Former Venezualan president dies aged 88

The former Venezuelan president, Carlos Andres Perez, who survived two coup attempts but was finally forced from office as the first Latin American leader to be convicted of corruption, died on Saturday.

The 88-year-old served as president between 1974 and 1979, and 1989 and 1993, but was later given a 28-month sentence for corruption, much of it served under house arrest.

Later he lived in Miami and was a critic of Venezuela's current President, Hugo Chavez, who once tried to topple him. He died of a heart attack.