News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Mar. 10, 2011: For a second consecutive year, a Latin American national has snagged the spot of world’s richest person.

In a year when most people globally saw their saving and investments dwindle, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim saw his personal fortune grow by some $20 billion, to put him in the coveted top spot for a second year with a total worth of $74 billion.

Slim, 71, increased the gap between him and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. A huge boost to his earnings in 2010 was the $21 billion tie-up between his telecom companies to create a sect oral conglomerate under America Movil.

And while Slim may be the world’s richest, since Gates and Buffet have given away a huge portion of their fortune, another Latin American is in the top ten ranks of the world’s richest.

He is the little heard of Eike Batista of Brazil, who is worth $30 billion and made his money in mining and oil. Batista came in at eight overall and is listed as the 58th most powerful person in the world.

Meanwhile, across the Americas, excluding the United States, there are 76 billionaires with a net worth of $419 billion, compared with 61 billionaires last year valued at $304 billion. Among them are Huang Maoru & family of Belize with $1.8 billion and Jorge Paulo Lemann of Brazil with $13.3 B.