Experts available to speak about situation in Venezuela


Tue, 02/25/2014

author

Christine Metz Howard

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has experts who can provide insight into the political protests and increasing violence in Venezuela.

Protests have grown deadly in the past two weeks as citizens have called for the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro and expressed outrage over the country’s rampant crime, high inflation rate, shortage of basic goods and crack down on free speech.

The following KU experts are available to provide commentary on the recent events in Venezuela.

Michael Doudoroff, a professor emeritus of Spanish, can speak to the country’s diverse cultural landscape. He is one of the few American academic experts on 20th century Venezuelan poetry and literature. He was a founder and humanities coordinator for The Venezuelan Network, later named the Venezuelan Interest Section of the Latin American Studies Association, an international association of scholars that bridges humanities and social sciences.

Doudoroff spent the last decade of his academic career studying Venezuelan works and continues to have contact with his Venezuelan colleagues, some of whom are become divided over the current political crisis.

Roberto Castillo, a Fulbright Scholar and doctoral student in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, is a Venezuelan native. Castillo has researched the urban development of Caracas, the capital city, which has been the site of some of the country’s most violent protests in recent days. In particular, Castillo has focused on the low-income housing projects built in the 1950s, which continue to play a role in national politics.

To schedule an interview, contact Christine Metz Howard at 785-864-8852 or cmetzhoward@ku.edu.

Tue, 02/25/2014

author

Christine Metz Howard

Media Contacts

Christine Metz Howard

International Affairs