Local and regional consequences of a (possible) military action
Conversation with Margarita López Maya, historian (Caracas, Venezuela), Sandra Borda, professor of political science (Bogotá, Colombia), Carlos Pérez Ricart, professor of international relations, (Mexico City, Mexico)
When: 10 December 2025, 16:00-17:30 CET
Caracas (11:00AM), Bogotá (10:00AM); Mexico City (9:00AM)
Where: online
Registration deadline: 10 December 2025, 11:00AM, CET
Register now.
Speakers
Margarita López Maya (TBC) is a Venezuelan historian. She is a retired professor from the Central University of Venezuela. López Maya is known for her research on socio-historical and socio-political processes in Venezuela where she has focused on issues such as popular protest, new left-wing parties, political projects against hegemonies, social actors, and the Hugo Chavista period. She lives in Caracas, Venezuela.
Sandra Borda is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Los Andes in Bogotá. Her research focuses on international relations. She served as a High Councillor for International Relations of Bogotá and was a member of the Foreign Policy Mission convened by the national government. Borda is the author of numerous books and a regular commentator for El Tiempo, Revista Cambio, and Revista Arcadia. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, a master’s in political science from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s in international relations from the University of Chicago, and a degree in Political Science from the University of Los Andes. She lives in Bogotá, Colombia,
Carlos A. Pérez Ricart is an assistant professor in International Relations at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE).
His research interests include the relationship between Mexico and the United States, security and organized crime, arms trafficking, drug policies, and the history of the Mexican police. He is the author of numerous academic texts. He is the author of numerous academic texts as well as a commentator for different Mexican and international news outlets.
Pérez Ricart holds a PhD in Political Science from the Freie Universität Berlin and has
a degree in International Relations from El Colegio de México. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford. He lives in Mexico City, Mexico
Background
What are President Donald Trump’s plans for Venezuela? Combat drug cartels or regime change. According to the Freedom House ranking, Venezuela is not a free country: “Venezuela’s democratic institutions have been deteriorating since 1999, but conditions have grown sharply worse in recent years due to harsher government crackdowns on the opposition and the ruling party’s use of thoroughly flawed elections to seize full control of state institutions. The authorities have closed off virtually all channels for political dissent, restricting civil liberties and prosecuting perceived opponents without regard for due process.” Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president seems ready to use all means to stay in power, while the opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado, believes that the US can help defeat the non-democratic regime. Approximately 8 million Venezuelans left the country.
The US has concentrated an enormous military force in the Caribbean, the largest since the US invasion of Panama. Whatever President Trump decides to do, his military actions will impact not only Venezuela, but also countries in the region, especially those with outsized drug cartels, designated by President Trump as terrorist organisations. Will he dare intervene militarily in several Latin American countries? He evoked Manifest Destiny during his inaugural speech. How will the rest of Latin America react? And Europe?
Format
Brief presentations followed by a live Q&A
Concept and Moderation
Mirjana Tomic, fjum/Presseclub Concordia
Target Groups
Media representatives and academic researchers.
Maximum: 100 participants.