Latin American Program in the News: Venezuelan rival challenges Hugo Chavez to debate
Jennifer McCoy discuss the possible scenarios after the Venezuelan elections in a forum organized by the Latin American Program.
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Jennifer McCoy, director of the Americas program at the Carter Center, said at a forum in Washington on Friday that there are some concerns in Venezuela about whether both sides are prepared to accept the results whatever the outcome. “Or will there be any situation in which there may be some unrest, even violence?” she said.
“In order to prevent the conditions that may produce a dangerous situation or potential for violence or severe instability, the basic thing that’s needed is to provide mutual guarantees to both sides,” McCoy said at the forum hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center.
McCoy, who has directed past election-monitoring missions in Venezuela and other countries, said the potential for danger arises “when people fear that they will lose the benefits that they have gained, when people fear that they will be punished or recriminated against, and when they fear that they will be excluded in the future from participation.”
“Hopefully the candidates will try to avoid these kinds of scenarios,” she said. Full story here.
To watch this event and for the report, go here.
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Latin America Program
The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
