South America.

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With vast natural resources and South America's largest economy, Brazil has become a significant player on the global stage. Here, Brazilians celebrate their winning bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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The U.S. is concerned about the continued loss of Amazon rain forest to development in Brazil. The rain forest mitigates the effects of climate change by soaking up massive amounts of carbon dioxide.

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President Hugo Chavez continues to push Venezuela down an increasingly repressive and anti-American path. This has complicated U.S. relations with Venezuela, which is the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the United States.

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In recent years, the U.S. has spent more than $5 billion to fight drug cartels in Colombia and to support Colombia's democratic government in its decades-long fight against a rebel group known as the FARC.

South America URBAN AREA (SQ MI) P0P. % POP. RISE COUNTRY POPULATION %/YEAR CAPITAL Argentina 1,073,514 91 Buenos 40,500,000 1.0 Aires Bolivia 424,162 65 La Paz 10,400,000 2.0 and Sucre Brazil 3,300,154 84 Brasili 193,300,000 1.0 Chile 292,135 87 Santiago 17,100,000 0.9 Colombia 439,734 75 Bogota 45,500,000 1.4 Ecuador 109,483 65 Quito 14,200,000 1.6 Guyana 83,000 28 Georgetown 800,000 1.6 Paraguay 157,046 58 Asuncion 6,500,000 1.9 Peru 496,224 76 Lima 29,500,000 1.6 Suriname 63,039 67 Paramaribo 500,000 1.3 Uruguay 68,498 94 Montevideo 3,400,000 0.5 Venezuela 352,143 88 Caracas 28,800,000 1.6 POLITICAL SYSTEM & COUNTRY LANGUAGES HEAD OF GOVERNMENT Argentina Spanish, English, Presidential-legislative Italian, German, democracy; President French Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Bolivia Spanish, Quechua, Presidential-legislative Aymara democracy; President Evo Morales Brazil Portuguese...