Dr. David Smilde - Venezuela & the United States: Keys to Understanding the Conflict

Event Type

Lecture

Sponsor

Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Virtual

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Date

Feb 2, 2026   3:00 pm  

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Originating Calendar

Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

CLACS TALK SERIES PRESENTS:

Venezuela and the United States: Keys to Understanding the Conflict

Twenty five years of poor relations between Venezuela and the United States started a new iteration in August 2025, with the largest US military building up in a century in the Caribbean. This build-up has been infused with misinformation and half-truths from all the parties involved. In this presentation, I will put the key social and political actors of this conflict in context, to try to make sense of the course of events. 

David Smilde is the Charles A and Leo M Favrot Professor of Human Relations, Chair of the Department of Sociology, and Senior Associate at the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research at Tulane University. He has studied Venezuela for over thirty years, living there for most of that time. He has authored or edited five books and thirty peer-reviewed articles on the country. He is a frequent media contributor and has written opinion articles for the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and El País. 

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