With an eye to the recent conflict in Peru's Amazon region, the Council of the Americas hosted a June 18 briefing in Washington by Peru’s Ambassador to the U.S. Luis Valdivieso.

In the thirteenth AS/COA Bogota Conference, President Álvaro Uribe talked about his government's efforts to build confidence in the face of global economic challenges. Panelists also offered insight into financial and energy issues.

AS/COA’s annual São Paulo Conference examined the state of the Brazilian economy, prospects for growth in light of the crisis, energy and climate change initiatives, the U.S.-Brazilian relationship, and corporate governance in Brazil and abroad.

At an AS/COA launch for The Portable Island: Cubans at Home in the World, the book's editors joined Cuban experts in discussing the Cuban diaspora and the implications of the U.S. embargo. This book will be reviewed in the Summer 2009 Americas Quarterly.

On May 19, four economists from the Latin American Economic Research Foundation (FIEL), a leading think tank based in Buenos Aires, joined AS/COA to discuss the most recent economic and financial developments in Argentina.

Speaking at COA's Washington Conference, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, and Mexico's Finance Secretary Agustín Carstens joined others in discussing policy issues affecting the hemisphere.

At the opening reception for the 39th Washington Conference on the Americas, the Council honored U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY) with the Chairman's Award for Leadership in the Americas. Read a summary of his remarks and listen to the audio of his acceptance speech.