LOCAL AND WORLD EXPERTS DISCUSS HEMISPHERIC SECURITY ISSUES WITHIN A DEMOCRATIC FRAME
Santo Domingo, August 2, 2005

Experts, high ranking civil and military officers, and scholars discussed security threats to the stability of the region during a one-day workshop held at FUNGLODE.

FUNGLODE, Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, GFDD, The Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Dr. Guillermo Manuel Ungo Foundation and Latin American University for Social Science, FLACSO (as per its acronym in Spanish) gathered a high-level group of experts in the different aspects of security and governance in Latin America.

Our international guests had the opportunity to bring the latest results of their research and open them to discussion with local civil and military representatives. The purpose of the workshop was to offer an updated proposal of a public policy strategy on regional and hemispheric security, protecting democracy and the rule of law.

The workshop confirmed well known sources of eventual conflict affecting most of the continent, as are poverty and lack of access to sources of energy, revealed other emerging threats, as is the spreading prevalence of gang-related and organized crime, and refuted well known assumptions as is the extreme climate of insecurity in neighboring Haiti or the decreasing role of the U.S. in the region.

Most of our guests are part of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Creating Community. Participants included Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdés, Dr. Joseph Tulchin, Dr. Lilian Bobea, Dr. Raúl Benítez, Dr. Anthony Maingot, Dr. Hal Klepak, Dr. Dirk Kruit, Dr. Jessica Byron, Dr. Rut Diamint, Dr. Orlando Pérez, Nina Siulc, and Dr. Johanna Mendelson Forman.