Alfonso Portillo

CENTRAL AMERICA Fight against Trafficking Creates Crime Niches in Central AmericaIncreased efforts against drug trafficking in Colombia and Mexico are driving drug mafias into Central America, where drug related corruption, money laundering and violence are growing. President Alfaro Colom of

COSTA RICA Arrested with $259,000 A Mexican identified only as Ramírez Sánchez was arrested in San José with $259,000 hidden in his luggage as he was trying to get back to Guadalajara. Costa Rican authorities also detained a Panamanian identified

COLOMBIA Everybody under surveillance The revelation that the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) - Colombia's domestic secret police service, which answers directly to president Álvaro Uribe - has illegally hadjournalists and opposition leaders in Colombia under surveillance has created a

CHILE: Not As Clean As It Looks; GUATEMALA: Portillo Closer to Home; HAITI: IDT's Blues; INTERNATIONAL: No Good News from TI Report; MEXICO: Smugglers and Launderers Neutralized; No Solution to Oaxaca's Crisis; NICARAGUA: Ortega Returns; REGIONAL: Businesses Worry About Frauds, Hackers and … Laundering; and URUGUAY: The Last of the Free Peiranos.

CHILE: Pinochet Investigation Goes to Panama; GUATEMALA: Guatemalan Customs Heir Arrested; and PERU: “Fuji” Arrested in Chile.

BRAZIL: Corruption Crisis in Brazil Deepens; GUATEMALA: Portillo Can Travel; LATIN AMERICA: Remittances on the High; and PERU: New Member of the Egmont Group.

CHILE Pinochet Had 125 Bank Accounts A further investigation by a U. S. Senate Subcommittee into former dictator Augusto Pinochet's riches revealed this month that he held 125 bank accounts in the U. S., and not a few as previously

CHILE: The General's Mysterious Fortune; ECUADOR: Supervising the Bank Trials; EL SALVADOR: The Money Ended Up in the Bankers' Hands; GUATEMALA: Portillo Finds a Job in Mexico; and PARAGUAY: The Paraguayan Quagmire.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Gang on Trial; CHILE: Riggs Case Prompts an Investigation; COSTA RICA: Bank Busted; ECUADOR: Filanbanco's Twisted Trail; GUATEMALA: Portillo's Associate on the Line; and MEXICO: Construction Blues.

ARGENTINA Menem in exileFor the second time, an Argentinean judge issued an international arrest warrant for the former President, Carlos Menem, on allegations of tax fraud.Apart from other crimes, Menem is accused of embezzling tens of millions of dollars during

ARGENTINA Good banks, bad banksElisa Carrió - leader of the Alternative for a Republic of Equals (ARI) party - warned the government in a letter that Merrill Lynch & Co. and Barclays Plc, two of the three banks picked by

ARGENTINA: The Swiss connection; New charges for banker; BRAZIL: Lula faces first scandal; EL SALVADOR: Sentences in El Carmen case; GUATEMALA: Portillo on the run; MEXICO: Court rules U.S. operation unconstitutional; PARAGUAY: Looking for minister Ferreira; The Peirano brothers: scapegoats?; and PERU: Toledo in trouble.

COSTA RICAMoney laundering on the rise A report by the Drug Enforcement Administration identifies an increase in Costa Rica's vulnerability to money laundering. According to the report, the real estate sector has become one of the favorite ways of laundering

ARGENTINA: Investigator investigated; CHILE: A major financial scandal erupts; COSTA RICA: More controls for Costa Rica; GUATEMALA: USA resumes aid; Congress Chair in trouble for alleged corruption; MEXICO: The PRI fined; Divine bank accounts; NICARAGUA: Bolaños presents policy; PANAMA: Portillo's account in the open; REGIONAL: Eleven jurisdictions of "concern" in Latin America and the Caribbean; URUGUAY: Controversy! What controversy?; and VENEZUELA: Chavez under scrutiny.

COLOMBIA: News of a kidnapping; GUATEMALA: A tale of embezzlement; HONDURAS: Funny transactions in Honduras; A law against money laundering; NICARAGUA: New charges against Interbank executives; PANAMA: New dirty links between Peru and Panama; Portillo tarnished by accusations; URUGUAY: BCCI's death throes; and REGIONAL: Waves from Washington; Latin America EXTRA.