The Center for Latin American & Latino Studies extends a warm welcome to our newest research fellows, who join us from universities and research institutions in Cuba, Canada, and the U.S.  CLALS Fellows carry out research independently and participate in Center-sponsored initiatives, bringing their expertise to bear on a wide range of issues in Latin American and Latino Studies.

Catherine M. Conaghan
Sir Edward Peacock Professor of Latin American Politics
Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario

Current research: The ‘new normativity’ aimed societal regulation in Ecuador and its impact on the state and political development, including policies regulating the mass media, civil society organizations, and higher education.

Read full bio here

Alejandro L. Perdomo Aguilera
Researcher
Research Center for International Policy (CIPI) in Havana, Cuba

Current Research: U.S. foreign and national security policy, as well as U.S.-Cuban bilateral relations. Perdomo's studies are funded by the Christopher Reynolds Foundation as part of its support for the CLALS Cuba Initiative.

Read full bio here

Ali A. Valenzuela
Assistant Professor, Department of Politics
Princeton University
Hosted jointly by the Department of Government in the School of Public Affairs

Current research: American electoral politics, with a focus on Latino public opinion, immigrant socialization, voter turnout, religion and politics, and the politics of racial and ethnic identity in the U.S.

Read full bio here

CLALS is pleased to announce the release of the latest installment in its Working Paper Series, entitled "Groundwork for Inclusive Development: Responses to Emergent Challenges for Latin American and Caribbean Economies." Authored by Alejandro Foxley of the Chile-based think tank CIEPLAN, the working paper is one of several publications resulting from a joint CLALS-CIEPLAN initiative aimed at better understanding opportunities and challenges for the region's development agenda. The full-text paper is available here. A Spanish-language compilation of project studies will be released later this year.

As part of our Cuba Initiative, representatives from CLALS joined a group of distinguished scholars, diplomats, and practitioners in Ottawa on September 4 to discuss the much-debated participation of Cuba in the upcoming 2015 OAS Presidential Summit in Panama.  Sponsored by the University of Ottawa, American University, the Coordinadora Regional de Investigaciones Economicas y Sociales, and the Latin America Study Group of the Canadian International Council, with funding from the Christopher Reynolds Foundation, the discussion analyzed past and present U.S.-Cuba relations in the context of an increasingly multipolar hemispheric order and examined ways in which third-party stakeholders like Canada might encourage policy change to benefit long-term inter-American dynamics. 

The discussion highlighted numerous obstacles raised to Cuba’s integration into the OAS, including U.S. and Canadian objections about the country’s noncompliance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the lack of coordinated political will in both Cuba and Washington to overcome tensions regarding Cuba’s position in the hemisphere.  Alternatively, points in favor of Cuba’s inclusion in the Summit included the recognition that many OAS member states will not participate in a Summit that excludes Cuba and signs that Cuba would accept an invitation to the Summit if it were extended without conditions.

Event Program

Brazil: Is Marina Silva the PT's Nemesis? (9/18):
No politician in recent years has been able to shake and polarize Brazilian politics as Marina Silva has since becoming the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) presidential candidate after its original nominee, Eduardo Campos, died in a plane crash last month.

El Salvador: The Maras, Community Action, and Social Exclusion (9/16):
Maras and gangs in El Salvador have become social actors with great power in communities suffering from a high level of social exclusion.

Latin America United Against Violence in Gaza (9/11):
Israel’s assault on Gaza this summer provoked sharp criticism from Latin American governments.  Condemnation came not only from Cuba, a long-time critic of Israel, and from Bolivia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, which have been without diplomatic ties to Israel since cutting them after previous conflicts in Gaza in 2009 and 2010.

Preparing the West Indies for the Demise of PetroCaribe (9/9):
The English-speaking Caribbean nations – whose heavy dependence on imported diesel and fuel oil to generate electricity has placed them among the most heavily indebted countries in the world (on a per capita basis) – will face massive headaches if PetroCaribe collapses.

Children and Migrant Teens: Trapped with No Way Out (9/3):
The 56,000 Central American children involved in the humanitarian crisis along the Mexico-United States border are trying to reach the United States not only to reunite with their families.  They are also driven by poverty, social exclusion, and violence in their home countries of northern Central America.

Presidential Campaigns in Bolivia and Uruguay (9/12):
With elections approaching in Bolivia and Uruguay next month, Latin Pulse looks at the leading candidates and key issues in the races, as well as the enduring popularity of Evo Morales.

Brazil’s Presidential Election Heats Up (9/5):
Latin Pulse discusses the entrance of Socialist candidate Marina Silva to the Brazilian election competition, threats to free speech in Brazil, and a new economic plan for Venezuela.

• Carolyn Brown: Immigration protest movement gains new impetus, AlJazeera America, July 31.
• Barbara Bird, interviewed in: 2014’s Best and Worst Cities for Hispanic Entrepreneurs, Wallet Hub, September.
• William M. LeoGrande, interviewed in: Cuban Import Restrictions Highlight Dilemma of Economic Reform, World Politics Review, September 8.
• Héctor Silva, featured in Fault Lines, AlJazeera America, September 13.