Protest and Repression in Latin America

Speakers: Loreto Cox, Associate Professor of Government, Potificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; Ximena Velasco-Guachalla, Assistant Professor of Government, University of Essex; Juan Albarracín, Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Political Studies, Universidad Icesi in Cali
Discussant: Yanilda Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Moderated by: Steven Levitsky, Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; Professor of Government, Harvard University

Latin America experienced a wave of large-scale and often sustained protest between 2018 and 2021. In Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and elsewhere, these protests triggered harsh police or paramilitary repression. How do these responses compare to earlier eras in Latin America? Have decades of democracy and human rights activism had on impact on the behavior of domestic security forces? Are Latin American governments’ commitment to human rights waning? What are some specific characteristics and outcomes of these protests and their leadership?

Presented in collaboration with Weatherhead Center for International Affairs