With the recent death of a Cuban hunger striker and harassment of the Ladies in White dissident group in Havana, U.S. President Barack Obama criticized human rights conditions on the island. His March 24 statement came ahead of a large Miami-based rally supporting dissidents.

The Colombian elections are off at a gallop, with former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos the current frontrunner. But Noemí Sanín clinched the Conservative Party nomination on March 19 and could serve as a strong contender at the first round of polls on March 30. They face a number of other candidates.

On February 26, the Constitutional Court of Colombia ended more than two years of speculation about a possible third term in office for President Álvaro Uribe. With Uribe out of the running, AS/COA looks at Colombia’s presidential candidates.

"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.

Just three months before presidential elections, Colombia's constitutional court voted 7 to 2 against allowing a referendum that would have permitted President Álvaro Uribe to seek a third consecutive term.

President-elect José Mujica takes office March 1 amid expectations that he will continue moving forward with the policies of his predecessor and Frente Amplio colleague, Tabaré Vázquez. The AS/COA looks at his inauguration, the composition of his cabinet and Uruguay’s’ newly inaugurated General Assembly.

"As long as young political leaders committed to the ideals of democracy, freedom and equal access to opportunities remain on the sidelines, we'll never progress," writes Julio Rank Wright of the Executive National Council of El Salvador's ARENA party, in the Winter 2010 issue of Americas Quarterly.