Webinar

Since the end of the Second World War, US focus on Latin America has been intermittent and inconsistent. It has been intense when we perceived Latin America as part of the Cold War rivalry or when the US private sector saw opportunity. We have been inattentive when we saw other parts of the world as more important or more threatening. Of course, it is Latin America and Latin Americans who are going to resolve their own problems. The United States can help Latin Americans move toward more prosperous, democratic and inclusive societies.

Here is a link to a map of Central and South America which Ambassador Shapiro has asked us to share with you to draw attention in particular to the immense size of the continent as well as to point out that Latin America is substantially further East than North America.

Charles Shapiro is president of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta and a senior lecturer at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. During his 34-year career at the U.S. Department of State, he held a number of senior positions including Ambassador to Venezuela, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, and Coordinator for Cuban Affairs. Shapiro’s postings include Venezuela, Chile, Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador and Denmark. His op-eds have been published in the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald, The San Diego Union Tribute and most recently the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Brazil is one of the world’s most vibrant, multicultural, and ethnically diverse nations. It is the fifth largest by area and seventh most populous, and the planet’s lungs lie mostly within its frontiers. Brazilians joke that theirs is the country of the future, and always will be. Is this changing? Uzarski and Perez will present a brief introduction to Brazil’s history, government, economy, and people. They will address the U.S.-Brazil bilateral relationship, and then focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic has forced traditional diplomatic models and practices to evolve.

Joëlle Uzarski is currently the Public Diplomat in Residence at the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. She joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 2005 following a two-year State Department Senior English Language Fellowship in Uzbekistan. She served overseas at the U.S. embassies in Brazil, Chile, India, Pakistan, and Thailand, where she directed State Department educational and cultural programs in 19 countries. Her most recent assignment was Country Cultural Affairs Officer in Brasilia.  Prior to becoming a diplomat, Joëlle trained teachers and taught students in Korea, Brazil, and Spain.  She earned her B.A. in Creative Writing and her Master’s in Applied Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She is from Chicago.

Francisco “Paco” Pérez grew up in Belen, New Mexico and is currently the Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He joined the State Department in 2008, following a fellowship with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Capitol Hill. He has served in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Benin, and the Department of State, Operations Center. He and his wife, FSO Stephanie Espinal are members of the Hispanic Employees Council of Foreign Affairs Agencies (HECFAA) and have participated in many recruiting events for future Hispanic Foreign Service Officers. Paco is a graduate of the University of Tampa and has a juris doctor degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law.

Academics, policymakers, and pundits alike have warned that democracy in the region is backsliding. Concern is voiced not just about left leaning regimes such as Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela but also about right leaning ones such as Brazil, Colombia, and El Salvador. This trend poses a significant challenge to the Biden Administration which must respond to this backsliding in an unprecedented context.

Eduardo A. Gamarra is a tenured full professor of political science in the department of politics and international relations at Florida International University. He has been at FIU since 1986 where he also directed the Latin American and Caribbean Center LACC from 1994 to 2007. In February 2016 he was appointed founding director of the Latino Public Opinion Forum at the Stephen Green School of International and Public Affairs.

Gamarra obtained his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1987. At Pitt, Gamarra worked under the mentorship of James M. Malloy, one of the leading experts on Bolivia and the Andes. With Malloy he wrote his first book entitled Revolution and Reaction: Bolivia 1964-1984. He has since written, co-written or co-edited twelve books and nearly one hundred scholarly articles on the Latin American and Caribbean Affairs.