Adriana Unzueta and Debastian Cajias, Latin American Society of Oxford
Lecture: "The Maritime Demand before the International Court of Justice: The Bolivian Argument" by Mr Eduardo Rodriguez Veltze, former President of Bolivia and current representative of the Bolivian delegation at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. 

A report of the lecture can be read here

Juliana Tappe Ortiz, MPhil Latin American Studies 
Conference "Colombia after the Peace Accords: New Challenges, New Paths Forward from a Multidisciplinary Perspective" and it is really innovative because it combines: (a) interventions by two well-known Colombians, a policymaker (Mariana Escobar) and an academic and civil society leader (Jorge Restrepo); and (b) research presentations from our doctoral students and other doctoral students in the UK.

For over half a century, Colombia has been entangled in a bitter civil war between the Colombian government and the FARC. This project seeks to understand why, when, and how armed revolutionary leftists (in this case the FARC) speak out about their engagement in past violence? What impact do these confessions have on Colombia’s society emerging from atrocity and attempting to build strong human rights cultures?

There are three key impacts: 1) training a Colombian MPhil student in research methods and co-authoring a publication; 2) allowing the LAC to participate in the important peace process underway in the country; and 3) creating a neutral space for Colombian academics to discuss the role of the left in the establishment of peace in the country.

Adriana Unzueta, Johanna Andrango and Sebastian Cajias, MSc Latin American Studies
19th Century war between Bolivia, Chile and Peru

The 19th century war between Bolivia, Chile and Peru still has its repercussions nowadays. The War of the Pacific (1879-1883) in which Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia has been revised and promoted accusations in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from both defeated parties. In 2008, Peru brought the case to court claiming 38,000 sq km of the Pacific Ocean from Chile. In 2014, the ICJ accepted both Chile’s and Peru’s arguments and the latter won about 21,000sq km. Following the decision of the ICJ, Bolivia went to the international organization and claimed in 2013 its sovereign access to the sea. In 2015, the ICJ declared itself judge on the case and the countries are now waiting for the final verdict of the Court.

The grant will be used to organise a series of talks that address the topic “The War of the Pacific: legacy and repercussions” and to invite both the ambassadors of Peru and Chile to the UK, and the former President of Bolivia, and current international spokesman of the Bolivian maritime cause in The Hague.

The Malcolm Deas Annual Seminar

This will fund a seminar on the History of Colombia for two years, and will be an integral part of the successful and well attended ‘History of Latin America’ seminar series that Eduardo Posada-Carbó has been overseeing. The first seminar was delivered by James Robinson (Professor of Public Policy at University of Chicago) and was a great success.

The Andean Conference

In May 2016 the Andean Conference met to compare recent economic and political trajectories and future challenges in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. The plenary session’s talk was delivered by Martin Tanaka (Senior Fellow at Institute of Peruvian Studies and Professor of Social Sciences at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru).

New History Working Paper Series

The LAC has a working paper series devoted to Political Economy, but desired greatly to create a series devoted to History to be produced by the CAF Bank Fellows, visiting scholars and guest- speakers to the History Seminar. The funding would support the first year’s publications, whilst subsequent work would be supported by more sustainable income.

DPhil Latin American Centre Seminar

The LAC’s DPhil seminar is a proud staple of the research output of the centre and allows doctoral students working on Latin America to present their work and receive feedback from LAC Fellows as well as visiting academics. Funding will be used to support refreshments and dinner for speakers for the next two years.

Guest Event: ‘Gender in Latin America’

Dr Marcela Rios is the current director of the Governability Programme at the UNDP in Santiago, Chile. She has served on the Presidential Commission for President Bachelet on Women in recognition of her doctoral and post-doctoral research on quota laws and feminism in Latin America. She is currently serving on a corruption investigation commission. She is on the board of a number of top Chilean think tanks and foundations. The Malcolm Deas Fund will be proudly used to support a week long series of events on Gender in Latin America in Trinity Term.

Activities included:

• Book presentation on her manuscript on women in Latin America. This project fits the teaching on Sociology and Gender as well as other classes and thus fits with the revision sessions being run in Trinity Term
• Workshop on women in Latin America: presentation by students of their thesis or other projects with feedback from Dr Rios
• Lecture at the Latin American Centre seminar series on contemporary issues in Chilean politics