With former First Lady Sandra Torres out of the race, retired General Otto Pérez Molina faces little competition in the lead up to Guatemala’s September 11 presidential election.

AS/COA Miami Manager Madeleine Johnson spoke with Felipe Bosch Gutiérrez, board member of Corporación Multi-Inversiones, regarding the current security situation in Guatemala and the outlook for September presidential elections.

"We are losing Central America. It's time to fight to win it back," writes COA's Eric Farnsworth in The Miami Herald.

"Guatemala is on the brink." writes COA's Eric Farnsworth for Poder360. "A multinational donor strategy designed to lock in policy, no matter who the next president is, would be the most promising place to begin."

As natural disasters impact crop yields and global food prices continue to rise, experts worry that food scarcity will continue to haunt Latin America’s poor and vulnerable in 2011.

The U.S. Trade Representative filed a complaint against Guatemala on July 30, claiming violations to labor rights agreed to under the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The dispute marks the first U.S. case of its kind within the framework of a trade pact.

Central American leaders gathered in San Salvador July 20 to coordinate strategies for stemming the rising tide of violence caused by organized crime, particularly in the “northern triangle” of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.