Crisis in the Andes: Venezuela, Colombia, and Bolivia

ACIR is honored to host Jennie Lincoln, Special Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, The Carter Center.

Crisis in the Andes: Venezuela, Colombia, and Bolivia

North Americans were raised with the romantic awe that came from viewing the beauty of the Andes Mountain ranges, the natural rain forests to the east, and the native cultures inhabiting a number of nations within its reaches.

 In this New Year 2020, the National Geographic panorama has been shattered by approximately one third of Venezuelan society fleeing from a failed despot into neighboring Colombia, the residual effect being a welcoming Colombia now teetering on the edge of social and economic chaos. Add to this, Bolivia exhausted by the incompetency of its recently deposed president, is enmeshed in economic chaos and civil war.

Chaos in the region has destroyed the National Geographic image and supplanted it with the potential to have a catastrophic impact on the entire region of South America. 

About Dr. Jennie Lincoln

Lincoln manages The Carter Center’s projects in Latin America and staffs former President Carter’s activities in the region. She also teaches Latin American Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology.  She has been a credentialed international election observer in twenty elections.  A highlight of her work at The Carter Center has been her engagement with the Colombian peace process.  Her team supported the final push of negotiations that resulted in the signing of Peace Accords (2016) that brought an end to a 52-year civil war between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP).  The Carter Center was identified in the Peace Accords by name, in several implementation monitoring roles, including the separation of the FARC-EP child soldiers.  Recently, she led a Carter Center pre-election assessment mission to Bolivia following the collapse of their elections in October 2019.   In addition to her academic career, Lincoln has a distinguished record of consulting for the US government, nongovernmental organizations, the Organization of American States, the United Nations, and private sector companies with her expertise in Latin American Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from The Ohio State University and taught previously at Miami University (Ohio).  Lincoln was a Fulbright Professor in Costa Rica from 1984-86 and was the Associate Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Program at the Carter Center before going to teach at Georgia Tech in 1991.  

 Registration fee includes a luncheon meal.