Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK LATIN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

All information is at 30 April 2009 and unaudited.

Performance at month end is calculated with net income reinvested

                           One   Three        One   *Since     Three       Five     
                         Month  Months       Year 31.03.06     Years      Years    
Sterling:                                                                      
Net asset value          18.2%   25.4%     -32.5%    13.4%     11.7%     166.8%   
Share price              19.7%   21.8%     -31.5%    13.8%     11.1%     209.2%   
MSCI EM Latin American   13.6%   20.2%     -25.9%    31.4%     27.5%     240.3% 
                                                                               
US Dollars:                                                                    
Net asset value          22.2%   28.9%     -49.5%    -3.1%     -9.0%     123.0%   
MSCI EM Latin American   17.5%   23.5%     -44.6%    12.2%      3.9%     184.4% 
                                                                               
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:                                  388.86p  
Net asset value** - cum income:                                  391.61p  
Share price:                                                     376.00p  
Total assets^:                                                  £175.16m  
Premium (share price to capital only NAV):                          3.3%  
Gearing:                                                            2.6%  
Net yield:                                                         2.15%  
Ordinary shares in issue^^:                                   43,835,522  
                                                                          
During the month 3,554,231 shares were bought back at 316.12p and held in 
treasury.                                                                 
**Includes 4 months net revenue equal to 2.75p.                           
^Total assets include current year revenue.                               
^^Excluding 3,954,231 shares held in treasury.                            

Geographical Regional Exposure                                   % Total Assets
                                                                               
Brazil                                                                     73.5
Mexico                                                                     17.6
Chile                                                                       2.5
Peru                                                                        2.2
Argentina                                                                   1.4
Panama                                                                      0.4
Net current assets                                                          2.4
                                                                          -----
Total                                                                     100.0
                                                                          -----

Ten Largest Equity Investments(in alphabetical order)                          

Company                                Country of Risk                         
                                                                               
All America                            Brazil                                  
AmBev                                  Brazil                                  
America Movil                          Mexico                                  
Banco Bradesco                         Brazil                                  
Banco Itau                             Brazil                                  
CVRD                                   Brazil                                  
Grupo Televisa                         Mexico                                  
Petrobras                              Brazil                                  
Redecard                               Brazil                                  
Usinas                                 Brazil                                  

Commenting on the markets, Will Landers, representing the investment

Manager noted;

Performance

For the month of April 2009, the Company posted a 18.2% appreciation in its NAV
while the shares appreciated 19.7% (all in sterling terms). This compares
favourably with the 13.6% appreciation posted by the Company's benchmark, the
MSCI EM Latin America Index. Year-to-date the NAV has appreciated 23.4% versus
19.6% for the benchmark.

The outperformance during the month stemmed from positive stock selection in
the Company's two largest countries of exposure - Brazil and Mexico. In Brazil,
overweight positions in financials and homebuilders, along with the underweight
position in oil, were the largest contributors to performance. In Mexico, the
performance benefited from overweight positions in homebuilders and wireless
providers.

Transactions/Gearing

During the month, as the markets continued to rally, we slowly reduced our
gearing position, starting May with nil gearing. In Brazil, we took profits in
homebuilders, cable and steel, increasing our positions in utilities and
airlines, while in Mexico we increased our overweight positions in wireless
providers and mining, reducing retailers, but overall reducing our underweight
position at the country level.

Positioning

Latin America has been one of the main beneficiaries of the recent improvement
in market sentiment as market volatility diminished and investor appetite
returned. Still, we believe the region has more room to grow given that
valuations are still in the bottom half of the global range, the region
withstood the global credit crunch with few problems, and Central Banks around
the region have been in an easing path, in many countries bringing rates to
record low levels. Brazil remains our largest overweight - we continue to
favour stocks exposed to the domestic economy given strong resilience in the
employment front, record low Selic interest rates (with expectations of further
cuts), and the potential upside in the commodity front from an improvement in
global economic activity. Mexico is still an underweight position in the fund
given its challenging growth profile (not helped by the swine flu scare), but
we have reduced the underweight given some stock specific attractive valuation
levels. Peru remains our favourite market in the Andean region, while Chile
remains a large underweight due to low economic growth and relatively high
valuation

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).

21 May 2009