Index: docutils-0.6/docutils/writers/latex2e/__init__.py
===================================================================
--- docutils-0.6.orig/docutils/writers/latex2e/__init__.py
+++ docutils-0.6/docutils/writers/latex2e/__init__.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class Writer(writers.Writer):
 
     settings_spec = (
         'LaTeX-Specific Options',
-        'The LaTeX "--output-encoding" default is "latin-1:strict".',
+        'The LaTeX "--input-encoding" default is "UTF-8:strict".',
         (('Specify documentclass.  Default is "article".',
           ['--documentclass'],
           {'default': 'article', }),
@@ -186,7 +186,8 @@ class Writer(writers.Writer):
           {'default': None, }),
           ),)
 
-    settings_defaults = {'output_encoding': 'latin-1',
+    settings_defaults = {'output_encoding': 'utf8',
+                         'input_encoding': 'utf8',
                          'sectnum_depth': 0 # updated by SectNum transform
                         }
 
