A panel including economists and experts gathered at an August 17 event co-hosted by Council of the Americas discussed the current economic implications of China's growing influence in Latin America. View C-SPAN's video recording of the event.

COA's Eric Farnsworth says that, besides the U.S.-Mexican trucking agreement reached in July 2011, the White House has done "little in terms of direct promotion of economic development in Mexico," with a sharp increase of federal funding directed to law enforcement on the border only helping indirectly.

During an August 11 event co-hosted by Council of the Americas, Ambassador William Brownfield provided insight into democracy and transnational crime in a Central American context. View C-SPAN's video recording of the event.

At AS/COA's 2011 Latin American Cities conference in São Paulo, U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Thomas Shannon said "Brazilians travel with almost fanatical zeal to the United States," speaking of an increasing trend seen in the country's expanding middle class.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's upcoming visit to Honduras on August 12 "certainly gives impetus toward others viewing this as a situation that said, 'Look, the Honduran people have suffered enough, we have to find a way to bring Honduras back into the community of democracies in the region,'" says COA's Eric Farnsworth.

"While much of the business and policy community has focused on China in the region, another BRIC, India, has dramatically increased its investment and economic activity in Latin America," says AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini.

"This economic growth - this miracle of Peru if you want to put it that way - could very well continue," says COA's Eric Farnsworth, speaking about the economic implications of President Ollanta Humala's recent electoral victory.