Over 300 private sector representatives and government officials gathered in El Salvador to analyze growth prospects and the new opportunities created by DR-CAFTA at the first AS/COA Latin American Cities Conference in Central America.

This issue showcases selections of fiction, poetry, creative essays and images by writers and artists from the Caribbean and its diaspora.

It hasn't happened often in recent years, but some good economic news is now coming out of the Caribbean.

In Memoriam: “John Coleman on Spectacle Lane,” by Belkis Cuza Malé; “Towards a Reading of Ortiz’s Cuban Counterpoint,” by Enrico Mario Santí; “Creolité: Power, Mimicry, and Dependence,” by A. James Arnold; “Paris Isn’t Always a City in Texas,” by Dany Laferrière; Interview with Raphaël Confiant; “Who Slashed Celanire’s Throat,” by Maryse Condé; “Cherries” and more.

Includes poetry and prose by Claribel Alegría, Manlio Argueta, Arturo Arias, Gioconda Belli, Ernesto Cardenal, Ana Istarú, Víctor Montejo, Roberto Quesada, and Sergio Ramírez; “Kidnapping Alaíde,” by Otto Raúl González; Interview with Pablo Antonio Cuadra; Texts by Antonio Benítez-Rojo, Ana Castillo, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, Achy Obejas, and Nelly Rosario; Art by Francisco Alvarado, Josefina Guilisasti, and Marco Maggi; Book reviews of new Canadian writing.

Speaking at the 2002 Washington Conference on the Americas, First Deputy Managing Director at International Monetary Fund, Anne Krueger, discuses the economic future of the Americas. Krueger addresses the economic "slow down" in the Americas and elaborates on the crisis in Argentina.