On Thursday, President Obama leaves on a three day trip to Mexico and Costa Rica, where he will meet with key leaders to discuss a range of issues. In Mexico the President will meet with his counterpart, President Peña Nieto, on ways we can deepen our economic and commercial partnership.

In Costa Rica, President Chinchilla will host a meeting with President Obama and heads of state of the other Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, where the leaders can discuss our collective efforts to promote economic growth and development in Central America and our ongoing collaboration on citizen security.

We asked Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, to preview the upcoming trip and some of the issues the President would be discussing in his meetings. Check it out above or watch the video on YouTube.

Learn more about President Obama’s trip to Mexico and Costa Rica at whitehouse.gov.

Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta S. Jacobson, State Department Director of Policy Planning Jake Sullivan, and U.S. Chief of Protocol Capricia Penavic Marshall discuss their work at the UN General Assembly in New York. [Go to http://video.state.gov for more video and text transcript.]

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta A. Jacobson delivers remarks on recent travel to Central America and the Western Hemisphere Affairs agenda at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, D.C. on July 11, 2012. A text transcript can be found at http://fpc.state.gov/194826.htm.

About the Author: Luke Forgerson serves as DipNote’s Managing Editor.

On July 9, 2011, the Republic of South Sudan became an independent, sovereign state. President Barack Obama announced the United States’ formal recognition of South Sudan and said:

“Today is a reminder that after the darkness of war, the light of a new dawn is possible. A proud flag flies over Juba and the map of the world has been redrawn. These symbols speak to the blood that has been spilled, the tears that have been shed, the ballots that have been cast, and the hopes that have been realized by so many millions of people. The eyes of the world are on the Republic of South Sudan. And we know that southern Sudanese have claimed their sovereignty, and shown that neither their dignity nor their dream of self-determination can be denied.

“This historic achievement… more »

About the Author: Paula Uribe is a Senior Advisor for Social Issues in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Youth are overrepresented both as victims and perpetrators of violent crime in the Americas. Children, as young as 12, in countries like El Salvador are recruited into gangs. The Latin American Technological Information Network has found that a young person in Latin America is 30 times more likely to be murdered than a young person from Europe. Moreover, the short- and long-term costs of youth delinquency take a heavy toll on the potential development of the region. According to the World Bank, youth violence costs Latin American and Caribbean countries an average of 1.4 percent of their GDP each year. The urgency to address this crisis is clear.

Youth crime and violence in the Americas stem from poverty and inequality, lack of opportunities, lack of access to formal and alternative forms of education, lack of constructive leisure activities, and lack of employment… more »