Diego Area is a deputy director, strategic development at the Adrienne Arsht Latin American Center of the Atlantic Council. During his time at the Council, Diego has spearheaded the creation of a multi-pronged, solutions-driven portfolio focused on promoting a stable and peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela. Under Diego’s leadership, the Venezuela portfolio has sought to mobilize bipartisan US and international support for an end to the humanitarian, political and economic crisis. Since 2018, Diego has overseen the creation of the Venezuela Congressional Fellowship, the launch of the Center’s network of Venezuelan women leaders, and the formation of the Venezuela Working Group, a global network of international policy leaders and practitioners. Diego has also contributed to exposing disinformation in and around Venezuela and providing analysis on the information environment in the country and across Latin America. In 2020, he was selected to participate in the National Endowment for Democracy’s Penn Kemble Forum on Democracy fellowship program. Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Diego worked as a research assistant for the Graduate School of Political Management at the George Washington University. Before being forced to flee Venezuela due to political persecution, Diego served as director of social development in the municipality of Sucre, where he led the creation of twelve community centers of conflict resolution. Diego also supported a vast network of NGOs to create community-managed daily care homes for over 2,500 children in the lower income areas of Sucre. He previously served as campaign manager in the 2015 parliamentary elections in the State of Miranda in Venezuela, the resulting victory consolidated the opposition control over the National Assembly. Diego has a master’s degree in political management from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela.