"Immigration determines the capacity of countries themselves to survive in the global economy," writes AS/COA Senior Director of Policy Christopher Sabatini. "The problem is that the pull for jobs and the policy to facilitate immigration and integration do not always match."

"Governments, including the United States, should value the OAS as it was intended: a venue for working toward a shared hemispheric agenda. Achieving that worthy objective requires reform of the institution itself," write Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in The Miami Herald.

"Latin America's 'democratic generation' remains satisfied with democracy," says AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini, discussing the attitudes of under-35 year-olds, a demographic that makes up 60 percent of the region.

"There is a significant opportunity in the wake of the earthquake to build Haiti into a modern, economically stable, environmentally-sound nation," says COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth.

"The strategic equation in the Americas is changing and a lot is riding on Secretary Clinton's visit," says COA's Eric Farnsworth. "Managing the U.S. relationship with Brazil, a rising global power with big ambitions, is one of the most important strategic issues in the hemisphere," he added.

"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.

With its vast tropical forests, Latin America can greatly benefit from efforts to limit deforestation, writes COA's Nicole Spencer in Poder.