Media Contact:  Dolores Davies, (619) 534-5994 or ddavies@ucsd.edu

Terrorism, corruption, and drug trafficking in Latin America and the Pacific Rim will be the focus at Challenges to Governance in Latin America and the Pacific Rim, an international conference to be held March 5-6 at the University of California, San Diego.   The conference, sponsored by UCSD's Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS) in collaboration with the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), is free and open to the public and will include some of the world's top experts on terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and the global economic crisis.   All sessions will take place in the Gardener Room at IR/PS.

"We have representatives coming from all over the world to speak on the dilemmas of globalization," said CILAS Director Peter Smith, a prominent authority on U.S.-Latin relations and founding director of the University's "Latin America and the Pacific Rim" program.  "We want to encourage open debate, frank discussion, and scholarly analysis of critical threats to global law and order."

At a Friday afternoon session on Responding to Terrorism: The Lima Hostage Crisis of 1996-97, Japanese Ambassador to Mexico Katsuyuki Tanaka and Jesuit Priest Juan Julio Wicht of The Universidad del Pacifico in Lima will discuss the 126-day ordeal and its aftermath.   Tanaka headed Japan's negotiating task force during the crisis in which Peruvian rebels seized and held 72 VIPs.  Wicht, who insisted on remaining with the hostages inside the ambassador's home during the crisis, will offer "A View from the Inside: Hopes and Expectations of the Hostages."

An earlier Friday afternoon session, Corruption, Credibility, and Reform, will focus on governance problems in China, Japan, and Latin America.  Speakers are:  Junji Tachino, Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo; Naoko Kada, IR/PS; and Richard Levy, Salem State University, Boston.

At a Saturday afternoon session on Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime, former Drug Enforcement Administration agent George Harkin will talk about "The Heroin Trade in Asia." William O. Walker III, Florida International University, Miami, will address "The Cocaine Trade in the Americas," while H. Richard Friman, Marquette University, Milwaukee, will present a talk on "International Drug Control Policies: Variations and Effectiveness."

Saturday morning sessions include Leviathans in Decline? Changing Roles of States, which touches on issues of state modernization and reform, particularly in the light of economic crisis.  Rounding out the morning is Poverty and Social Policy: What Can Governments Do?, with comparative perspectives on health care, poverty and unemployment in East Asia and Latin America.

The two-day conference will begin on Friday, March 5 at 9:00 a.m. with a panel on The Crisis of Globalization.  Panelists include: Lawrence Krause, IR/PS; Kim Kihwan, Kim and Associates, Seoul; Kotaro Horisaka, Sophia University, Tokyo; and Gilson Schwartz, University of Sao Paulo.  Later that morning, a session on Reforms vs. Restraints: What Are the Policy Options? will probe strategic options for developing economies, including those of Korea and Brazil.

The proceedings will conclude on Saturday afternoon with a roundtable discussion on the basic question of the conference: Can Governments Govern?

Smith launched UCSD’s Latin America/Pacific Rim program in 1996 with an initial grant from the Ford Foundation.  Now in its third year, this visiting scholars program aims to strengthen ties between Asian and Latin American academics and mid-career professionals and to train future leaders in the two regions.

For more information about the conference, please call (619) 534-6050.