Alma Velazquez

Alma Velazquez

Alma Velazquez is an International Relations major with a double minor in Business Finance and Economics at the University of Southern California. She spent spring 2015 studying abroad in Paris at Sciences Po, where she completed French coursework on topics including Cosmopolitics and Contemporary Latin American affairs. Her primary interests are in Latin American economic development and in international trade and finance. She is particularly interested in the effects of the Southern Cone trade bloc and the political economies of non-state actors. Alma has conducted research on the Near Crises in World Politics Project with Dr. Patrick James. She is fluent in Spanish and French and works as a conversation leader at the International Academy on campus. She has also been a member of USC’s Teaching International Relations Program, and serves as a Global Initiatives Intern at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

 

In Conversation with Cuban Youth

At the top of a hill in Cuba’s Vedado district sits the island nation’s oldest university. A statue of the Alma Mater towers over a steep flight of stairs, and through the pillars behind her is the sprawling courtyard hub ...

Globalization’s Populist Offspring: The Political Landscape of 2017

Concerned murmurs of “populism” hang over many political movements that emerged in 2016. The word littered headlines, describing political parties, politicians and popular movements in the US, UK, Spain, Italy and the Philippines, among others. As far as “isms” go, ...

The Politics of Declassification

One morning in 2010, foreign governments and American officials around the world were faced with the possibility of a multipronged scandal. Each of the 251,287 US diplomatic cables leaked by Bradley Manning to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange potentially held an ...

Rebel Governance and Re-Examining Statehood

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has become a household legend. For weeks after his last arrest, people clamored for his release, bearing signs pledging allegiance to him. “El Chapo is more of a president than Peña Nieto,” one of his supporters ...

Westeros as the West: Foreign Policy Lessons from Game of Thrones

“Shall I explain to you in one easy lesson how the world works?” Tywin Lannister sneers in the final episode of Game of Thrones, season 3. With that, he unloads the most comprehensive summary of the show’s survivalist political intrigue: ...

Mauricio Macri Does Battle with Two Argentine Ghosts

Evita is everywhere. Her iconic 20th century portrait stares back from postcards, magnets and other memorabilia sold in kiosks lining the most tourist-laden streets of Buenos Aires. But whether remembered with nostalgic affection or bitter eye-rolls, the populist legacy of ...

A Game of Chicken

South Africa’s agriculture industry can breathe a sigh of relief. No, its farming exports will not lose preferential, duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA)—but for a while, a tense trade dispute with ...

Brazil’s Environmental Blues

Behind the landmark climate deal that came out of Paris almost a month ago, one negotiator’s success deserves reflection. Izabella Teixeira was in a complicated position. As Brazil’s environment minister, she was tasked with a mediating role despite environmental negligence ...

Leftism in Latin America: A Lesson in Democracy

This piece is the first of Glimpse’s “Regional Check-In Series.” To read about the Caucasus and Central Asia, click here. To read about Southeast Asia, click here. As the end of the commodities boom pulls demand for South American staples into ...

Whose Canal? Chinese Investment Raises National Sovereignty Concerns

A nebulous cloud of secrecy hangs over the $50 billion Nicaragua canal project, a murky initiative to open another Central American water bridge. At its helm are Chinese telecom mogul Wang Jing and Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, who recently amended ...