During the week of the United Nations General Assembly, Americas Society and Council of the Americas hosted private and public programs with the presidents of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.

"If the United States is going to be a partner with Latin America—a healthy and laudable goal—the aspiring powers of the hemisphere need to shake off their timidity and worn-out rhetoric," write AS/COA's Senior Director of Policy Christopher Sabatini and Kissinger Associates' Stephanie Junger-Moat.

South American leaders met Monday in Quito for a UNASUR summit, where they debated action on a probable U.S.-Colombian military pact. Though not present at the summit, Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe visited seven countries last week to clarify the deal’s terms.

Passage of the Colombia trade deal would expand a robust market for U.S. goods and help combat the effects of the financial crisis, writes Benjamin D. Wolf of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

A free trade deal that adds Peru to Canada's Latin American trade network came into effect August 1. The agreement eliminates tariffs on more than 95 percent of goods and eases Canadian access to several sectors of Peru’s economy.

Once again, Caracas iced ties with Bogota and suggested it would look elsewhere for imports. The move came in response to Colombian allegations that Venezuelan arms fell into guerrilla hands. An AS/COA news analysis looks at Colombian trade relations with its neighbor and regional partners.

Writing for openDemocracy, Dartmouth's John M. Carey looks at the Latin American trend of holding referendums to pave the way reelection. "[P]residents themselves tend to lack judgment as to when enough is enough," he writes. Adapted from an essay published in the Summer 2009 Americas Quarterly.