This report explores policy choices and constraints Uruguay's policy makers are confronting. Policy options such as a free trade agreement with the United States, reforms to the MERCOSUR customs union, and other trade alternatives are debated. In addition, experts analyze consequences of Uruguayan trade policy choices.

“Caracas is the most dangerous capital city in the world, more dangerous than Baghdad,” says Fellow Roberto Briceño Leon, who heads the Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia, a non-government watchdog that monitors crime in the country… Crime has also become more organized and lethal, Briceño Leon says. Chavez’s policies have also facilitated the increase. The president has taken over a number of local police forces, while weakening state governments, especially those whose leaders belong to the opposition.