Central America & Caribbean

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.

Violence has spiked and people are dying gruesome, preventable deaths in Central America, Mexico, and elsewhere as a result of U.S. consumer tastes. Blood diamonds? No, conflict drugs, writes COA's Eric Farnsworth for The Huffington Post.

During a Caribbean-Chinese trade summit held in Port-of-Spain this month, Beijing offered the region billions in aid. The move gives China leverage to win diplomatic recognition from a handful of Caribbean countries still recognizing Taiwan as the seat of Chinese power.

Unscrupulous agents prey on young Dominican players. It's time to clean up their mess, writes University of Pittsburgh's Rob Ruck in the Summer 2011 issue of Americas Quarterly.

Speaking at a COA event, Ambassador William Brownsfield explored security in the Central American context.

COA's Eric Farnsworth writes in a letter to the Financial Times that drug-related violence in Central America "is not just a security threat, it is also a growing threat to democracy itself."