On Thursday, April 27, Angélica Durán-Martínez, PhD, assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, will present The Politics of Drug Violence: Criminals, Cops and Politicians in Colombia & Mexico. The lecture will take place at 6:00 p.m. in the Grupp Fireside Lounge. The event is free and open to the public and is presented by the Latin American Studies Program.

A native of Colombia, Durán-Martínez researches the relations between organized crime, violence and the state in Latin America, as well as the interconnections between democracy, rule of law and citizen security. Her research in Colombia and Mexico received funding from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Social Science Research Council (IDRF-SSRC) and the Open Society Foundation through the Drugs, Security and Democracy fellowship. Durán-Martínez served as a Fulbright Fellow at the United Nations Secretariat and a consultant for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the UN Development Program and Global Integrity.

For more information, contact Paola Fajardo-Heyward, PhD, director of the Latin American Studies Program, at fajardop@canisius.edu.

Submitted by: Amy Beiter, administrative associate, Political Science