
The partner of a wealthy Venezuelan businessman on trial for his alleged involvement in a Latin American political cash scandal said Friday they were both deeply involved in rampant government corruption in their home country.

The Mexican peso closed trading Wednesday at 12.74 to the US dollar, compared to 12.50 on Tuesday, with a depreciation of 1.8% having oscillated up to 12.82. The central bank on Wednesday morning auctioned 400 million US dollars as had been anticipated by government officials.

Despite decades of denial surrounding the kidnapping, torture and death of British-Chilean priest Michael Woodward, a retired Chilean Navy official has admitted that the priest died aboard the school ship Esmeralda.

Almost fifteen million people from Latinamerica and the Caribbean will fall back into poverty in the coming years because of the increase in food prices and a slower economic growth in the region, forecasted the United Nations Latinamerica and Caribbean Economic Commission, Cepal.

Switzerland is taking steps to strengthen its largest bank, UBS, becoming the latest European government to unveil a banking rescue plan. UBS is raising 6bn Swiss francs (5.3 billion US dollars) from the government.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia swore in a new Cabinet headed by a leftist governor as Prime Minister following a scandal over possible corruption in the awarding of oil concessions which prompted all of his ministers to resign last week.
Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile has some of the least populated towns and villages of the country according to the latest census.

Latinamerican equities staged on Monday a powerful rebound from last week's crash, with Brazil's Bovespa soaring 14% and Mexico's IPA 11.1%, its highest one day gain this year and since 1998.

South Georgia following on from last year's record will once again experience an increase in the number of cruise ship visits to the Island.
Colombia's Alvaro Uribe, Brazil's Lula da Silva and Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez figure as the leaders with the best performance record according to the 2008 edition of the Ibero-American Governance Barometer 2008.