Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK LATIN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

All information is at 31 December 2009 and unaudited.

Performance at month end is calculated with income reinvested

                        One     Three        One    Three    *Since       Five     
                      Month    Months       Year    Years  31.03.06      Years    
Sterling:                                                                      
Net asset value         4.3%    15.0%     108.1%    71.9%     91.2%     210.5%   
Share price             7.7%    19.4%     123.6%    73.7%     95.0%     295.8%   
MSCI EM Latin American  3.7%    11.4%      81.8%    81.7%     99.7%     284.6% 
                                                                               
US Dollars:                                                                    
Net asset value         2.7%    16.1%     133.7%    41.8%     78.0%     163.3%   
MSCI EM Latin American  2.1%    12.5%     104.2%    49.9%     85.9%     223.5% 

Sources: BlackRock, Standard & Poor's Micropal                                 
                                                                               
*Date which BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company.      

At month end                                                                   
Net asset value - capital only:                                       649.38p  
Net asset value** - cum income:                                       658.02p  
Net asset value - capital only and with bond at fair value:           615.14p  
Net asset value - cum income and with bond at fair value:             623.42p  
Net asset value - cum income and with bond converted:                 638.36p  
Share price:                                                          642.50p  
Total assets^:                                                       £337.36m  
Discount (share price to capital only NAV):                              1.1%  
Gearing:                                                                14.7%  
Net yield:                                                               1.3%  
Ordinary shares in issue^^:                                        43,835,522  
                                                                               
**Includes 12 months net revenue equal to 8.64p (after deducting interim       
dividend).                                                                     
^Total assets include current year revenue.                                    
^^Excluding 3,554,231 shares held in treasury.                                 

Geographical Regional Exposure                                   % Total Assets
                                                                               
Brazil                                                                     71.6
Mexico                                                                     14.3
Chile                                                                       2.2
Peru                                                                        2.1
Argentina                                                                   1.9
Panama                                                                      1.1
Net current assets                                                          6.8
                                                                          -----
Total                                                                     100.0
                                                                          -----

Ten Largest Equity Investments(in alphabetical order)                          

Company                                Country of Risk                         
                                                                               
Ambev                                  Brazil                                  
America Movil                          Mexico                                  
Banco Bradesco                         Brazil                                  
Cyrela Brazil Realty                   Brazil                                  
Grupo Televisa                         Mexico                                  
Itau Unibanco                          Brazil                                  
OGX Petroleo E Gas                     Brazil                                  
Petrobras                              Brazil                                  
Redecard                               Brazil                                  
Vale                                   Brazil                                  

Commenting on the markets, Will Landers, representing the investment

Manager noted;

Performance

For the month of December 2009, the Company posted a 2.7% appreciation in its
NAV while the shares appreciated by 6.0% (all in USD (sterling equivalent were
4.3% and 7.7%, respectively). The NAV returns compare favourably with the 2.1%
increase posted by the Company's benchmark (3.7% in sterling), the MSCI EM
Latin America Index. As a result, for the full year 2009, the NAV appreciated
by 133.7% and the share price by 151.1%, well ahead of the 104.2% return for
the benchmark (108.1%, 123.6%, and 81.8%, respectively, in sterling).

The outperformance during the month was mostly the result of positive stock
selection in Brazil, especially stemming from overweight positions in airline
TAM and retailer CBD. Positive returns were partially offset by our underweight
position in utility Eletrobras (recently added to the portfolio) and Brasil
Foods (recently sold from the portfolio)

Transactions/Gearing

The month was relatively quiet on the investment front. In Brazil, we increased
our exposure to oil via OGX and in materials via pulp producer Fibria, taking
profits in telecommunications and consumer staples. We also took profits in
Mexican beer and cement, deploying such funds into a Canadian-listed Colombian
oil producer. Net gearing currently stands at approximately 17.5%, with
approximately 7.5% invested in Brazilian fixed income securities.

Positioning

The Company is positioned with a large overweight position in Brazil, funded by
underweight positions in Mexico and Chile. Despite strong outperformance during
2009, we are not ready to reduce our overweight in the Brazilian equity market
- we expect Brazil to be one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America
during 2010, with credit expansion continuing and therefore domestic
consumption being a major driver for growth. In addition, cyclical stories such
as Petrobras and Vale look attractive to us (the first due to increasing oil
prices and the discoveries in the pre-salt area and the latter due to a tight
iron market). Finally, we don't expect the October elections to result in
significant changes to Brazil's economic policies, thus leading to a
continuation of the Real plan started in 1994. On the other hand, Mexico's
growth rate should be significantly lower, President Calderon looks unlikely to
be able to pass significant reforms in the second half of his mandate, and
valuations are still not compelling enough to make us increase our Mexican
weighting. Finally, Chile remains an expensive market. We enter 2010 with
approximately 13% of the portfolio invested in non-benchmark positions.

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/its on the
internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal).

28 January 2010