R. Evan Ellis
Dr. Evan Ellis is a research professor of Latin American Studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute with a focus on the region’s relationships with China and other non-Western Hemisphere actors.
Dr. Ellis has published over 130 works, including the 2009 book China in Latin America: The Whats and Wherefores, the 2013 book The Strategic Dimension of Chinese Engagement with Latin America, and the 2014 book, China on the Ground in Latin America.
Dr. Ellis has presented his work in a broad range of business and government forums in 25 countries. He has given testimony on Chinese activities in Latin America to the US Congress on multiple occasions, and has discussed his work regarding China and other external actors in the region on a broad range of radio and television fora, including CNN International, CNN En Español, The John Bachelor Show, Voice of America, and Radio Marti. His work on the subject is cited regularly in the print media in the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Dr. Ellis holds a PhD in political science with a specialization in comparative politics.
Nicaragua: Dictatorship and Collaboration with Extra-Hemispheric U.S. Rivals
This work looks at how the Sandinista regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua has further clamped down on dissent and consolidated power since the rigged November 2021 Presidential elections, and how it is increasingly serving as an entry-point for expanded activity in the region by Russia, Iran, and the PRC.
View postVaccine Diplomacy in Latin America, Caribbean a PR Coup for China
The COVID-19 pandemic has created multiple opportunities for the People’s Republic of China to advance its commercial position and influence in Latin America and the Caribbean. The most significant, in the short term, has been China’s vaccine diplomacy. Over a million people in the region have died from COVID-19 since the virus was first detected in the region in February 2020. That death count, according to the Pan American Health Organization, is about 75 percent more than in the United States, which has registered a similar number of infections.
View postToward a Strategy for Responding to the PRC in Latin America
The work argues that the problem is not the “lack of a strategy,” but ensuring that the strategies that we apply are appropriate, adequately resourced and coordinated, and the tools we use are up to the task. In addition to concisely stating the nature of the risks to the US and the region arising from some dimensions of PRC engagement, the recommendations advanced by the work include: (1) holding the line for Western corporations, strategic technologies and liberal institutions, (2) helping our partners to strengthen their institutions to get a better deal from their work with the PRC and other actors; (3) fixing, rightsizing and better coordinating our institutional tools for competing, (4) improving our data supported messaging, and (5) advancing clear new strategic concepts for the military as part of a whole of government response, coordinate with our likeminded allies.
View postLessons from Russia's Latin America engagement over Ukraine
Russia’s engagement with Latin America after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the Latin American response to the invasion, illustrates the growing strategic challenge to the U.S. from the survival and proliferation of populist authoritarian regimes in the Western Hemisphere.
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Links
- The Evolution of Transnational Organized Crime in Peru, Latin America Goes Global, May 2017
- The impact of the collapse of Venezuela on Colombia, Latin America Goes Global, April 2017
- America's Strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Air & Space Power Journal, March 2017
- Effective cooperation with Mexico contributes more to US security than any wall, January 2017, Financial Times
- Time for a Call from the Venezuelan Opposition to President-Elect Trump? Latin America Goes Global, November 2016
- Collaboration and Learning in Latin America's Fight against Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism,
- Characteristics and Assessment of Russian Engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean, September 2016
- Strategic Insights: The Post-Conflict and the Transformation of Colombia’s Armed Forces, August 2016, SSI
- Will China upstage the U.S. at the November APEC Summit? July 2016, Latin America Goes Global
- Who Attracts Investments?, June 2016, Interamerican Development Bank journal
- Chinese Engagement with Bolivia, May 2016, Air & Space Power Journal
- New Research and Trends on China's Engagement with Latin America, April 2016, Dialogo Chino
- The Impact of China on the Security Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean, Dec 2015, Routledge Handbook of Latin Americ
