LLACS Seminar Series · Concordia University
The Second Conservative Wave in Latin America
Social movements, far-right governance, and the politics of resistance — 2025–2026
Organized by
Dr. Tina Hilgers · LLACS
Format
3-Day Seminar
Location
Concordia University, Montréal + Zoom
Language
EN · FR · ES
Countries covered — right-wing governments 2025–2026
Argentina
Javier Milei
Far-right · Since 2023
Chile
José Antonio Kast
Hard-right · Since Dec 2025
Bolivia
Rodrigo Paz Pereira
Centre-right · Since Oct 2025
Ecuador
Daniel Noboa
Right · Re-elected 2025
El Salvador
Nayib Bukele
Populist right · Since 2019
Paraguay
Santiago Peña
Conservative · Since 2023
Peru
Election 2026
R. López Aliaga leading polls
Panama
José Raúl Mulino
Right · Since 2024
Honduras
Nasry Asfura
Conservative · Since Nov 2025
Costa Rica
Laura Fernández
Right · Elected Feb 2026
Political context
Nine Latin American countries now governed by right-leaning presidents — the broadest conservative wave since the early 2000s.
US dimension
The Trump Corollary: immigration crackdowns, USAID withdrawal, and Trump's endorsement of allied candidates reshaping regional dynamics.
Movement response
Social movements are shifting from street protest to digital, transnational, and legal strategies — adapting to more sophisticated authoritarian tactics.
Seminar overview
Organized by Dr. Tina Hilgers (Lab for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Concordia University) — whose research on clientelism, violence, and subnational politics anchors its comparative approach — this three-day seminar brings together researchers, practitioners, and students to examine the political geography of the "second conservative wave" in Latin America. From Milei's libertarian shock therapy in Argentina to Kast's hard-right victory in Chile, from Bukele's security state in El Salvador to Noboa's re-election in Ecuador, the seminar traces both the drivers of this wave and the social movements adapting to contest it.
Each day focuses on a distinct analytical lens: Day 1 maps the terrain of the new right across the region. Day 2 examines social movement responses — feminist organizing, digital solidarity networks, legal counter-strategies. Day 3 turns to futures — elections in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru; the durability of conservative coalitions; and the role of transnational academic solidarity.
01
Day One
Mapping the New Right: Governments, Ideologies, and the Fall of the Pink Tide
Country-by-country analysis of the conservative wave
9:00
9:45
9:45
Keynote
Opening keynote
From Pink Tide to Conservative Wave: Understanding Latin America's Political Reversal
An opening framework lecture tracing the region's shift from the progressive governments of the 2000s to the current conservative wave — driven by voter frustration over crime, economic stagnation, and the perceived failures of "Socialism of the 21st Century." Situates the current wave within longer cycles of Latin American political history and introduces the key analytical concepts for the seminar.
Political cycles
Pink Tide
Comparative politics
9:45
10:30
10:30
Lecture
Southern Cone
Argentina and Chile: Libertarian Shock and Hard-Right Politics
A comparative analysis of Milei's Argentina and Kast's Chile — the region's two most radical rightward turns. Examines Milei's chainsaw approach to the state, dollarization, and the "anarcho-capitalist" experiment; contrasts this with Kast's more traditional social conservatism, migration hardline, and Pinochet-era echoes. Explores their emerging alliance as co-anchors of a regional right-wing bloc and how Milei positions himself as "Trump's delegate" in Latin America.
Argentina
Chile
Libertarianism
Austerity
10:30
10:45
10:45
Break
Coffee break · Pause café
10:45
11:30
11:30
Lecture
Andean Region
Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru: Security, Crime, and the End of Progressive Hegemony
Examines the collapse of Bolivia's MAS after 20 years, Rodrigo Paz's centre-right consolidation, and what the shift means for indigenous rights and social policy. Analyses Noboa's re-election in Ecuador as a security mandate and his "state of exception" governance model. Discusses the 2026 Peruvian election, where Lima Mayor Rafael López Aliaga — running on a MAGA-aligned platform — leads polls against a fragmented left.
Bolivia
Ecuador
Peru
Security state
Indigenous rights
11:30
12:15
12:15
Lecture
Central America & Caribbean
El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Costa Rica: The Authoritarian Template and its Imitators
Bukele's El Salvador has become a model — and a warning — for the region: mass incarceration, constitutional manipulation, and spectacular drops in violence have made him the most popular leader in the Americas while hollowing out democratic institutions. Examines how Honduras, Panama, and Costa Rica's new right governments draw on the "Bukele playbook" while navigating their own distinct social and political landscapes. Considers Trump's endorsement of Asfura in Honduras as a new form of US regional interference.
El Salvador
Honduras
Panama
Authoritarianism
US foreign policy
12:15
13:30
13:30
Lunch
Lunch break · Dîner
13:30
14:30
14:30
Panel
Comparative panel
What Is the "New Right"? Ideology, Populism, and the Difference from Classic Conservatism
A structured panel discussion examining how the current Latin American right differs from earlier conservative waves. Drawing on scholarship on "welfare chauvinism," anti-gender politics, and the relationship between libertarianism and social authoritarianism, panelists debate whether figures like Milei, Kast, and Bukele constitute a coherent ideological project or a tactical coalition united primarily by opposition to the left. Includes a comparative perspective on the European and US far right.
Political theory
Populism
Anti-gender politics
Ideology
14:45
16:00
16:00
Workshop
Small groups
Country Briefing Workshop: Mapping the New Right's Policy Agenda
Participants divide into country groups (Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador) and prepare 10-minute briefings on each government's key policy moves in three domains: economic policy, security/migration, and education/gender. Groups use a shared template and present findings in a plenary session at the end of the workshop block. Designed to build shared knowledge across the group.
Participatory
Policy analysis
Comparative methods
16:15
17:00
17:00
Guest lecture
Invited speaker
The Trump Corollary: US Foreign Policy and its Effects on Latin America's Political Landscape
A guest lecture examining how the second Trump administration's priorities — immigration enforcement, USAID withdrawal, "America First" trade policy, and selective intervention in regional elections — are reshaping the political space for both right-wing governments and social movements. Draws on recent scholarship on hemispheric political economy and the history of US intervention in the region.
US foreign policy
USAID
Migration
Hemispheric politics
02
Day Two
Resistance and Adaptation: Social Movements Under the Conservative Wave
Feminist organizing, digital networks, and legal strategies
9:00
9:45
9:45
Keynote
Day 2 keynote
Short Honeymoons and Fast Backlash: How Social Movements Are Responding to the New Right
An opening lecture drawing on the "short honeymoon" thesis — far-right governments are facing immediate backlash as economic scandals and failed promises of turnarounds erode legitimacy rapidly. Surveys the landscape of movement responses across the region: student protests in Chile within weeks of Kast's inauguration, the February 2025 Federal March in Argentina, and the reorganization of civil society networks in Ecuador and Bolivia. Argues that the current wave is generating both defensive and creative forms of political action.
Social movements
Backlash politics
Civil society
9:45
10:30
10:30
Lecture
Feminist movements
The Feminist Wave Against the Conservative Wave: Mass Organizing in Argentina and Beyond
Feminist and intersectional movements have emerged as the most sustained and cross-nationally coordinated opposition to the new right. Examines the February 2025 Federal March in Argentina — one of the largest feminist mobilizations in the country's history — as a response to Milei's anti-gender policies and austerity measures. Analyses how the Ni Una Menos network has adapted its strategies, the role of feminist economists in building alternative policy narratives, and cross-national feminist solidarity linking Argentina, Chile, and Colombia.
Feminist movements
Argentina
Colombia
Intersectionality
Ni Una Menos
10:30
10:45
10:45
Break
Coffee break · Pause café
10:45
11:30
11:30
Lecture
Digital organizing
Networked Resistance: Digital Platforms, Horizontal Coordination, and Transnational Solidarity
Examines how social movements are using digital platforms for horizontal coordination across borders — bypassing state-controlled media and building rapid-response capacity to governance crises. Covers the security dimension: as governments employ more sophisticated surveillance and criminalization of dissent, activists are building "networked" security cultures and training in digital safety. Includes case studies from Argentina (digital unions), Chile (student networks), and El Salvador (diaspora organizing).
Digital organizing
Surveillance
Transnational solidarity
Platform labor
11:30
12:15
12:15
Lecture
Legal strategies
The Legal Front: Judicial Activism, Rights Defense, and the Limits of Institutional Protection
The new right is using judicial activism — appointing sympathetic judges, challenging progressive legislation, and criminalizing protest — as a key tool of consolidation. Social movements are responding with their own legal strategies: constitutional challenges, international human rights mechanisms, and the documentation of rights violations. Examines cases from Bolivia (indigenous land rights), Argentina (reproductive rights), and Ecuador (environmental litigation), and assesses the limits of legal strategy when courts themselves have been captured.
Legal strategies
Judicial activism
Human rights
Environmental law
12:15
13:30
13:30
Lunch
Lunch break · Dîner
13:30
14:30
14:30
Panel
Education & culture
Conservative Modernization: The Battle Over Education, Gender, and Public Culture
Social movements are directly fighting far-right efforts to overhaul education and public policy. Examines Brazil's Escola Sem Partido movement, anti-gender initiatives in Peru, and the privatization agendas being pursued in Chile and Argentina. Includes a comparative perspective on how "welfare chauvinism" — narratives blaming poor and marginalized populations for economic crises — operates through educational and cultural policy. Discusses how movements are building counter-narratives and protecting public institutions.
Education policy
Anti-gender politics
Brazil
Peru
Counter-narratives
14:45
16:00
16:00
Workshop
Small groups
Movement Strategy Workshop: Mapping Resistance Repertoires
Participants work in thematic groups (feminist movements, digital organizing, labour, environmental, indigenous rights) to map the current repertoire of contention being deployed against right-wing governments in their sector. Using Charles Tilly's repertoire framework, groups identify what is working, what has been suppressed, and what innovations are emerging. Presentations fed into a shared "resistance map" that will be used on Day 3.
Participatory
Movement theory
Repertoires of contention
16:15
17:00
17:00
Guest lecture
Invited speaker
Labour Informality, Domestic Work, and Resistance Under Austerity: Lessons from Brazil and Colombia
A guest lecture drawing on recent prize-winning scholarship on how domestic workers — disproportionately women and racially marginalized — are resisting workplace violence and structural oppression in informal labour markets under conditions of intensified austerity. Draws direct connections between the macropolitical context of the conservative wave and the everyday experience of informal workers, and examines how labour movements are adapting their organizing models to both digital platforms and new legal frameworks.
Labour movements
Brazil
Colombia
Domestic workers
Informal economy
03
Day Three
Futures: Elections, Coalitions, and the Role of Research
2026 electoral calendar, durability of the wave, and academic solidarity
9:00
9:45
9:45
Keynote
Day 3 keynote
The 2026 Electoral Calendar: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and the Limits of the Conservative Wave
The wave faces its next electoral test in 2026 with presidential elections in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru — three of the region's largest economies. This keynote assesses the durability of conservative coalitions: economic scandals, the failure of promised turnarounds, and rapidly falling approval ratings suggest many honeymoons are ending fast. Examines Lula's position in Brazil, the polarized Colombian race (Vicky Dávila vs. the Petro left), and López Aliaga's MAGA-aligned candidacy in Peru. Asks whether the right's current dominance represents a durable realignment or a wave that will recede.
Brazil
Colombia
Peru
Electoral politics
Political cycles
9:45
10:30
10:30
Lecture
Regional architecture
The Right-Wing Bloc and Its Fractures: From the Milei–Kast Axis to Internal Contradictions
Analyses the emerging right-wing regional bloc anchored by Milei's Argentina and Kast's Chile, with Bukele as its most internationally visible face and Paraguay, Ecuador, and Bolivia on the periphery. Examines the internal tensions: Milei's anarcho-capitalism versus Kast's social conservatism; Noboa's security pragmatism versus Bukele's constitutional manipulation; the fault lines around migration, trade, and US alignment that may fracture the bloc. Asks whether a coherent right-wing regional project is possible or whether this is a tactical alliance with short-term logic.
Regional politics
Political alliances
Ideological tensions
10:30
10:45
10:45
Break
Coffee break · Pause café
10:45
11:30
11:30
Lecture
Diaspora & migration
Migration, Diaspora, and Political Remittances: Latin American Communities in Québec and Canada
Examines the political dimensions of Latin American migration to Canada and Québec — how diaspora communities maintain political engagement with countries of origin, transmit "political remittances," and become actors in transnational solidarity networks. Focuses on Venezuelan, Colombian, Chilean, and Argentine communities in Montréal. Includes a discussion of how the Trump administration's immigration crackdowns are affecting migration flows and diaspora political organization, and how LLACS's own community partnerships connect to these dynamics.
Migration
Diaspora
Montréal
Transnationalism
Political remittances
11:30
12:15
12:15
Roundtable
Research & practice
The Role of Academic Research in Political Moments: Ethnography, Solidarity, and the Limits of Neutrality
A roundtable discussion with seminar participants and invited practitioners on the responsibilities of researchers working on social movements and political conflict in the current conjuncture. Drawing on the working group's own ethnographic and comparative methods, the roundtable asks: what does it mean to do "engaged" research in a hostile political environment? What are the ethical obligations of researchers to movement partners? How do we protect fieldwork relationships when governments criminalize dissent? What role can academic institutions and networks like LLACS, RELAM, and CLACSO play in defending research freedom?
Research ethics
Engaged scholarship
Ethnography
Academic freedom
12:15
13:30
13:30
Lunch
Lunch break · Dîner
13:30
15:00
15:00
Workshop
Collaborative
Futures Workshop: Scenarios for Latin America 2027–2030
A structured scenario-planning workshop in which participants develop three plausible futures for Latin American politics by 2030: (1) Conservative consolidation — the right deepens its hold and builds durable regional institutions; (2) Electoral reversal — 2026 elections in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru produce left-wing victories that shift the regional balance; (3) Fragmentation — both blocs splinter as economic crises, internal contradictions, and movement pressures produce a period of political volatility without clear hegemony. Groups present their scenarios and the conditions under which each is more or less likely.
Scenario planning
Political futures
Participatory
15:15
16:00
16:00
Closing
Closing plenary
Synthesis and Agenda-Setting: What the Conservative Wave Means for Our Research and Our Community
A synthesis session drawing together the three days' threads. Seminar organizer Dr. Tina Hilgers presents a summary of key findings from the scenario workshop and the resistance mapping exercise. Participants collectively identify: three priority research questions for the LLACS working group; two partnership opportunities with Latin American institutions (CLACSO, IESP-UERJ, CINEP); and one community engagement initiative in Montréal's Latin American diaspora. Closes with an open Q&A and announcement of seminar proceedings publication.
Research agenda
Partnerships
Community engagement
Next steps
Evening event · Day 2 · 18:00–20:00
Public lecture & reception: "From Pinochet to Kast — 50 Years of the Chilean Right"
An open public event for LLACS members, Concordia community, and Montréal's Chilean and broader Latin American diaspora. An invited scholar presents a 45-minute public lecture tracing the Chilean right from the 1973 coup to Kast's 2025 victory, followed by a moderated Q&A open to all attendees. Reception to follow. Presented in bilingual EN/ES format with French simultaneous interpretation. Co-organized with community partner Casa Latina.
LLACS Seminar 2026 · Internal planning document · Guest mapping
The Second Conservative Wave — Guest Map
Researchers, specialists, and practitioners with published work directly relevant to the seminar's themes — mapped by axis, feasibility, and strategic value. Seminar organized by Dr. Tina Hilgers (LLACS).
31
Mapped candidates
6
Thematic axes
11
Countries represented
8
Canada-based (high feasibility)
Organizer
Dr. Tina Hilgers
Convener & chair · Lab for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Concordia University. Dr. Hilgers organizes the seminar, chairs sessions, and moderates the closing synthesis — connecting the program to LLACS's research on clientelism, violence, and subnational politics. The candidates below are mapped against the program she has designed.
Anchor — field-defining figure
Latin America-based
Canada / Québec-based
Emerging scholar
Practitioner / journalist
Invitation strategy
Build outward from Montréal. Canada-based scholars (green) are the highest-feasibility invitations — no travel cost, same funding ecosystem, and several have direct Latin American research ties. Confirm 4–6 of these first to give the seminar a guaranteed core.
Use Zoom strategically for Latin America-based anchors. The region's leading voices on the new right — Rovira Kaltwasser, Vommaro, Gago, Stefanoni — are realistic Zoom guests for a single session, especially when invited to discuss already-published work rather than produce something new.
One anchor per day. A single high-profile name per day (keynote slot) is enough to draw attendance and signal seriousness. The rest of each day works better with a mix of regional specialists and emerging scholars who actively want the exposure.
Match the Day 2 public lecture to its topic. The program's evening event — "From Pinochet to Kast: 50 Years of the Chilean Right" — needs a Chile specialist: Verónica Schild, Carlos Meléndez, or Rovira Kaltwasser are the natural fits. El Faro / Carlos Dada is a superb public draw too, but on press freedom and the El Salvador case (Day 1), not the Chilean lecture.
01Theorizing the New Right
The field-defining scholars on far-right ideology, populism, and the comparative politics of the conservative wave — who can frame the seminar's central questions.
Anchor · Keynote candidate
Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile · Director, Laboratory for the Study of the Far Right
The leading comparative scholar of the Latin American far right. Directs a dedicated far-right research lab in Santiago, co-author of the standard reference works on populism. His framing of Kast, Milei, and Bukele as a coherent regional phenomenon is the intellectual scaffolding for Day 1.
Day 1 · Opening keynoteZoom realistic
Latin America-based
Gabriel Vommaro
UNSAM / CONICET, Argentina
Argentina's foremost sociologist of the right — Mundo PRO, La larga marcha de Cambiemos, and with Mariana Gené El sueño intacto de la centroderecha (2023). Ideal for explaining the road from Macri to Milei from inside Argentine political sociology.
Day 1 · Southern ConeZoom realistic
Latin America-based
Mariana Gené
UNSAM / CONICET, Argentina
Co-author of El sueño intacto de la centroderecha; specialist in political elites and the sociology of Argentine governing coalitions. Inviting Gené and Vommaro together for one session is a natural pairing they already perform publicly.
Day 1 · Southern ConeZoom realistic
Practitioner · Editor / essayist
Pablo Stefanoni
Editor, Nueva Sociedad · Fundación Carolina
Author of ¿La rebeldía se volvió de derecha? — the most influential essay on the new right's cultural appeal, translated into multiple languages. As editor of Nueva Sociedad he bridges academic and public debate. Highly experienced public speaker, frequent webinar guest.
Day 1 · Ideology panelHigh — very accessible
Latin America-based
José Antonio Sanahuja
Universidad Complutense de Madrid · Fundación Carolina
With Camilo López Burian, author of the key work on the "neopatriot ultra-right" and far-right contestation of regionalism (Bolsonaro, Milei). Connects the Latin American wave to global anti-globalism — the bridge between Day 1 and the Trump Corollary session.
Day 1 · Regional blocZoom realistic
Emerging scholar
Talita Tanscheit
FGV / Diest, Brazil — formerly PUC-Chile
Rising comparativist on right-wing parties in Brazil and Chile; published on the renewal of neoliberalism within the new right. Active in the Rovira Kaltwasser network — a strong younger voice for the ideology panel.
Day 1 · Ideology panelHigh
02Country Specialists — The Governments in Power
Researchers with deep, published country expertise on the specific administrations at the centre of the seminar: Milei, Kast, Bukele, Noboa, Paz, and the 2026 Peruvian race.
Anchor
Carlos Meléndez
Universidad Diego Portales, Chile
Leading scholar of negative partisanship and the Bukele phenomenon (with Paolo Sosa-Villagarcia and Alberto Vergara). Peruvian based in Chile — uniquely positioned to cover both Kast's Chile and the 2026 Peruvian election in one invitation.
Day 1 · Andean + ChileZoom realistic
Anchor
Alberto Vergara
Universidad del Pacífico, Peru
One of Peru's most influential political scientists and public intellectuals; co-author on the Bukele model. With Peru's 2026 election a live question — López Aliaga leading polls — Vergara is the single most valuable voice on that race.
Day 3 · 2026 electionsZoom realistic
Latin America-based
Verónica Pérez Bentancur
Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Published on punitive security politics in the Southern Cone (with Lucía Tiscornia). Brings the Uruguay counter-case — a country that resisted the wave — and rigorous methods credibility.
Day 1 · Security politicsZoom realistic
Canada-based
Manuel Balán
McGill University, Montréal
McGill's Latin American politics specialist — corruption, development, and comparative politics. Walking distance from Concordia. A natural co-convener or discussant across multiple sessions, and a bridge to McGill's Latin Americanist community.
Any day · DiscussantVery high — local
Latin America-based
Christine J. Wade
Washington College, US
Author of "Performing Punitivism: Mano Dura in El Salvador" and a long-standing El Salvador specialist. The clearest scholarly voice on how Bukele's security model actually works — and what it costs democratically.
Day 1 · Central AmericaHigh — US East Coast
Emerging scholar
Jaroslav Bílek
Charles University, Prague
Author of "A Tale of Two Populists: Milei and Bukele's Approach toward International Organisations" (2025) — directly on the seminar's comparative question. European perspective on the Latin American wave adds a useful external mirror.
Day 3 · Regional blocHigh — Zoom
03Feminist & Social Movement Resistance
Scholars and scholar-activists on feminist organizing, anti-gender politics, and movement adaptation — the heart of Day 2.
Anchor · Keynote candidate
Verónica Gago
Universidad de Buenos Aires / UNSAM · Ni Una Menos collective
The most internationally visible theorist of Latin American feminism — Feminist International, Neoliberalism from Below, A Feminist Reading of Debt. A scholar-activist inside Ni Una Menos analyzing the feminist strike against Milei's Argentina in real time. The strongest possible Day 2 keynote.
Day 2 · KeynoteReach — worth the ask
Latin America-based
Luci Cavallero
Universidad de Buenos Aires · Ni Una Menos
Co-author with Gago of A Feminist Reading of Debt — the analysis connecting financial violence and gender violence under austerity. If Gago is unavailable, Cavallero carries the same intellectual project; if both accept, a joint session is a coup.
Day 2 · Feminist movementsZoom realistic
Latin America-based
Sonia Corrêa
Sexuality Policy Watch / ABIA, Brazil
Co-chair of Sexuality Policy Watch and the leading analyst of anti-gender politics in Latin America. Her work on "gender ideology" as a political weapon is the reference for the conservative-modernization session.
Day 2 · Anti-gender politicsZoom realistic
Canada-based
Tamara Vukov / IRTG affiliates
Université de Montréal
Montréal-based researchers on media activism, migration, and transnational solidarity movements. Placeholder for the UdeM communications/migration cluster — confirm the best-fit name via Balán or RELAM contacts.
Day 2 · Digital organizingVery high — local
Canada-based
Françoise Montambeault
Université de Montréal · CÉRIUM
UdeM specialist in participatory democracy and civil society in Latin America (Brazil, Mexico). Co-directs Latin American research at CÉRIUM. A natural Montréal partner for the social movements day — and a potential institutional ally for future LLACS collaboration.
Day 2 · Civil societyVery high — local
Emerging scholar
Malena Nijensohn
CONICET / UBA, Argentina
Published on the massification of Argentine feminism and the Ni Una Menos cycle using Butler's precarity framework. A strong younger theorist who would value the international exposure — high acceptance probability.
Day 2 · Feminist movementsHigh
04Labour, Informality & Economic Resistance
The axis closest to LLACS's existing research strengths — labour informality, domestic work, and austerity. Internal anchors plus complementary external voices.
Canada-based · LLACS internal
Jean-François Mayer
Concordia University · LLACS
LASA 2024 Labour Studies prize winner for his work on domestic workers' resistance in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. The seminar's internal anchor for the labour session — his prize gives the session immediate credibility.
Day 2 · Labour roundtableConfirmed-adjacent
Canada-based
Kathleen Millar
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
Author of Reclaiming the Discarded (Duke, 2018) on wageless labour in Rio. Already identified as a priority podcast guest — a seminar invitation strengthens the same relationship. Canada-based, SSHRC ecosystem, Brazil specialist.
Day 2 · Labour roundtableVery high
Anchor
Verónica Schild
Western University (emerita), Canada
Canada-based feminist political economist of Chile — neoliberalism, care, and the gendered state. Connects the labour axis to the Chilean case and the feminist axis. Emerita status often means more availability, not less.
Day 2 · Labour / Chile bridgeHigh — Canada
Latin America-based
Juliana Martínez Franzoni
Universidad de Costa Rica
Leading scholar of Latin American welfare regimes and social policy. With Costa Rica's own rightward turn (Fernández, Feb 2026), she can speak to both the policy dismantling agenda and the Central American context from inside it.
Day 2 · Austerity & welfareZoom realistic
05US–Latin America Relations & Migration
The Trump Corollary, hemispheric realignment, and diaspora politics — including the Montréal connection.
Canada / Québec-based
Frédérick Gagnon
UQAM · Observatoire sur les États-Unis (Chaire Raoul-Dandurand)
Director of UQAM's US politics observatory — Québec's leading public voice on the Trump administration. Pairing him with a Latin Americanist for the Trump Corollary session creates exactly the hemispheric dialogue the seminar needs, in French and English.
Day 1 · Trump CorollaryVery high — local
Canada / Québec-based
Mireille Paquet
Concordia University · Research Chair on the Politics of Immigration
Concordia's immigration politics chair — and already connected to LLACS's orbit through the digital tools and asylum seekers research project. The natural anchor for the migration/diaspora session, zero logistical cost.
Day 3 · Migration & diasporaVery high — Concordia
Latin America-based
Camilo López Burian
Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Co-author with Sanahuja of the core work on far-right foreign policy and the contestation of regionalism. Covers the international dimension of the wave — UNASUR/CELAC/Mercosur rejection, Western-identity discourse, Trump alignment.
Day 3 · Regional blocZoom realistic
Latin America-based
Gisela Pereyra Doval
Universidad Nacional de Rosario / CONICET, Argentina
Co-author of "Javier Milei and the Global Far-Right: Reshaping Argentina's Foreign Policy" (CEBRI, 2024) — precisely the Day 1/Day 3 bridge topic. Active in the foreign policy analysis community, regular webinar participant.
Day 1 or 3 · Foreign policyHigh
06Practitioners, Journalists & Public Voices
Non-academic voices who give the seminar grounding, audience reach, and the practitioner perspective the program promises — including candidates for the Day 2 public event.
Practitioner · Journalism
El Faro editorial team (e.g., Carlos Dada)
El Faro, El Salvador (in exile)
Central America's most important investigative outlet, forced into exile by Bukele. A conversation with founder Carlos Dada or a senior editor is both the strongest possible testimony on press freedom under the new right and a significant public event draw.
Day 1 · Central America / press freedomMedium — security considerations
Practitioner · Human rights
CELS researcher (Buenos Aires)
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, Argentina
Argentina's leading human rights organization, documenting protest criminalization and rights rollback under Milei in real time. A CELS researcher gives the legal-strategies session its practitioner grounding. Institutional invitation — they designate the speaker.
Day 2 · Legal strategiesHigh — institutional
Practitioner · Community
Montréal diaspora organizer
Casa Latina / AGIR / community partner TBD
A Montréal-based Latin American community organizer for the diaspora session and public event — connecting the seminar to the city's Chilean, Venezuelan, Colombian, and Argentine communities. Identify through LLACS's community partnership track.
Day 2–3 · CommunityVery high — local
Emerging · Digital rights
Derechos Digitales researcher
Derechos Digitales, Santiago / regional
The region's leading digital rights organization — surveillance, criminalization of online dissent, digital security for activists. Exactly the expertise the digital organizing session needs on the repression side. Institutional invitation.
Day 2 · Digital & surveillanceHigh — institutional
Canada-based
Graduate cohort — Montréal universities
Concordia · McGill · UQAM · UdeM
Reserve 2–3 discussant slots for Montréal-based graduate students working on related themes — sourced through Balán (McGill), Montambeault (UdeM), and LLACS's own network. Builds the next cohort while filling the room.
All days · DiscussantsVery high