Speaker Program Latin America & Caribbean Luncheon Group
Event Description
Please note this is a hybrid event - you have the option to attend in person or virtually. Registrations are required for all attendees. For in-person attendees, the event will run from 11:45 am - 2 pm and will include lunch. The live stream will begin at 12:50 pm (virtual attendees will be sent a link for the event via email).
Join the Latin American and Caribbean Luncheon Group at DACOR to discuss the current state of affairs in Brazil and the political, economic, and geopolitical dynamics shaping Brazil–U.S. relations. Our panelists will be Bruna Santos and Ricardo Zuniga. We will also have a very special host/moderator for this session, Ambassador Patrick Duddy.
Brazil is emerging as one of the most important and complicated relationships in the Western Hemisphere as tensions grow between the Trump administration and the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Disputes over trade, tariffs, the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, democratic governance, and Brazil’s expanding ties with China and the BRICS bloc have strained the relationship, even as both countries remain deeply connected economically and strategically.
Bruna Santos is the director of the Brazil Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. She previously led the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. Prior to that, she served as vice president and director of innovation at Brazil’s National School of Public Administration (Enap), the country’s premier government training institution. From 2010 to 2013, she lived and worked in Beijing, China, where she was a market analyst at Chinatex Grains & Oils and co‑founded Radar China, a public relations firm. Santos is a member of the global network of Eisenhower Fellows and has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s EMPA Global. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
Ricardo Zúniga is a Founding Partner of Dinámica Americas. He was a career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service, serving for 30 years in multiple roles, including as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle, and U.S. Consul General in São Paulo, Brazil, where he focused on advancing U.S. commercial relations with Brazil. Zuniga was detailed from the State Department to serve as President Obama’s principal advisor for the Americas from 2012 to 2015, during which time he worked closely with then-Vice President Biden and advised Cabinet members and other senior leaders on events in the Americas. He was previously a member of the Advisory Board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Latin America Program. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and served diplomatic tours in Mexico, Portugal, Cuba, Spain, and twice in Brazil.
Ambassador (retired) Patrick Duddy is a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He has taught in both Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy and served for several years as the academic director of Duke’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Before joining the Duke faculty, Ambassador Duddy served as a U.S. diplomat for nearly thirty years. From 2007 to 2010 he was the U.S. Ambassador to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for both President Bush and President Obama. Prior to his assignment to Venezuela, Ambassador Duddy was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (DAS) for the Western Hemisphere. From 2002 until 2005, Ambassador Duddy was the U.S. Consul General in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In Sao Paulo, Duddy also served as the senior USG liaison to one of the most dynamic and sophisticated business communities in the world and as a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce. In addition, he served as the Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia.
Location
Setting: Hybrid DACOR Bacon House OR Online 1801 F St NW Washington, DC 20006 UNITED STATES
