Catharine Christie joined the Inter-American Dialogue in 2020 as a program assistant for the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program. She graduated from Colby College with a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Government. While at Colby, Catharine worked as a research assistant in the Government department for two years, focusing her work on civil society participation and participatory institutions in Colombia and Venezuela. She spent a semester abroad studying in Havana, Cuba where she taught English, followed by a semester in Valparaíso, Chile. She also completed a January Program interning under the Dialogue’s Rule of Law Program.
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 September 30, 2020, the Inter-American Dialogue hosted “Venezuela’s Humanitarian and Human Rights Crises-The Search for Innovative Responses” to discuss the current humanitarian situation as well as present the findings of the Dialogue’s Rule of Law Program’s report, Corruption and Crisis in Venezuela: Asset Repatriation for Humanitarian Relief.
This report from the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program and Edison Lanza provides a succinct assessment of freedom of expression developments in the Americas in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The intersection of domestic violence and migration in the Northern Triangle necessitates the protection of survivors seeking asylum. Biden’s stated commitments to gender-based issues and promises made on immigration reform prior to the election call on the administration to immediately restore asylum protections for domestic violence survivors.
While AMLO deserves credit for pledging to combat Mexico’s impunity crisis, he has failed to set a clear strategy to address the faults and lack of independence within the justice system, calling into question his commitment to confront the root causes of impunity.
The actions, or lack thereof, of the presidents of the region’s two biggest countries, Mexico and Brazil, have drawn particular scrutiny, casting a fresh spotlight on populism in Latin America and its particular vulnerabilities in the face of a global pandemic.