El mundo está en venta

The companies in charge of buying and selling raw materials move 17 billion dollars a year. Or what is the same: a third of the global economy. They provide us with the coffee we drink, the metals from which our phones are made, and the gasoline in the cars we drive, yet we rarely stop to consider who they are and where those raw materials come from. Javier Blas and Jack Farchy bring to light one of the least known aspects of globalization: the activities of companies that buy, accumulate and sell the planet's resources. This is the story of a small group of entrepreneurs who became major players in the international economy. Under the watchful eye of Western regulators and authorities, they helped Saddam Hussein sell his oil, financed Libyan rebel forces during the Arab Spring, and allowed Vladimir Putin to get around tough economic sanctions. Unknown, apolitical and with contacts in all spheres, they skip embargoes, laws and conflicts in order to keep the population of the West fed and their store shelves full.