Our 8th LAM Forum was set to happen on the 15th of May. The whole board had been working on it since November 2019. The event didn’t happen the way we imagined it. The COVID-19 pandemic came and everything in our lives changed, including our Forum.

At first we thought it made no sense to do a Forum, there was a lot going on, no one was thinking about a forum, we all wanted our families and ourselves to be save. Then, as the quarantine life started to become normal, we realized it was our duty to continue the forum tradition. LAM’s mission is to showcase Latin America at the University of Chicago, we wanted the University, the students, the professors, and the staff to learn how was this pandemic affecting our countries, so we went forward and designed an online Forum divided in two sessions.

The first session was on May 15th at 11:30 a.m. we had as speakers three leaders from Argentina, Perú, and Venezuela. Juan Manuel Valdés, Current congressman from Argentina, Salvador del Solar, Former prime minister of Perú, and David Smolansky, Special Envoy of the OEA for Venezuelan Migration and Refugee crisis in the region. The Panel was led by Yanilda González, SSA professor. This conversation discussed the future of democracy on the region, it touched the events that happened previous to the pandemic, in 2019, and of course how will the region be impacted by the current situation.

The second event was held on May 29 at noon. We had the unique opportunity to listen as a spear Professor James Robinson and his unique optimistic perspective on the Future of Latin America. The discussion focused mainly on aspects from Colombia, Perú, and Argentina, but also discussed Bolivia and Mexico. Professor Robinson gave us a preview of one of his current research topics.

We are grateful with everyone who contributed to this format for the Forum. It was a great way to stay together and continue learning on how to help our countries when we all go back. Thanks! not only to the speakers, but also to the more than 150 attendees!

We hope we will see you all live next year! hold tight! LAM will be here!