Authoritarianism, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Colombia and Venezuela

Tuesday, November 18
4:30pm - 6:00pm

HKS Campus, Malkin Penthouse (Littauer 5th Floor)
Co-sponsored with the Venezuelan Caucus

Jose Miguel Vivanco, Program Director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch will discuss continuing human rights issues in Colombia and Venezuela today. Presidents Alvaro Uribe and Hugo Chavez, despite their many differences, have at least one thing in common: both have pursued policies that seriously threaten the rule of law and human rights in their respective countries.

Hugo Chávez Versus Human Rights, Jose Miguel Vivanco - New York Review of Books, 11/16/2008

Light refreshments provided.

Video: Forum Venezuela

Video cortesía de nuestr@s amig@s de BeLive: Vida Latina.

The Students in Movement Series: Liberty at a Juncture: Student Organizing and Political Change

This event is being co-sponsored by the Center for International Development, the David Rockefeller Center on Latin American Studies and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. It is being organized by the HKS Venezuelan Caucus. Yon Goioechea and Geraldine Alvarez will make a presentation to share lessons based on their experiences. The Venezuelan university student movement represents changes in the civic engagement and political participation of youth world wide. After the presentation, experts will comment on the significance of re-emergence of university student movements in Latin America.

Date: Monday, April 28, 2008

Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Location: JFK Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building 4th Floor, 79 JFK Street

Contact: Maria Graterol, maria_graterol_garrido@ksg08.harvard.edu

Panel presentation by: Yon Goicoechea and Geraldine Alvarez, Universidad Católica Andres Bello, Venezuela Ricardo Sánchez, Universidad Central de Venezuela

Commentary by: Professor Jorge Dominguez, Vice Provost for International Affairs, Harvard University

Pupitre en la Calle: un diálogo con los líderes del movimiento estudiantil

Nuestros amigos del Forum Venezuela de la Harvard Kennedy School of Government de Cambridge nos enviaron la siguiente invitación:

Ven a conocer en un ambiente informal a Yon Goicoechea, Geraldine Alvarez y Ricardo Sánchez, líderes del movimiento estudiantil de Venezuela. entérate de sus nuevas iniciativas y otras formas de colaborar con el movimiento.

Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Town Hall - Belfer Building - Kennedy School of Government
Street: 79 JFK Street
City/Town: Cambridge, MA
Contact: fortega@gmail.com


De Descifrado:

Su irrupción en la escena pública se dio en mayo del año pasado, cuando a propósito de la no renovación de la concesión a RCTV, el estudiantado nacional tomó espacios en la política del país. Yon Goicochea, estudiante de Derecho en la UCAB, se hizo acreedor hace dos días del Premio Milton Friedman a la Libertad, que concede el Instituto Cato de Estados Unidos. Y el lunes 28 de abril estará en la Universidad de Harvard participando en la Serie Estudiantes en Movimiento: Libertad en coyuntura, estudiantes organizados y cambio político. En el evento, copatrocinado por el David Rockefeller Center en Estudios Latinoamericanos, el Centro para el Desarrollo Internacional y el Carr Center para Políticas de los Derechos Humanos, intervendrán también Geraldine Álvarez, también de la UCAB y Ricardo Sánchez, de la UCV. El movimiento estudiantil universitario venezolano representa cambios en el compromiso cívico y la participación política de los jóvenes en todo el mundo. Luego de la presentación de los estudiantes, el profesor Jorge Domínguez y otros expertos comentarán el significado del resurgimiento de los movimientos estudiantiles universitarios en América Latina.

Entanglements and Pedacito de cielo (1998 - 2008)

West facade for the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Studies building Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas World Heritage Site (UNESCO). Designed and built in 1956 by the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva. Polychromy in glass mosaic by Alejandro Otero, 1956. Documentary photograph by Paolo Gasparini, 1967. Photo-collage from the series pedacito de cielo (1998-2008) by Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck.

Date: Thursday, February 7, 2008
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Contact: Jose Luis Falconi, falconi@fas.harvard.edu
Location: Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

Entanglements

Lecture by artist Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck presented in conjunction with the exhibition at the Cert Gallery: Pedacito de cielo (1998 - 2008) Feb 6–April 6, 2008.

Opening reception to follow lecture.

Blessed are those with Venezuelan Passports

The more you listen to these endless ideological debates going on about Venezuela under Chávez, the more you realize how useless and ridiculous they are in terms of solving every day problems afflicting ordinary Venezuelan citizens.

So it doesn't come as much of a surprise to hear the Venezuelan Consul General in Boston during a Q&A session that followed Fernando Coronil's lecture at Harvard today, spouting this little gem in front of a mostly non-Venezuelan audience: Before Chávez we had 40 years of corruption, now we don't. He seemed agitated while saying it, waving in his hand a fancy brochure that he invited us to pick up at his Consular office, a place which is open to everyone who wishes to have a little chat with him about the merits of the revolution, dissenters excluded, of course.

Just imagine, wouldn't it be nice, to be a citizen of a country whose consular personnel were just as passionate about going after their regular consular duties such as issuing passports to their citizens as our Consul General is about distributing political pamphlets?

Crude Matters at Harvard

For those of you who have nothing better to do this Friday afternoon, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University is hosting the following event: Crude Matters: The 2002 Coup Against Hugo Chávez and its Aftermath, Lecture by Fernando Coronil.

Considering recent events in Venezuela, the second part of the lecture's title seems a little dated. Maybe it should read ...and the Aftermath of its Aftermath ;-). Nevertheless, the speaker's credentials should allow for an interesting talk. Here is the complete information:

Date: Friday, December 14, 2007
Time: 4:30 pm - 6 pm
Contact: Monica Tesorio, smtesor@fas.harvard.edu
Location: CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room, S-020, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge

Fernando Coronil, Associate Professor of Anthropology and History, University of Michigan; 2004 Cisneros Visiting Scholar, DRCLAS; and author of The Magical State: Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela

History Workshop: Art and Visual Culture Under Chávez

The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University is organizing the following event:

Date: Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Location: CGIS S-250, 1730 Cambridge Street , Cambridge, MA

Tatiana Flores, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History and Latino & Hispanic Caribbean Studies, Rutgers University

A light dinner and refreshments will be served. Copies of the paper will be available one week in advance of the talk. For more information, contact Rob Karl: karl@fas.harvard.edu

¿Puedo hablar? May I Speak?

Mark your calendars! One of our members has been invited to speak at the screening of the documentary ¿Puedo hablar? May I Speak? by Sol Productions. Here are the details of the event:
¿Puedo Hablar? May I Speak? is a new documentary film on Hugo Chavez and the political conflict in Venezuela. The film offers a portrait of a Venezuelan society at a crossroads; a re-elected president, challenged by a reformed and mounting opposition; a divided state; a glimmer of hope.

Date: Friday, October 5, 2007

Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Location: CGIS-South, Tsai Auditorium, 1730 Cambridge Street

Moderated by: Dan Levy, Lecturer in Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government

Commentaries by: Leonardo Vivas, author of Chávez: La última revolución del siglo

Q&A with: Christopher Moore, Director and co-producer of ¿Puedo hablar? May I Speak?

For more information please contact Kit Barron at chbarron@fas.harvard.edu

Read our review of the film here.

Watch the trailer: