"Having taken decisions that are insular and singularly unhelpful to the US, Latin Americans cannot then complain when the US administration prioritizes other areas for its attentions," argues COA's Eric Farnsworth in this letter to the editor, published in the Financial Times.

The Republican Senate victory in Massachusetts could have an impact on U.S. policy in Latin America, writes COA's Eric Farnsworth. He adds that "an administration that has shown little appetite for pending trade agreements with Colombia and Panama, for example, will not likely decide that now is a good time to take action."

"Haiti will quite literally need to be rebuilt from the ground up," writes COA's Eric Farnsworth. The United States, aided by partners in the international community,  "should work  together under a special new UN mandate to restore the nation and put it on a new path to long-term, sustainable development. This is where the true test of U.S. leadership will come," he added.