On December 15, 2020, the Inter-American Dialogue hosted the webinar “Rethinking Drug Policy in the Americas.” The panel discussed the report of the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission, its evaluations of US counternarcotics policy in the Americas and recommendations for its reform.
On November 19, the Inter-American Dialogue hosted “A Conversation with Iván Duque Márquez,” welcoming back Colombian President Iván Duque for a wide-ranging discussion on his administration’s priorities and the future of the US-Colombia relationship amidst an incoming US administration.
Rafael Pardo, Member of the Dialogue & former minister of defense of Colombia, has published a new book titled La guerra sin fin: Una nueva visión sobre la lucha contra las drogas, or “The War with No End: A New Vision for the Fight against Drugs.”
Peter Hakim, president emeritus and a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, joined Imran Garda of TRT World’s The Newsmakers to discuss recent developments in Colombia and the future of the Colombian government’s peace deal with the FARC.
Catalina Botero, abogada y decana de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Los Andes y Michael Camilleri, director del programa Peter D. Bell de estado de derecho, analizan los retos a los que se enfrentará el gobierno de Ivan Duque y el estado del país que ha heredado.
On June 28, the Inter-American Dialogue hosted an event titled “Duque’s Peace? Colombia’s New President and the Future of the Peace Process” featuring photos from the series “Peace Football Club” by the World Press Photo Exhibition. The speakers discussed the implications of Ivan Duque’s election on the future of the country’s peace process.
Millions of Colombians voted in a presidential election run-off on Sunday. The winner is Ivan Duque a 41-year-old conservative. And, after a divisive campaign between left and right, he has vowed to unite his country. To discuss the path forward for Colombia, Anand Naidoo, host of CGTN’s The Heat, spoke with Bernardo Perez Salazar, Juan Carlos Hidalgo, Gustau Alegret, and Michael Shifter.
As the first Colombian election after the historic signing of the peace deal approaches, the good news is that the conflict has blessedly ended, but the implementation of the accord has been complicated and contentious. It does not help that the political establishment stands fractured and discredited. The risk is that the country’s unsettled politics could upend the peace.
El jueves 8 de diciembre, el Diálogo mantuvo un conversatorio público con los analistas colombianos Marta Lucía Ramírez, Catalina Botero, Fernando Cepeda, y Rodrigo Pardo.
On November 17, the Dialogue cosponsored an event with General Oscar Naranjo, Vice President of Colombia. During the conversation, which took place at the Wilson Center, General Naranjo discussed the new economic and social opportunities that the peace process will make available to the country.
Under President Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian government has vastly expanded protected areas, creating new national parks and providing land titles to indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in the Amazon, Chocó and other important forest regions. However, many challenges remain. National parks and indigenous and Afro-Colombian lands continue to be threatened by illegal occupation, coca cultivation and illegal gold mining.
Lisa Viscidi
Event Summaries ˙
INAUGURATION DAY: What implications will Biden's presidency have for US foreign policy, particularly in Latin America?