You are invited to attend the Ana Marleny Bustamante lecture:

"Venezuela’s Foreign Policy: Its Effects on the Colombia –Venezuela Border"

Date: Thursday, March 10, 2011
Time: 3-5 pm
Place: Deutz Room, Institute of the Americas Complex, UCSD

Venezuela’s regional foreign policy of alignment with western values and the US began to change in 2000. At that time new meanings for democracy, regional integration and regional security developed in the country’s vision of itself and its foreign relations. This change affected Venezuelan relations with neighboring countries, particularly with Colombia. The policy visions and the new group of friends around the world that drive this new foreign policy have impacted the Andean Community (CAN) and the Group of Three (G-3) negatively. It has also impacted the traditional bilateral relationship between Colombia and Venezuela and in particular, the bilateral agreements and the Andean policies toward their common border areas. Thus, border policies aimed at giving to the border areas the autonomy and power to participate more actively in their development have been slowed or become inactive.

Ana Marleny Bustamante is Professor at the Center for Borders and Regional Integration Studies (CBRIS or CEFI, its acronym in Spanish) at the University of the Andes in Venezuela. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Latin American Studies from the University of Liverpool, England. Her area of study is Regional Integration (CAN and EU) and she is currently a visiting scholar at the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at San Diego State University as part of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program.

For more information, please visit:
http://cilas.ucsd.edu/events/lectures/