The Wilson Center’s Andrew Selee writes in the Houston Chronicle on U.S.-Mexican collaboration to combat drug violence and trafficking. “[W]hile stepped-up enforcement on the border is certainly welcome, it can hardly be the primary solution,” he writes. Excerpted from an Americas Quarterly essay.

"Concrete policy proposals and actions are required in order to keep the momentum and show the hemisphere, through deeds as well as words, that we really have embarked upon a new path in hemispheric affairs," writes COA's Eric Farnsworth in an article for Poder.

Writing for openDemocracy, Dartmouth's John M. Carey looks at the Latin American trend of holding referendums to pave the way reelection. "[P]residents themselves tend to lack judgment as to when enough is enough," he writes. Adapted from an essay published in the Summer 2009 Americas Quarterly.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo discusses the role the Commission has played in helping reconcile the region's complex past and safeguard its democratic institutions. Adapted from an article originally published in Americas Quarterly.

"We are at a tipping point. If national leaders turn to protectionism for domestic political reasons, we'll likely see policies that do lasting damage to global trade flows" writes UPS CEO Scott Davis in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.

Writing in Financial Times, AS/COA Chairman William R. Rhodes calls for countries to avoid protectionist measures at the upcoming Group of Eight summit and to back up the pro-trade rhetoric of the recent G20 meeting with concrete action.

A Canadia-Colombia free trade deal awaits parliamentary approval in Ottawa. Canadian Senator Pamela Wallin writes that, despite resistance among some members of Parliament, "Colombia needs a helping hand—not a cold shoulder."