USC Experts on President Bush's Latin America Trip, March 8 to 14
March 2, 2007
Carol Wise, associate professor of international relations in the USC College, is an expert on U.S.-Latin American relations, the economic development of Latin America and NAFTA and FTAA. She can discuss:
- the purpose of the trip
- anti-U.S. sentiment in the region
- Chavez and Castro
- repairing U.S.-Latin American relations
- Colombia and Peru's pending free trade agreements
- U.S. policy toward Latin America
Contact her at (626) 379-7634 or cwise@usc.edu.
Abraham Lowenthal, professor of international relations in the USC College, is an expert on U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. He believes:
- the "turn to the left" in Latin America is overrated and the president should reject the view that U.S.-Latin American relations have drastically deteriorated
- Chinese capitalism threatens Latin America far more than Soviet Communism did
- the United States' limited attention to the region should be focused to be effective
- policies that ignore the diversity of the region are bound to fail
Contact him at (213) 740-0793 or (213) 740-2215.
Gerardo Munck, associate professor of international relations in the USC College, is an expert on democracy in Latin America. He can discuss:
- the context and timing of Bush's visit
- U.S. attempts to find a counterbalance in the region to the growing political weight of President Chavez of Venezuela
- warning signs regarding the health of democracy in the region
Contact him at (310) 500-5522 or munck@usc.edu.
Note: Munck will be in Mexico City beginning Mar. 11 and reachable by email only after that date.
Macarena Gómez-Barris, assistant professor of sociology in the USC College, is an expert on political violence and Latin American studies. She can discuss:
- regional trends toward leftist governments
- narco-terrorism and the war on drugs
- U.S. foreign policy in the region
Contact her at (213) 760-3976 or gomezbar@usc.edu.