2002 Events
Defending Human Rights and Democracy in Latin America
Panelists:
- H.E. Adolfo Aguilar Zinser (to be confirmed)
Mexico's Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations
- H.E. Juan Gabriel Valdés
Chile's Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations
Discussant:
Professor Rosario Espinal
Director of the Latin American Studies Center, Temple University
This panel discussion probes the new activism in Latin America with
regard to human rights and democracy and its implications for regional
political dynamics in the Western Hemisphere. Processes of democratization
provide the basic context for new democratic activism and help explain
it. Against that context, the promotion of human rights and democratic
governance has emerged as an important issue and priority in several
international forums, including various 'democratic clauses' adopted
by integration and cooperative agreements, the recent Madrid summit
on democratic transition and consolidation, several Ibero-American summits,
several inter-American organizations, and the United Nations.
About Adolfo Aguilar Zinser
Mexico's Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations
Prior to his selection as Mexico's ambassador to the United Nations,
H.E. Adolfo Aguilar Zinser was National Security Advisor and Commissioner
of Law and Order in the administration of President Vicente Fox. These
appointments reflected recognition as a champion of democratization
and human rights in Mexico. In 1997, he was elected Senator as an independent
candidate of the Partido Verde Ecologista Mexicano (PVEM). Earlier,
he had been elected to a seat in Congress as a member of the Partido
de la Revolución Democrática (PRD), following his role
as spokesperson for the Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas 1993 campaign
for the presidency. Ambassador Aguilar Zinser's public and political
roles build on a distinguished career as professor and researcher at
UNAM, CIDE and several other Mexican and international institutions.
His published work includes several books and major essays, as well
as a long list of newpaper articles. He holds a M.A. from Harvard University's
J.F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA from El Colegio de México.
About Juan Gabriel Valdés
Chile's Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations and Former Foreign
Minister
Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdés has held diverse positions in
Chile, including Head of the Vice Ministry for International Economic
Affairs; Director of the International Division of the Ministry of Finance;
Coordinator of the NAFTA Negotiating Team; and Lead Negotiator of the
trade agreement between Chile and Canada. Dr. Valdés holds a
Ph.D. from Princeton University, where he wrote a dissertation on the
economic model implemented in Chile during the Pinochet regime. He experienced
exile in the United States during Chile's military dictatorship. In
Washington, he worked with Chile's Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Orlando Letelier at the Institute for Policy Studies. He taught and
conducted research in Mexico's Latin American Institute for Transnational
Studies, the Economic Research and Development Center (CIDE), and other
institutions. After returning to Chile, he combined professional and
academic activities with active participation in the political struggle
for democracy. Dr. Valdés has worked as a consultant for the
UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL)
and the UN Program for Development (PNUD). He has published several
papers on international relations, including relations between the United
States and Chile.
About Rosario Espinal
Rosario Espinal is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Latin
American Studies Center at Temple University in Philadelphia. She has
published extensively on democratization in Latin America, with an emphasis
on the case of the Dominican Republic. She is the author of Authoritarismo
y Democracia en la Política Dominicana (1987, 1994), co-editor
of La República Dominicana en el Umbral del Siglo XXI:Cultura,
Política y Cambio Social (1999), and the author of over 50 articles
published in academic journals and books in English, Spanish and French.
She has been a research fellow at the Swedish Institute for Social Research
at the University of Stockholm, a faculty fellow at the Kellogg Institute
for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and a teaching
fellow at the Latin American Studies Center at Oxford University in
England. She has been a Fulbright Fellow to Argentina, Brazil and Peru,
and she is currently an elected member of the Executive Council of the
Latin American Studies Association (LASA).
When: Tuesday, May 14, 4 P.M.
Where: Skylight Conference Room
The Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(Across from the Empire State Building)
Prior registration is required: to reserve, reply to bildner@gc.cuny.edu
OR call 212 817-2096.
For information about the Bildner Center, visit bildner.org.
