NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the post-Sept. 11 world, security has become a more imperative and complex issue that spans across national borders.
“Security in the Americas: An International Panel” will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4, in the Flynn Auditorium of Vanderbilt University Law School. Some speakers will present in Spanish, and simultaneous translations to English will be provided.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Center for the Americas at Vanderbilt and the Latin American Law Society of Vanderbilt University Law School. It is supported by a grant from the Vanderbilt University Law School‘s Hyatt Student Activities Fund.
“The time when security talks focused only on military armaments and troop strength is past,” said Giorleny Altamirano Rayo, a Nicaraguan attorney and Vanderbilt law student who is organizing the panel discussion. “This event will highlight the work of regional and inter-American commissions to address security issues from a comprehensive, hemispheric perspective.”
Altamirano Rayo will moderate panelists including:
* Mauricio Herdocia-Sacasa, a Nicaraguan attorney and diplomat who is president of the Inter-American Judicial Committee of the Organization of American States,
* Elizabeth Villata Vizcarra, a Salvadoran attorney who serves as international law adviser to the Supreme Court of El Salvador and as chief adviser to its minister of foreign affairs and is a member of the Inter-American Judicial Committee of the Organization of American States, and
* Dinorah Azpuru, an assistant professor of political science at Vanderbilt University and research coordinator of the Latin American Popular Opinion Project.
Kent Syverud, dean of the law school and Garner Anthony Professor of Law, and Vera Kutzinski, director of the Center for the Americas at Vanderbilt and Martha Rivers Ingram Professor of English, will offer welcomes and introductory comments.
The Latin American Law Society at the law school is a student group dedicated to addressing the growing interest of law students in Spanish-speaking countries, their legal systems and their relationship to the United States. The Vanderbilt University Center for the Americas studies North, Central and South America across political and disciplinary boundaries.
The Hyatt Student Activities Fund was created in 1998 by Wayne S. Hyatt, who graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1965 and Vanderbilt University Law School in 1968. The fund supports programs that enrich the intellectual content of student activities at the law school.
Hyatt is chairman of Hyatt & Stubblefield, an Atlanta-based law firm.
Media contact: Jessie Barrera, (615) 322-6826
Jessie.barrera@vanderbilt.edu
Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu