Event to examine Venezuela’s political, socioeconomic crisis

Protester facing the Venezuelan National Guard during a protest in May 2017. Photo: Efecto Eco

The Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Latin American and Caribbean studies program at Northwestern University will present “Crisis in Venezuela: Historical Perspectives and Potential Solutions,” a panel discussion on the South American nation’s challenging current affairs and the possibility of a political solution.

WHEN:

March 1
3 p.m to 5 p.m.

WHERE:

UIC Student Center East
Room 302
750 S. Halsted St.

DETAILS:

The death of President Hugo Chávez in 2013 and the fall of international oil prices produced a major political and socioeconomic crisis in Venezuela.

The ensuing conflict between the government of President Nicolás Maduro (Chávez’s successor), independent Chavista sectors, opposition movements, and U.S.-backed conservative elites over issues concerning democratic rule and national sovereignty continues to unfold.

Three scholars of Venezuela, Verónica Zubillaga of Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas; Alejandro Velasco of New York University; and David Smilde of Tulane University, will discuss the origins and potential outcomes of the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela.

Event co-sponsors are Northwestern University’s history department, Chabraja Center for Historical Studies, Latin American and Caribbean studies program, and the Buffett Institute for Global Studies; UIC’s Institute for the Humanities, Imagining Peace in the 21st Century Working Group, and departments of history, Latin American and Latino studies, and urban planning and policy; and the University of Chicago’s Center for Latin American Studies.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call (312) 996-6352.