US-Chile Integration Program

About the Program

This year, the United States and Chile celebrate 200 years of bilateral relations and 20 years since the signing of the US-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA). To commemorate these milestones, the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center launched a US-Chile Integration Program, which, through a defined set of activities, will further advance bilateral relations with a focus on commerce, democracy, human rights, climate change, health and pension reform, and green energy transformation.

The first phase of the US-Chile Integration Program will include a Washington DC visit by a nine-member delegation composed of Chilean legislators and representatives from the academic and business sectors for a three-day summit beginning on March 29. The non-partisan group will discuss a broad range of topics as part of a series of roundtables, bilateral meetings, and public engagements. All of these events are organized in partnership with the Embassy of the United States in Chile, the Embassy of Chile in the United States, AmCham Chile, and Universidad Andrés Bello as part of a strategic alliance around the bicentennial of US-Chile relations.

Topics in focus

Meet the delegation

Delegation Bios

Jorge Alessandri Vergara is a representative from the Independent Democratic Union Party, representing the 10th District in the Metropolitan Region of the Republic of Chile. He began his political career in 2007 as a member of the UDI. In 2008, he presented his candidacy for councilor for the commune of Santiago. In 2010, he was appointed presidential advisor of the Republic of Chile by former President Sebastián Piñera and served as deputy director of programming for the President of the Republic. In 2015, he became part of the Board of Directors of the UDI as national deputy secretary. In 2017, he participated in the primary elections of Chile Vamos to become the UDI candidate for the Chamber of Deputies for the 10th District. In January 2022, he was elected as head of the UDI bench from 2022 to 2023. He also has experience in the private sector as an entrepreneur.

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Catalina Pérez is a representative of the Democratic Revolution Party, representing the 3rd District of the Antofagasta Region in the Chamber of Representatives of the Republic of Chile. Her political and public career started during the Penguin Revolution of 2006. She served as counselor of the Faculty of Humanities of the FEUCN from 2009 to 2011 and founded the Social Pre-University of Students of the Federation, where she also serves as director. Perez is also part of the executive board of the FEUCN as secretary of finance. In 2012, she was elected vice president of the Student Center of the Universidad Católica del Norte School of Law, Antofagasta Campus. In 2017, Pérez ran for the 3rd District from the Antofagasta Region to represent her party in the Frente Amplio Pact. In January 2019, she assumed the presidency of Revolución Democrática, a position she currently holds. During the same year, Pérez played a fundamental role in the articulation and signing of the Agreement for Peace and the New Constitution, which prevails in the current constituent process. In November 2021, she was re-elected to the position of deputy with the first majority in the same district.

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Joanna Pérez Olea is a representative for the 21st District in Biobío Region of the Republic of Chile. Prior to her election, she held several leadership positions in her political party, including regional secretary in the Biobío Region and national vice president. Her work in the Chamber of Representatives has focused on issues such as education, health care, and women’s rights. In the 2013 parliamentary elections, she ran as a candidate for deputy for District 46. She was later elected as a deputy on the Democratic Convergence list for the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) in the 2017 parliamentary elections. In August 2021, Perez sought re-election and was elected under the New Social Pact. However, in 2022 she resigned from the PDC and became an independent representative.

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Diego Ibañez is a representative for the 6th District in Valparaiso Region of the Republic of Chile. He began his political career during the Penguin Revolution of 2006, where he served as a co-spokesperson for the Quilpué Secondary Student Coordinator. Later, in 2013, he was elected as the vice president of the Student Federation of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. In his professional life, he has specialized in labor law and the development of union schools. Ibañez is also the founder and spokesperson of the nongovernmental organization Pulmón Verde de Quilpué, which organized significant protests against the installation of the Los Rulos Thermoelectric Plant in May 2017. In August of the same year, he announced his candidacy for deputy for the 6th District in the Valparaíso Region. He was subsequently re-elected as deputy with the highest number of votes in the district on November 21, 2017.

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Diego Schalper is a representative for the 15th District in Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins Region of the Republic of Chile. Before his political career, he worked as a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the Andrés Bello University, and the Rosa Elvira Matte School in Lo Espejo. Schalper was the executive director of the Idea País Foundation from 2010 to 2013, and he was the general coordinator of the Human Development Groups in the same foundation. He started his political activity during his student years as vice president (in 2006) and president (in 2007) of the Student Center of the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University. Schalper was also the senior counselor of the Federation of Students of the Catholic University (FEUC). In the 2017 parliamentary elections, he was elected as a representative as an Independent on the list of the National Renewal Party and in the Chile Vamos pact. He was re-elected in November 2021 on behalf of the National Renewal Party within the Chile Podemos Más Pact. Schalper was also elected as vice president of the International Democratic Union (UDI).

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Issa Kort serves as the director of international relations at the Universidad Andres Bello and is a member of the Independent Democratic Union Party as its general secretary. He has held various positions in the political and public sector. Between April 2010 and August 2011, he served as director and president of the Regional Council for Culture and the Arts in the Libertador General Bernardo O’Higgins Region. In August 2011, he assumed the seat of Deputy Alejandro García-Huidobro Sanfuentes in the Chamber of Deputies, who in turn was designated as his replacement in the Senate, until March 2014. In the November 2013 elections, he competed for District 32, Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins Region, representing his party from 2014 to 2018. In August 2017, he registered his candidacy for deputy for the new 15th District, Libertador General O’Higgins Region, representing the Independent Democratic Union Party. His most recent position was as the permanent representative of Chile to the Organization of American States, which he has held since June 14, 2021.

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Raúl Leiva Carvajal is a representative for the 14th District in in the Metropolitan Region of the Republic of Chile. Prior to his career in politics, Leiva worked as an associate lawyer at Leiva Asociados Abogados from 2000 to 2007. He also served as the legal assistant manager and general manager of Coocretal (Savings and Credit Cooperative) and as a substitute judge in the Local Police Court of Talagante. Leiva worked in the Ministry of the Interior from 2006 to 2007 and later served as the movernor of the Province of Talagante from 2007 to 2008. He was elected Mayor of the Municipality of Talagante for two consecutive terms from 2008 to 2012 and 2012 to 2016, as an independent associated with the Concertación Democrática pact. During this time, he also served as the president of the Citizen Security Commission of the Chilean Association of Municipalities. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, Leiva was elected as the deputy for the 14th District in the Santiago Metropolitan Region for the2018 to 2022 period. He was re-elected for the 14th District, Metropolitan Region in August 2021, and will serve the 2022 to 2026 period.

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Kathleen Barclay is a principal of Asesorías KCB Ltda. and member of the board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Chile. She is a member of the boards of directors of the MetLife Companía de Seguros de Vida S.A., Fundación Adolfo Ibanez, the Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, as well as chair of Geomar S.A., and Austral Capital in Chile. In Peru, she is a member of the board of Banco Interamericano de Finanzas where she was appointed by the International Finance Corporation.

Barclay is active in cultural and academic affairs including as a member of the advisory editorial committee of El Diario Financiero, a member of the advisory board of the Centro de Estudios Públicos, and a member of the board of Endeavor-Chile and chair of the advisory council. She is a member of the Council of the Americas and the US Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, she has served as a member of the advisory council to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) for its Karukinka project in Chile. She was a member of the board of the Fundación Fondo de la Naturaleza Chile – Chile’s first public-private partnership focused on collaborative strategies including fundraising to protect biodiversity. Currently, she is a member of their advisory council. Barclay is a former president of the Pan-American Development Foundation, a sister organization of the Organization of American States based in Washington, DC, focused on strategies to support the most vulnerable populations in Latin America. Prior to 2001, Barclay had a twenty-three-year career in J.P. Morgan Chase including assignments in New York, London, and Santiago.

She has a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University in Washington, DC with a focus on international economics.

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Paula Estévez is the general manager of AmCham Chile. In this role, she contributes to strengthening the commercial relations between Chile and the United States by promoting sustainable business and building spaces of public-private collaboration, which contribute to the country’s holistic development.

She was head of the international relations office of the Chilean Ministry of Energy from 2014 to 2019. Previously, she led the development of sustainable energy projects at Vestas Wind Systems and carried out consultancies for waste-to-energy projects in Latin America for the Columbia University Engineering Center and the Inter-American Development Bank. Paula holds a master of science in environmental engineering from Columbia University and a degree in civil construction from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

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