The ultrawealthy have varied profiles, from Mexican telecoms magnate Carlos Slim, whose $77 billion fortune is the second largest in the world according to Forbes, to Brazilian beer magnate Jorge Paulo Lemann (net worth: $25 billion), Chilean mining scion Iris Fontbona ($13.5 billion), to Colombian banker Luis Carlos Sarmiento ($13.4 billion).
What is clear is that their numbers are growing, in some cases because family fortunes have been divided up among heirs, said Mykolas Rambus, CEO of Singapore-based Wealth-X.
"The amount of wealthy people globally is booming and that is true in Latin America: It's growing at a very good pace," he said.
But the superrich also face growing scrutiny in countries such as Nicaragua, where 42.5% of the country lives below the poverty line but 210 ultrawealthy individuals control a combined fortune of $30 billion, equal to 2.5 times the country's annual economic output.
"The main characteristic of inequality in Latin America is not that there are a lot of poor people, but that there are a few people who have a lot," said Juan Pablo Jimenez, an economist at the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America.
Moreover, the latter "pay very low taxes, both in international terms and compared to what they are supposed to pay," he said.
"Taxes on wealth are very low in Latin America, and inheritance taxes are almost nonexistent."
Last year, the humanitarian group Oxfam called for more "fiscal justice" in the region to fight inequality.
But it is easier said than done.
Ecuador's socialist President Rafael Correa had to back down last week from plans to start taxing inheritances of more than $35,400 after an outcry from the business world.
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