Local and regional consequences of a (possible) military action
Conversation with Sandra Borda, professor of political science (Bogotá, Colombia); Carlos Pérez Ricart, professor of international relations, (Mexico City, Mexico) and speaker from Venezuela to be announced.
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
Mariano de Alba is a Venezuelan lawyer specializing in international law and international relations who has worked on political risk, foreign
affairs and conflict resolution.
He is currently an Associate Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. His research focuses on the powers and
limits of global institutions in peacemaking.
He served as a Senior Advisor for the International Crisis Group in Brussels and as an Associate Director for the Atlantic Council in
Washington, D.C.
De Alba also worked as a corporate lawyer for international law firms in Caracas, Venezuela and Washington, DC.
He is a regular commentator for Le Grand Continent, El País and other international media outlets. He resides in London, United Kingdom.
Mariano de Alba received his master’s degree in International Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC
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 Mexico and Colombia, both with outsized drug cartels, designated by President Trump as terrorist organisations. Will President Trump 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.