

2024 LATAM Conference

Latin America is a region with an incredible endowment—abundant natural resources, great biodiversity, a thriving young population, a rich culture, a growing digital market, and a strongly positioned energy transition. However, poverty, inequality, organized crime, corruption, violence, and populism have become the day-to-day challenges.
Consequently, the global spotlight has historically overlooked Latin America, ignoring the role it could play in the future. The U.S. has an essential opportunity to revert this situation by strengthening its relationships in the Western Hemisphere.
SPIA’s Latin America Conference will bring together dozens of government officials and senior leaders from the public and private sectors for lively discussions and unique perspectives on the opportunities ahead for Latin America and the United States.
Program Agenda
April 17, 2024
9:00am - 9:15am - Introduction - Ambassador Juan Carlos Pinzón
9:15am - 9:30am - Welcome Remarks - Amaney Jamal, Dean of SPIA
9:30am - 10:30am - Keynote Speaker Interview - Guillermo Lasso, Former President of Ecuador; Moderator, Gabriela Frias
10:30am - 11:00am - Coffee Break
11:00am - 12:00pm - Panel I: Economic and Social Development - William Maloney, Alfonso Prat-Gay, Ernesto Revilla; Moderator, Micaela Sviatschi
12:00pm - 1:00pm - Panel II: Political Context in Latin America - Dan Restrepo, Rebecca Bill Chavez, Viridiana Ríos; Moderator, Miguel Centeno
1:00pm - 1:15pm - Institutional Picture
1:15pm - 2:30pm - Lunch
2:30pm - 3:30pm - Panel III: Investment Potential in Latin America: Perspective of Private Sector Leaders - Robert Mosbacher, Haroldo Espalter, Laura Clavijo; Moderator, Luis Carlos Velez
3:30pm - 4:30 pm - Panel IV: Green Future and Infrastructure - Juan Pablo Bonilla, Ramón J. Cruz, Mauricio Rodas, Miriam Medel García; Moderator, João Biehl
4:30pm - 5:00pm - Coffee Break
5:00pm - 6:00pm - Keynote Speaker Interview - Michael Reid; Moderator, Razia Iqbal
April 18, 2024
9:00am - 9:10am - Welcome Remarks - David Wilcove, SPIA Vice Dean
9:10am - 10:10am - Keynote Speaker Interview - Michelle Bachelet, Former President of Chile; Moderator, Luis Carlos Velez
10:10am - 11:10am - Panel V: Global Competition in the Region - Admiral Craig Faller, Brian Winter, Juan Gabriel Valdes, Todd Robinson; Moderator, Carolina Barco
11:10am - 11:45am - Coffee Break
11:45am - 12:45pm - Panel VI: Regional Stability and Migration - Thomas Shannon, Mark Feierstein, María Fernanda Espinosa, Jason Marczak, Martha Barcena; Moderator, Barbara Buckinx
12:45pm - 1:00pm - Institutional Picture
1:00pm - 2:00pm - Lunch
2:00pm - 3:00pm - Panel VII: Regional Security and Organized Crime - Brian Nichols, William Brownfield, Eddy Acevedo; Moderator, Jake Shapiro
3:00pm - 4:00pm - Panel VIII: Central America: Challenges and Opportunities - María Antonieta del Cid Navas, Rafael Barraza, Frank Mora; Moderator, Eduardo Bhatia
4:00pm - 5:00pm - Panel IX: Latin American Culture - Mauro Castillo; Moderator, Gabriela Frias
5:00pm - 5:30pm - Coffee Break
5:30pm - 6:30pm - Keynote Speaker Interview - Iván Duque, Former President of Colombia; Moderator, Razia Iqbal
6:30pm - 6:35pm - Closing Remarks
Moderators

Carolina Barco - Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia and Former Ambassador to the United States

Eduardo Bhatia - John L Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and Visiting Lecturer in Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

João Biehl - Susan Dod Brown Professor of Anthropology; Chair, Department of Anthropology, Princeton University
Barbara Buckinx - Research Scholar, Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University

Miguel Centeno - Musgrave Professor of Sociology; Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, Princeton University

Gabriela Frías - CNN - EE Anchor
Razia Iqbal - John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and Lecturer, Princeton University

Jacob Shapiro - Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University

Maria Micaela Sviatschi - Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University

Luis Carlos Vélez - Univisión Noticias Anchor
Speakers

Eddy Acevedo - Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the President and CEO of the Wilson Center

Michelle Bachelet - Former President of Chile

Martha Barcena - Former Ambassador of Mexico to the United States

Rafael Barraza - Former President of El Salvador Central Bank

Juan Pablo Bonilla - Manager of Climate Change and Sustainable Development, IDB

William Brownfield - Former Assistant Secretary of INL, and Former Ambassador of the U.S. to Colombia, Venezuela and Chile

Mauro Castillo - Artist and Musician

Rebecca Bill Chavez - President & CEO, Inter-American Dialogue

María Antonieta Del Cid - Former President of Guatemala Central Bank

Laura Clavijo - Chief Economist of Bancolombia Group

Ramón J. Cruz - Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor, Princeton University

Iván Duque - Former President of Colombia

Haroldo Espalter - President of the Uruguay-U.S. Chamber of Commerce

María Fernanda Espinosa - Former President of the UN General Assembly and Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Defense of Ecuador

Craig Faller - Former Commander of SOUTHCOM

Mark Feierstein - Former National Security Council Western Hemisphere Senior Director

Miriam Medel Garcia- Director, Strategy and Climate Policy, Onepoint5 and Former Chief of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification

Amaney Jamal - Dean, Princeton SPIA; Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Politics and Professor of Politics and International Affairs

Guillermo Lasso - Former President of Ecuador

William Maloney - Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean Region, The World Bank

Jason Marczak - Vice President and Senior Director, Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, Atlantic Council

Frank Mora - Ambassador of the United States to the Organization of the American States (OAS)

Robert Mosbacher - Former President & CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Brian Nichols - Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs

Ambassador Juan Carlos Pinzón - John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and Lecturer, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Alfonso Prat-Gay - Former Minister of Finance of Argentina

Michael Reid - Former Chief Americas Director of The Economist and LSE Professor

Dan Restrepo - Former National Security Western Hemisphere Senior Director

Ernesto Revilla - Managing Director and Chief Economist for LAC, Citibank

Viri Ríos - Mexican Scholar and Author

Todd Robinson - Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement

Mauricio Rodas - Former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador

Thomas Shannon - Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs

Juan Gabriel Valdes - Ambassador of Chile to the United States and Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

David S. Wilcove - Vice Dean, Princeton SPIA; Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute

Brian Winter - Vice President Council of the Americas
Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any event does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented.