Nobody’s Backyard, Somebody’s Playground: The Trials of South America from Buenos Aires to Caracas

• March 10, 2015

Already beset with extensive economic and political woes, Argentina has recently been rocked by a scandal that has reached up to the highest levels of government. On the eve of testimony charging President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner and her allies with conspiring to cover up Iranian involvement in a bloody attack on a Jewish Community Center, State Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead in his Buenos Aires apartment. The initial verdict of suicide, immediately dismissed by the opposition, has come under increasing criticism, and efforts to clarify Nisman’s death and the case that consumed him will challenge the stability of Kirchner’s government and Argentine society for some time to come. Argentina is not the only South American republic facing existential challenges. Corruption investigations continue to stalk the government of Dilma Roussef in Brazil, while Nicholas Maduro’s efforts to continue the “Bolivarian Socialist” model of his predecessor Hugo Chavez have only brought more economic misery and political chaos. How will these scandals shape the present and future of South America? What impact will they have on relations with the United States? Join your host Ronald Granieri as he discusses these questions and yours with FPRI’s Vanessa Neumann.

Dr. Vanessa Neumann is a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, where she specializes in the study of Latin America and terrorism. She is the CEO of Assymetrica, a private consulting firm for Fortune 100 and government clients to counter transnational threats and criminal networks to either enhance national security or defend brand integrity. Neumann is also group leader at the High Level Risk Forum Task Force on Charting Illicit Trafficking at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As an expert on illicit trafficking and strategies to confront crime-terror pipelines, she has consulted for Interpol and is a regular adviser to the U.S. State Department and Department of Defense.