Center’s ongoing work will be critical as Venezuela crisis worsens, a modernized NAFTA is eventually finalized, and region welcomes a new wave of leaders

WASHINGTON, DC – The Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center today begins its five-year celebration at a time of great transformations for the hemisphere. In its first five years, the Center deployed a laser-focused approach to providing new analysis and shaping opinion on some of the key issues in the Americas: from Mexico’s reforms and Colombia’s prosperity to China’s presence and the crisis in Venezuela. Now, the Center is positioned to help shape the future of the region at a time of great uncertainty.

Established to underscore the new reality of Latin America—a region increasingly connected to the world—the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center was the vision of business leader and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht.

“Latin America is at a crossroads, making the mission of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center all the more crucial. The first five years have shaped a new conversation; the next five years will be critical for doubling down on our impact,” said Center Founder and Atlantic Council Executive Vice Chair Adrienne Arsht. Added Frederick Kempe, Atlantic Council President and CEO: “We set up the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center to fill a policy void. With the crisis in Venezuela today, that mission is all the more imperative.”

Since its founding in 2013, the Center has strategically focused on a core set of the high-priority issues facing the hemisphere with innovative communication tactics to ensure that recommendations reach policymakers, business leaders, and media. In five years, the Center’s work has included: over 40 publications; over 125 events in 16 cities across the United States, Latin America, and China; and 4,000 media mentions, interviews, and op-eds in US and international press.

“The Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center has established itself as a critical partner for those across our hemisphere in its search for comprehensive, locally-driven ideas,” commented Laura Chinchilla, former president of Costa Rica. Added former US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez: “I commend the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center for creating real impact with its new ideas, new analysis, and results-driven approach.” 

Over the next five years, the Center’s strategic priorities will include: highlighting the region’s reform agenda; building strong trade and investment ties; looking to the future of the democratic world order; and emphasizing an increasingly global profile. In 2018, the Center is prioritizing work around the three major Latin American elections, NAFTA and commerce discussions, and the crisis in Venezuela. 

“The Arsht Center will continue to set itself apart through its expertise and its focus on strategic engagement with policy and business leaders. This is the time for new thinking and innovative approaches to ensuring that Latin America’s top priorities get the attention deserved,” added Jason Marczak, director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.  

As it looks to its new phase of work, the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center welcomes a new network of nonresident fellows: Daniel Godinho, former secretary of trade of Brazil; Rodrigo Janot, former prosecutor general of Brazil and anticorruption expert; Laura Albornoz Pollmann, former minister of the Chilean National Women’s Service and Director of CODELCO; and André Soares, counselor at the Inter-American Development Bank’s board of directors and trade and China expert.

For more information, email press@atlanticcouncil.org  
 
About the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center
The Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center broadens understanding of regional transformations through high-impact work that shapes the conversation among policymakers, the business community, and civil society. Now celebrating its five-year anniversary, the Center focuses on Latin America’s strategic role in a global context with a priority on pressing political, economic, and social issues that will define the trajectory of the region now and in the years ahead. Select lines of programming include: Venezuela’s crisis; US-Mexico relationship and NAFTA modernization; China-Latin America ties; Colombia’s peace building; the new Brazil; Central America’s future; shifting trade patterns; and energy’s next frontiers. Jason Marczak serves as Center Director.

For more information, visit atlanticcouncil.org or follow us on Twitter @ACLatAm and on Facebook.