Gilbert Joseph: Farnam Professor of History at Yale University, and an authority on Mexican history and the U.S. presence in Latin America. After earning his PhD from Yale in 1978, Dr. Joseph taught for fifteen years at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill before returning to Yale. Professor Joseph's teaching interests focus on the history of modern Latin America, particularly Mexico and Central America, revolutionary and social movements, and U.S.-Latin American relations. He is the author or editor of several books, most recently In from the Cold: Latin America's New Encounter with the Cold War.

Daniela Spenser: 2007 Guggenheim fellow, and senior research professor at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social in Mexico City. She is the author of The Impossible Triangle: Mexico, Soviet Russia, and the United States in the 1920s, and most recently In from the Cold: Latin America's New Encounter with the Cold War.

Max Paul Friedman: associate professor of history at American University. His research interests include twentieth century U.S. foreign relations with an emphasis on Western Europe and Latin America. His book, Nazis and Good Neighbors: The United States Campaign against the Germans of Latin America in World War II won the Herbert Hoover Book Prize in U.S. History and the A.B. Thomas Book Prize in Latin American Studies. Before entering academia he was assistant producer for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and a freelance writer for national newspapers and magazines.

Vojtech Mastny: senior fellow at George Washington University's National Security Archive. He has taught history and international relations at Columbia University, the University of Illinois, Boston University, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He was also professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, RI, and Fulbright professor at the University of Bonn.

Cynthia Arnson: director of the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program, will chair this event. Dr. Arnson has written and lectured frequently on issues of the peace process in Colombia and U.S. policy. She has also written extensively on Central America, U.S. policy in Latin America, and human rights issues. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, Arnson was associate director of Human Rights Watch/Americas, with responsibility for Colombia, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. She has also served as a senior foreign policy aide in the House of Representatives during the Carter and Reagan administrations.