Our guest for episode 55 is Tiziano Breda, a Central America Analyst for the International Crisis Group. He conducts extensive field research, provides analysis, and proposes policy initiatives to relevant governmental, international and non-governmental actors to address key issues linked to violent crime, migration and political instability in the Central American region. As a guest at the International Risk Podcast, he helped use detangle some of the main questions and complexities enveloping the recent Nicaraguan Presidential elections, where incumbent President Daniel Ortega was condemned for intimidating and imprisoning political opponents.
“Ortega needs elections to try and maintain a semblance of democratic practices and functions of the state, and to seek legitimacy both internally and internationally”
–Tiziano Breda, The International Risk Podcast
Tiziano joined Crisis Group in April 2017, first as an intern and then as EU Advocacy & Research Assistant in the Bogotá office. He previously wrote for different online magazines, mainly regarding European and Latin American affairs.
“People didn’t feel like going out to vote, but elections fundamentally serve this purpose of showing that there is a functioning democracy to nurture the parallel reality that Ortega has built”
–Tiziano Breda, The International Crisis Group
Tiziano holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Padua and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Bolonia, Forlì. He has also specialized in peace studies and conflict resolution by taking courses at the John Hopkins University (SAIS) and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
You can read more about the International Crisis Group here: http://www.crisisgroup.org/
“Central America is a deeply integrated region and, of course, having a pariah state with an increasing number of entities and officials that have been sanctioned can create a problem when it comes to strengthening trade and commercial regional ties”
–Tiziano Breda, The International Risk Podcast
You can listen to Tiziano’s episode here