Eduardo A. Gamarra is currently a tenured full professor of political science in the department of politics and international relations at Florida International University. He has been at FIU since 1986 where he also directed the Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) from 1994 to 2007. As director of LACC-FIU, Gamarra was involved in research and public policy issues, academic exchanges, fund raising, and other multiple activities in most countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Under Gamarra’s leadership, LACC initiated a variety of programs that are now entering their third decade of educating students. Among these are the Haitian Creole Institute https://lacc.fiu.edu/academics/haitian-summer-institute/ and the Master’s Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies https://lacc.fiu.edu/academics/ma-program/
Gamarra obtained his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1987. At Pitt, Gamarra worked under the mentorship of James M. Malloy, one of the leading experts on Bolivia and the Andes. With Malloy he wrote his first book entitled Revolution and Reaction: Bolivia 1964-1984. He has since written, co-written o co-edited twelve books and nearly one hundred scholarly articles on the Latin American and Caribbean Affairs. His most recent book, which will be published in 2016 is co authored with Brian Fonseca, examines the development of strategic culture throughout the Americas.
During the first part of his career Gamarra’s principal regional focus was on the countries of the Andes including Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. He conducted research in each country on a range of issues including security, democratization, drug trafficking and related illicit industries, political parties, campaigns and elections among other topics. A large part of his career was devoted to studying the impact of illicit industries on the Andean region’s young democracies.
Since 1986, he has taught courses on a wide range of topics including authoritarianism, democracy, drug trafficking and illicit industries, violence and revolution, human rights, political culture, campaigns and elections among others. The focus of his teaching was on South America, with a particular concentration on the Andean region.
In the mid 1990s, Gamarra initiated work in the Caribbean with a particular focus on the island of Hispaniola. As a result, he has written about politics in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. He has also developed an extensive repertoire of consulting activity in both countries. In the Dominican Republic he served as adviser to President Leonel Fernandez during his three terms in office on a range of issues including foreign policy, citizen security, and economic development. In Haiti, he served as the principal communications adviser to former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe. He is one of the few individuals who has worked closely with the political leadership of both countries. In 2013 Gamarra was instrumental in organizing the Quisqueya/Kiskeya Summit that brought together the leading Haitian and Dominican business leaders. The meetings produced a significant proposal to promote investment along both sides of the border. http://www.conep.org.do/es/2012/eje_economico/6785/info-plan- binacional-quisqueya.do
In addition to conducting research and teaching about Latin America and the Caribbean Gamarra has regularly lectures at leading universities, think tanks, and other organizations throughout Latin America the region, the United States, Europe and Asia.
Throughout his professional career Gamarra has served as a consultant for different branches of the US government including the US Agency for International Development, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of State, and the US Department of Energy on a variety of different projects, the majority with a focus on the Andes. In addition, he has testified before the US Congress on US policy toward the region and the state of affairs in the Andes in relation to counter narcotics and security policy. In December 2011, Gamarra testified before the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on the impact of narcotics trafficking on citizen security in the Caribbean.
Gamarra has also served as a consultant to other multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the Inter American Development Bank, the Organization of American States, the European Union among others on Andean related projects that included Colombia. And, he has served as principal adviser on a range of policy issues to heads of state in countries such as Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and most recently Haiti.
Gamarra is a frequent commentator on leading media outlets worldwide about Latin American and Caribbean including among many others the following: ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, CNN, CNNespanol, BBC News, Reuters, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Radio France International, NTN 24 Horas, Caracol, RCN, National Public Radio, W Radio (Colombia), New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, El Tiempo de Bogota, El Espectador, Semana (Colombia) El Colombiano, Clarin de Buenos Aires, Folha de Sao Paolo, El Mercurio de Chile, La Razon (Bolivia), The Village Voice, Al Jazeera, and Sky News.
Gamarra is a founding partner of Newlink Research, Newlink Political, and Integrated Communications and Research (ICR) consulting firms with a very active portfolio of public and private sector clients throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Through these companies his consulting work has centered primarily on market research and public opinion polling. Much of his polling has been used to develop political campaign strategy and messaging as well as public policy decision making, especially in the security area.
Gamarra serves on a variety of academic and private sector boards around the Americas including among others: board of regents Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (Washington, DC and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic); National Academy of Sciences (Bolivia); Centro Nacional de Consultoria (Bogota, Colombia); Tenacitas (Miami, Florida); Burston Marstellar (Miami, Florida), La Casa de la Madre y el Niño (Bogota, Colombia).
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