Hugo Chavez

Second Amended Complaint in Ralph S. Janvey, as court-appointed receiver for the Stanford receivership estate; Sandra Dorrell, Samuel Troice, and Michoacan Trust, individually and on behalf of a class of all others similarly situated, v. Greenberg Traurig LLP, Greenberg Traurig PA, and Yolanda Suarez at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

First Amended Complaint in Ralph S. Janvey, as court-appointed receiver for the Stanford receivership estate; Sandra Dorrell, Samuel Troice, and Michoacan Trust, individually and on behalf of a class of all others similarly situated, v. Greenberg Traurig LLP, Greenberg Traurig PA,  and Yolanda Suarez at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

CENTRAL AMERICA New initiative against corruptionThe countries of Central America's so called northern triangle - El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala - are studying setting up an international commission against impunity, a body capable of taking on organized crime in the

ARGENTINA President defends her assets President Cristina Fernández rejected accusations of illicit enrichment after the publication of her and her husband's assets revealed an increase of almost 160 percent in the last year. In their asset statement Fernández and

Latin America Round-Up: BOLIVIA: Phony Phone Cards Come to Bolivia; CENTRAL AMERICA: Gangs and Corruption; COLOMBIA & VENEZUELA: Colombia Threatens to Denounce Venezuela; THE CARIBBEAN: Crime Wave; PANAMA: Drug Bust; PERU & VENEZUELA: Funds for Covert Meddling?; REGIONAL: 11 out of 20 countries cited for involement in narcotics trafficking.

ARGENTINA & VENEZUELAThe mystery of the Venezuelan suitcases The scandal over the arrival to Argentina of a Venezuelan businessman carrying $800,000 in undeclared cash on a government hired jet has had its first victims. Claudio Uberti, the head of the

CHILE: The Arms-Laundering Connection; COLOMBIA: Updated Black List; INTERNATIONAL: International Cooperation Facilitates Capture; PANAMA: Towards Expansion?; and PERU: García Wins; and New Tools to Fight against Laundering.

St. Kitts and Venezuela, another oil refinery story Venezuela is looking at a joint venture to develop a refinery in St. Kitts. The idea is to replace one state sponsored debacle, sugar, with another one - a refinery for asphalt,

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.

ARGENTINA The bankers' parade Michael Smith, of HSBC, declared before judge Claudio Bonadío that bribes were somewhat customary in Argentina. Smith—a British citizen who has been only months in the South American country—was testifying in a new case of alleged

ARGENTINAMenem off the hook, for the moment Judge Julio Speroni concluded there is not enough evidence to indict former President Carlos Menem in the case of the illegal arms sale to Croatia and Ecuador. Judge Speroni added, though, that Menem

Corruption in Argentina Since it was founded in 1999, the Argentinean Anti Corruption Office has handled 1,784 cases that generated 489 complaints but none of them has produced a sentence. The last index by Transparency International — which classifies countries

ARGENTINA: Former minister Domingo Cavallo indicted, Argentinean justice investigates the "Banco Extrader" case; COLOMBIA: Most wanted thief, Wilson de Jesús Yepes Ardila, is arrested; COSTA RICA: Costa Rica elects Abel Pacheco as its new President; PANAMA: Panama becomes more transparent; Panama-based business operators Yardena Mizrahi Herbroni and her brother Eliahu Mizrahi convicted in New York; PERU: BBVA debacle has a Latin American connection; VENEZUELA: Chaos reigns.

COLOMBIA: Secondary mortgage firm; COSTA RICA: Brotherly love; MEXICO: "Towelgate"; PANAMA: Ocean Disgrace I; PERU: Montesinos saga continues; and REGIONAL: Black market peso brokers; US bank downsizes in Latin America.