A perfect question

[Goloviznin Konstantin]

Hello all,

I have had some argument about usage of perfects in English. At this "riot" my opponent stated  
that the modifier of time "in the last year" in "I have been to Mexico in the last year" (=I have been 
to Mexico at least once at some point between 365 days ago and now.) is out-of-date, 
that just in times of Shakespear it would be Ok but nowdays it's very rare (or just 
an obsolete). How far was he right?     

Moreover, a present perfect is a "competitor" to that of the simple past tense dependently on 
modifying with finished or unfinished time. Then could I take "in 2011" (=formally finished time)  
as unfinished to make up the sentence "I have been to Mexico in 2011" (now 2012).       

That "I have been ..." taken from http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html

Waiting for youe replies, Konstantin. 


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