COA hosted a discussion with the World Bank's Pamela Cox about the role of commodities in the region’s economic profile and future. Read a summary of the program.

"The Summit of the Americas provides a forum for Obama to shift focus from energy independence to a more practical and even a more desirable goal—energy interdependence," writes Lisa Viscidi in an op-ed for The Houston Chronicle. The original version of this article appears in the Spring 2009 issue of Americas Quarterly.

COA’s Director of Energy Policy Nicole Spencer says building a hemispheric energy partnership would be “smart politics” for the Obama administration. Cooperation on energy and climate change issues now could pave the way for enhanced regional relations.

A drought gripping the Southern Cone, particularly Argentina, harmed grain output in 2008 and threatens production this year. It remains to be seen whether recent rains can reverse the damage done.

Nuclear power, long on the outs, is fashionable again—But can an expansion of nuclear energy in Latin America reduce dependence on the energy produced by fossil fuels or hydropower?

Eurasia Group’s Patrick Esteruelas talks about how the plummeting price of oil affects Venezuela’s economy and regional diplomacy. “By all accounts, Venezuela is destroying assets much more quickly than it’s been building them,” he says.

President Hugo Chávez has decided to sustain an international fuel assistance program for low-income Americans. But dropping oil prices could force his government to feel the economic pinch and slow international oil diplomacy efforts.