Aspen Strategy Group Publishes Annual Collection of Papers with Look at Western Hemisphere
Contributors include Robert Zoellick, Anja Manuel, Sara Carter, Marc A. Thiessen, Alejandro Cacace, Emilio Ocampo, Leopoldo López, Rosa María Payá, Ricardo Zúniga, Rafael Fernández de Castro, Jean Manes, Jane Harman, Paola Sapienza, and María Fernanda Bozmoski
October 15, 2026, Washington, D.C. – The Aspen Strategy Group (ASG) today published “The Future of the Americas: A New Agenda?” focusing on the Western Hemisphere and the challenges and opportunities nearest to the United States. This collection of foreign policy thought pieces are writings emanated from the 2026 ASG Summer Workshop, an annual private gathering of some of the nation’s leading national security experts from across the political spectrum adjacent to the Aspen Security Forum.
The collection of papers, with an introduction by ASG Co-Chairs Condoleezza Rice and Nicholas Burns and ASG Executive Director Anja Manuel, can be read here.
“The Americas directly shape U.S. security and prosperity—from trade, supply chains, and the potential for a shared regional energy base, to migration, transnational crime, and illicit drugs. Having a clear strategy for our home region is critical,” said Anja Manuel, Executive Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum.
Featuring fourteen essays sparked and informed by ASG discussions, the compilation questions underlying assumptions about the Western Hemisphere, examining areas such as strategic competition, energy, trade and economics, and more. The ASG has released eleven new papers today, as well as three articles that have already been published in national media.
- Aspen Strategy Group member, Chairman of Temasek Americas, former U.S. Trade Representative, and Ernest R. May lecturer Robert Zoellick: The 3 R’s of America’s Home Hemisphere: Republics; Revolutionaries; & the ‘Rithmatic of Politics
- Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Sara Carter: It’s Time for the Nation to Unite Under President Trump to End Our Longest War
- Argentina’s Secretary of Deregulation Alejandro Cacace: Argentina: From Basket Case to Test Case
- Professor of Finance and Economic History at Argentina’s Universidad del CEMA Emilio Ocampo: A Dollar Strategy for Latin America
- World Liberty Congress Co-Founder Leopoldo López: Venezuela’s Transition Has Already Begun. It Has Four Layers, and Only One Is Finished
- Founder of Cuba Decide Rosa María Payá: Cuba Is Ready for Freedom—And We Are Preparing for What Comes Next
- Founding Partner of Dinámica Americas Ricardo Zúniga: Help Cubans Help Themselves
- Director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at UC San Diego Rafael Fernández de Castro: 2026: The Most Difficult Year in a Century of U.S.-Mexico Relations
- Former Civilian Deputy to the Commander of U.S. Southern Command Jean Manes: Team USA: Securing the Hemisphere for the Future
- Aspen Strategy Group member and former U.S. Representative Jane Harman: Congress Has Gone AWOL in Its Own Hemisphere
- Hoover Institution J-P Conte Family Senior Fellow Paola Sapienza: America Is Closing the Door to Talent
Authors published in external outlets:
- Aspen Strategy Group Executive Director Anja Manuel in The Hill: Americas First: Trump and Latin America
- Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Marc A. Thiessen in The Washington Post: This Fourth, Don’t Buy the Snake Oil of the ‘Blood and Soil’ Right
- Central America Lead and Director of Impact Operations for the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, and Aspen Strategy Group Rising Leader Maria Fernanda Bozmoski in The National Interest: How to Protect the Panama Canal
If interested in more information, please contact Ilana Drimmer, Senior Advisor for Communications and Engagement: [email protected]
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The Aspen Strategy Group’s mission is to convene decision makers in resolutely nonpartisan public and private forums to address key foreign policy challenges facing the United States. The ASG organizes its annual Summer Meeting in Aspen along with a variety of track II dialogues. It also presents the annual Aspen Security Forum, a public conference that engages current and former senior U.S. administration officials, conservatives and liberals, to take part in discussions on the most vital national security challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://www.aspensecurityforum.org/.
