InterAmerican Institute for Democracy
Cordially invites you to the
FORUM
“THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE”
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15th, 2018
Rayburn House Office Building (Map)
ROOM 2200 (9:00am – 12:00pm)
U.S. Congress – Washington, D.C.
RSVP ONLY (Click Here)
PROGRAM
(Bilingual in English and Spanish with Simultaneous Translation)
8:30 a.m. – Registration – Continental Breakfast
Welcome – Beatrice E. Rangel
Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy
OPENING REMARKS
9:05 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.
U.S. Representative – Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
FIRST PANEL
Academic Perspective
Moderator – Joseph Humire
9:20 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. – Douglas Farah
9:30 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. – Hugo Acha
9:40 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. – David Spencer
9:50 a.m – 10:00 a.m. – Jorge Hernan Rubio
10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. – Gonzalo Koncke
Organization of American States OAS
SECOND PANEL
Political Perspective
Moderator – Beatrice E. Rangel
10:15 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. – Cuba: Maria C. Werlau
10:25 a.m. – 10:35 a.m. – Venezuela: Diego E. Arria Salicetti
10:35 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. – Nicaragua: Bosco Matamoros
10:45 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. – Bolivia: Carlos Sánchez Berzaín
SPECIAL SPEAKERS
10:55 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
U.S. Congressman Ron DeSantis
U.S. Congressman Paul J. Cook
CLOSING REMARKS
11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – U.S. Senator Robert (Bob) Menendez
Speakers
Beatrice E. Rangel: (Venezuela) Managing Director at AMLA Consulting Group, Former Chief of Staff Minister of the Presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez. She represented the President of Venezuela in the mediation efforts that succeeded in sealing the Central American peace process design in the Esquipulas and Arias peace Plans. Formerly Chief Strategist for the Cisneros Group of Companies. Director at the Interamerican Institute for Democracy (IID).
Beatrice Rangel – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Academic Perspective
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: (U.S.A) U.S. Representative, Honorary Chairman Committee on Foreign Affairs, US House of Representatives. Florida’s 27th Congressional District representative. Chairman emeritus of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and am now Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.
U S Representative – Ileana Ros Lehtinen – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
Joseph M. Humire (U.S.A): Executive Director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS). He is a global security expert specializing on transnational threats in the Western Hemisphere. He regularly provides briefings on international terrorism, transnational organized crime, Islamism and Iran’s influence in the hemisphere to various entities within the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence community, as well as prominent think tanks and universities.
Douglass Farah: (U.S.A) President of national security consulting firm, IBI Consultants, and a Senior Visiting Fellow at National Defense University’s Center for Complex Operations. He is an award-winning journalist and author of two critically acclaimed books.
Douglas Farah – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Academic Perspective
Hugo A. Acha: (Bolivia) Professor of Security and Defense. Political Analyst. CTOC Researcher. International Fellow at the Center for a Secure Free Society.
Hugo A. Acha – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Academic Perspective
David Spencer: (U.S.A) Associate professor at William J. Perry, Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies. Dr. David Spencer was on detail since August 2014 as the Colombia/South America desk officer at the Office of the Secretary of Defense Counternarcotics & Global Threats. Served from 2011-2012 as the Colombia Policy Director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense Western Hemisphere Affairs.
David Spencer – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Academic Perspective
Jorge Hernan Rubio: (Panama) President of Inter-American Bar Association (IABA). Ex Diputado y Ex Primer Vice Presidente de la Asamblea Nacional de Panamá. Lawyer graduated from the Catholic University of Santa María la Antigua (USMA) and declared eligible to be a judge of the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama in 1993.
Jorge Hernan Rubio – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Academic Perspective
Gonzalo Koncke: (Uruguay) Chief of Staff of the Secretary General to the Organization of American States (OAS) – January 2016 to present. Special Representative/Permanent Observer of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States to the United Nations – January 2016 to present.
Gonzalo Koncke – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Academic Perspective
Ambassador Bosco Matamoros: (Nicaragua) Served in a number of diplomatic posts on behalf of Nicaragua. Was Minister and Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the Food and Agriculture Organization in the United Nations.
Bosco Matamoros – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Political Perspective
Maria C. Werlau: (Cuba) President of the Board & Cuba Archive Executive Director. Consultant in private practice, policy analyst, and author of wide-ranging writings on Cuban affairs. Formerly a Second Vice President of the Chase Manhattan Bank.
Maria Werlau – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Political Perspective
Ambassador Diego Enrique Arria Salicetti: (Venezuela) Politician, diplomat, former Venezuelan Permanent Representative of to the United Nations (1991–1993), and President of the Security Council (March 1992). He was Governor of the Federal District of Caracas in the mid- 1970s. Director and Council Member at the Interamerican Institute for Democracy (IID).
Diego E. Arria – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE – Panel Political Perspective
Carlos Sanchez Berzain: (Bolivia) Lawyer expert in Constitutional Law. Master in Political Science and Master in Sociology. Political Scientist. Founding member of the Bolivian Juridical Ateneo. Professor of Constitutional Law and Public International Law. He has been Minister of State of the Republic of Bolivia five times. Congressman and Opposition Leader. Director at the Interamerican Institute for Democracy (IID).
Carlos Sanchez Berzain – Dictadura castrochavista en Bolivia, riesgo para las Américas
U.S. Congressman Ron DeSantis: (U.S.A.) is an American politician, former Navy lawyer, and author serving as the U.S. Representativefor Florida’s 6th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, he ran in Florida’s 2016 U.S. Senate election. DeSantis officially announced his candidacy for Governor on January 5, 2018, and is endorsed by President Donald Trump.
U.S. Congressman Ron DeSantis – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
Congressman Paul Joseph Cook: (U.S.A.) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for California’s 8th congressional district since 2013. Previously, he served as a member of California State Assembly from 2006 to 2012 and on the Yucca Valley city council from 1998 until 2006. He is a Republican.
U.S. Congressman Paul J. Cook – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
U.S. Senator Robert (Bob) Menendez: (U.S.A) is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from New Jersey, since 2006. A member of the Democratic Party.
U S Senator Robert (Bob) Menendez – THREATS TO THE U.S. IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE