Members of APEC, Asian-Pacifice Economic Cooperation, ended their annual summits today in Lima, Peru. One of the main topics, besides the economic crisis, was free trade.

(By the way, APEC consists of member economies like China, Vietnam, the U.S., Canada, Russia, Peru, and Chile, among others.)

Free trade is a hot topic right now, with the dreaded “P” word floating about: protectionism. Protectionism is when governments restrict or restrain international trade. Most times the intent is to protect local markets from competition.

Like if the U.S. government says a tomato farmer in Mexico can no longer export his product to the States because its so much cheaper compared to an American farmer’s product.

The 21 leaders meeting in Lima have agreed to “avoid protectionist measures and keep trade free despite the economic climate,” reports the BBC. The members signed a final declaration backing free trade on Monday.

Free trade is only part of the equation, though, and governments have also agreed to support economic stimulus plans that will boost spending.

In fact, the APEC member governments are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on ways to stop the economic crisis, says the International Herald Tribune. Not all the cards are on the table, though, and there hasn’t been a clear-cut plan held up for the public’s eye. Not yet, anyway.

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Late October, Brazil and Argentina announced that their governments would buy up private assets in financial markets.

Brazil’s plan would allow its state-controlled banks (Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal) to buy stakes in private financial institutions. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced that the government would take over the $30 billion private pension fund.

These announcements pushed Latin American markets well into the red, but they also knocked Spain’s Ibex index off 184 points, or 2%.

That should come as no surprise. Spain and Latin America have many economic ties, and some Spanish companies do so much business across the pond that 29% of net profits come from that region.

So when news of nationalization hit last week, naturally Spanish markets shuddered… With good reason.

Just look at Bolivia and Venezuela, both controlled by heavily nationalistic leaders.

Venezuela has had three major blackouts this year. Some areas spent more than two weeks without power at a time. Bolivia continues to buy up local and international stakes in its natural gas pipeline infrastructure, but it’s been shipping less than 50% of its contracted amount of natural gas to Argentina since September.

Problems like this led to a severe power crisis last summer, and forced Argentina to buy energy from Brazil.

So the question is… Will government intervention result in protection from global markets, or will pensioner and investors alike be holding worthless papers and wondering where all their money went?

And how will markets in both Latin America and Spain respond?

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Surprising news out of Argentina today: Ternium (TX:NYSE), a steel maker with operations in Argentina and Mexico, reported a 15% rise in net income (year on year).

But here’s the thing. That 15% rise is overshadowed by the fact that its net income of $247 million is only half that from the previous quarter. The main reason for this drop? Lower net foreign exchange results.

This wierd fluctuation is seen in the company’s EBITA. This figure grew 101% year over year in the third quarter, but is down 11% from the second quarter.

Next quarter, the company expects further contraction in income, which doesn’t bode well.

These kinds of earnings reports are going to become more prevalent, I think… So long as major currencies continue to seesaw back and forth.

You see, most international exporting companies have to hedge themselves against their own currencies. But with the global mayhem shoving some denominations higher and knee-capping others, it’s obvious that some companies are going to be left holding the short end of the stick.

Argentina’s in that bracket.

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On Monday, September 1, 2008, the lights in Caracas and eight surrounding states in Venezuela went out.

An 800,000-volt transmission line failed, and five gigawatts of power were eliminated from the powergrid. A press report said that Zulia, the Venezuelan state a the heart of the oil industry, was “the state most affected by the blackout.”

Now, the national power company, Corpoelec says it will spend $13 billion in power investments for thermo and hydro plants. More than 30 new projects are expected to be funded.

Transmission and distribution networks will account for roughly half the number of new projects. But there are some rumors of diversification in the OPEC member’s power generation. In fact, Menpet, Venezuela’s energy and oil ministry, has installed 779 solar panel systems and is planning a solar panel factory.

And last year, Chavez said he would use oil money to build an offshore wind farm on the Caribbean coast.

Turns out, Venezuela is not alone when it comes to renewable energy investments…

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