for the publication, as announced inside: PEL would suspend its monthly magazine format after this number, replacing it with weekly economic bulletins sent directly to subscribers. This shift reflected Prensa Latina's evolving strategy to provide more rapid, targeted economic information to newspapers and specialized publications throughout Latin America, competing with mainstream wire services' economic coverage. The magazine's analysis of rice markets carried particular resonance for Cuba, which had diversified its agricultural production beyond sugar monoculture partly through rice cultivation. Published during the aftermath of Cuba's ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful 10-million-ton sugar harvest, this final monthly issue demonstrated how PEL positioned Cuban economic analysis within broader Third World struggles over agricultural development, food sovereignty, and resistance to dependency on First World markets and agribusiness corporations.