The February 14 fire that claimed more than 350 lives in a Honduran prison revealed the grave overcrowding in the region's jails and raised questions about modernizing Central America's justice system.

Colombian refugees in Ecuador "struggle to find regular work and face discrimination and exploitation in the workplace," writes Colombia Reports, citing an article in the new issue of Americas Quarterly.

The January 21 signing of a narcotics-monitoring pact shows that, while Bolivia’s tense relationship with the United States slowly improves, the Andean country also seeks closer ties with Brazil on drug-enforcement cooperation.

During his January 14 inauguration, Otto Pérez Molina pledged to fight criminality in Guatemala and asked for regional cooperation, particularly from Washington.

"We are next to the largest illegal drug market in the world," said Mexican President Felipe Calderón during  AS/COA's 41st Annual Washington Conference of the Americas on May 11.

After the killing of Alfonso Cano, Timochenko takes over the FARC even as the group is in decline.

Nancy Brune explores the emerging drug trafficking ties between West Africa and Brazil in an article from the Fall 2011 issue of Americas Quarterly, which hits newsstands November 9.