Pitt to Present Conference on National Security Challenges

PITTSBURGH-A national security challenge that is taking on dramatically new and dangerous forms will be the focus of a two-day conference presented by the University of Pittsburgh Oct. 29-30, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the Schenley Room, Holiday Inn Select, 100 Lytton Ave., Oakland. The conference, Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability in Mexico, Colombia, and the Caribbean: Implications for U.S. National Security, will examine the emergence of new instabilities in Latin America and consider what actions can be taken to counter them.

The conference will include panel discussions on the possible risks to the United States, including the transformation of insurgent and para-military groups in Colombia and increased violence in Mexico, with the possible spread of instability to Cuba and the other Caribbean islands.

The event is free and open to the public, though registration is required at www.ridgway.pitt.edu.

The conference is sponsored by Pitt's Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), the Center for Latin American Studies (UCIS), and the Office of the Provost, as well as the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.

For more information, contact Beverly Brizzi at brizzi@gspia.pitt.edu or 412-624-7884.

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10/5/09/tmw