Following the US military intervention in Venezuela and Washington’s escalating threats toward Mexico, Colombia and Cuba, Latin America has re‑emerged as a key arena for strategic competition, climate politics and resource security. The new US posture and continued engagement from China and other actors have put the region once again in the centre stage of world politics.
Facing this new regional context, the King’s Latin American Security Research Group (LAS) invites students and staff to join a roundtable Latin America in the Spotlight: Regional Insights into Global Geopolitics. This panel will explore how governments, organisations and civil societies across the region interpret these rapidly evolving pressures – and how their responses may reshape global governance, multilateralism and diplomacy.
Speakers
Dr Irene Mia
Irene is responsible for the commissioning, editing, design, production and marketing of the annual IISS Armed Conflict Survey. She is also Senior Fellow for Latin America and Conflict, Security and Development, leading the IISS research programme on Latin America security, governance and geo-economics, as well as directing the Conflict, Security and Development research programme.
Dr Carlos Solar
Dr Carlos Solar is Senior Research Fellow in the International Security Studies team at RUSI. His current research is focused on security dynamics in the Americas, notably on military, human security, and international relations issues that connect with the West. He is the author of Cybersecurity Governance in Latin America (SUNY Press), Governing the Military (Manchester University Press), Government and Governance of Security (Routledge), and co-edited Violence, Crime and Justice in Latin America (Routledge).
Dr Pablo Uchoa
Pablo is a researcher at the UCL Institute of the Americas with a PhD in Political Science. His thesis analysed the transformation of the armed forces in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution, examining themes of nationalism, militarism/militarization, as well as military ethos, role and relationship with the broader society. He holds an MSc in Latin American Politics from the Institute for the Study of the Americas, and I was previously a visiting scholar at the John Kluge Center for Scholars at the Library of Congress in Washington-DC.
Chair
Dr Raphael C. Lima is a Lecturer in War Studies Education at the Department of War Studies with primary research interests in military innovation, diffusion, and Latin American security. He is a researcher at the King’s Latin American Security Research Group (LAS), and the Project Lead of the Military Innovation Network (MIN).