By Sonia Villar

U.S.A.: When I learned that the U.S. and Mexico signed an agreement to reinforce security along the border to fight weapons and drug traffic, I asked myself: Why now?

So I decided to analyze the situation between the two countries.

During the past decades, there have been rulers in Latin America that have allowed corruption to run rampant without trying to stop it. Usually, the United States keeps an eye on the situation, and offers its perspective only to be accused of interfering in the internal business of other countries that do not take into consideration that - as the leader of our continent - the U.S. has the right to voice an opinion on matters that concern us all.

Conversely, if the U.S. does not "interfere," Mexico criticizes the U.S. for not doing anything to help address the challenges of immigration reform, drug traffic and the lack of public safety south of the border.

Sounds like a no-win situation.

Let's view the situation from the U.S. perspective.

The U.S. is criticized for not "helping" to improve conditions in another country where government institutions lack credibility, where kidnappings, violence and a number of other problems have caused the near collapse of the government.

And I am certain that people in the U.S. ask themselves, "What has Mexico done to help itself?"

They see a neighbor where many former rulers have amassed enormous wealth from drug traffic, from multi-million dollar deals that profit a few, from corruption in the handling of government contracts, bribes, kidnapping and a number of illegal deals. And they must be appalled that Mexico still expects the United States to solve everything when Mexico's rulers have failed for centuries to do anything to correct their own problems.

Fortunately, times have changed and Felipe Calderón is now president of Mexico. Calderón, like many of his predecessors, has declared war against the drug trade; the difference is, he is wholeheartedly committed to win this war and has gone as far as to ask the U.S. for help, vowing to stem this problem that has infiltrated all levels of society from its source.

By Mayra Beltrán de Daetz

GUATEMALA: At the end of August, the people of Guatemala found out, through the media, that there were towns that were suffering from the damage caused by a winter without rain. Because there was no rain, many harvests were lost and, as a result, thousands of families are dying from hunger.

It was said that more than 689 communities were affected that were located in the "dry corridor." It is referred to this way because these are areas that experience more droughts throughout the year. The area is formed by the regions: Baja Verapaz, El Progreso, Zacapa, Chiquimula, Jalapa, Jutiapa and Santa Rosa.

It is estimated that 54,564 families are going hungry.

As soon as the newspapers found out about the situation, stories of cases of children who had died from serious and chronic malnutrition, along with their heartrending pictures, appeared in the pages of the newspapers.

If it had not been for the photo captions where the ages of the children were reported, people would not have known the real ages of the dying since their physical appearances didn't correspond to their chronological ages. The pictures reveal such a horrendous situation that the extent of it makes a person feel powerless and impotent to do anything to help.