IMF sees Central America avoiding slump

MEXICO CITY, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Friday said it expects Central America to avoid a recession in 2009 despite strong U.S. ties.

Alfred Schipke, IMF representative for Central America and mission chief for El Salvador, told Reuters he saw public spending and inter-regional trade helping Central America compensate for failing remittances from the United States.

About half of the region's trade is with the United States, which is facing a prolonged recession, but the IMF applauded careful financial management in the region.

"Growth will slow but we don't see a recession," Schipke said.

Central America comprises Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

Schipke declined to give new growth forecasts but said the Washington-based international lender was likely to revise downward its forecast for El Salvador this year, currently at 2.5 percent.

The IMF had announced in December that it had reached an agreement in principle on a $800 million loan program with El Salvador which was finalized on Friday.

The program, which the government does not expect to draw on, requires the country to maintain a fiscal deficit of 2.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2009.

Last year's deficit was 2.9 percent, Schipke said. (Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Diane Craft)

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john muir - Print Email Font Resize Former Muir teacher to stand trial in murder case

PASADENA - A former John Muir High School English teacher should be tried on charges of murdering his ex-wife's boyfriend in Arcadia last March, a judge ruled Thursday.

Pasadena Superior Court Judge Laura F. Priver found "sufficient cause" to hold Brandon Michael Landreth, 30, of Pasadena to answer to charges of first degree murder and set an arraignment for Jan. 30.

Citing testimony that Landreth had made threats against another of his ex-wife's lovers, Priver also set Landreth's bail at $5 million.

Landreth pleaded not guilty at his first arraignment in April in the shooting of 25-year-old Justo Cesar Morales at Morales' parents' Canyon Road home in northern Arcadia.

In initial police reports of the crime, a gunman knocked on Morales' front door, then opened fire immediately after Morales opened the door. The gunman then rode off on a skateboard, witnesses told detectives.

Prosecutors outlined the case against Landreth at a preliminary hearing Thursday. A friend of Landreth, Gerald Gracian, and Landreth's ex-wife, Tania, both claimed he had confessed to shooting and killing Morales.

Tania Landreth testified that the defendant had met her on her front lawn in the days after Morales' death and confessed to killing Morales.

"I asked, `Was he in pain?"' she recounted tearfully. "He told me, `He died quickly."'

She also said that Landreth had made threats against Morales' life close to 100 times over the
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course of two years.

Landreth's attorney pointed out that police were unsuccessful in their attempts to tape Landreth's confession by wiring Tania.

He also asked her why she had not gone to the police upon hearing the threats against Morales' life, to which she replied that Landreth had threatened her too.

At a hearing in April, investigators cited items police found inside Landreth's car when officers stopped it in Pasadena on April 2, three days after Morales was shot.

Inside his silver Volkswagen police found camping gear, a backpack full of clothing and other articles, and $9,000 in cash Landreth had withdrawn from his bank, investigators said.

In a search of Landreth's home, authorities recovered a handgun and ammunition. They also found a piece of paper with the address of another possible victim. That man, like Morales, also had dated Landreth's ex-wife, police said.

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