Established in 1996 as a joint initiative of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, the Inter-American Dialogue, and the Organization of American States, the Annual CAF Conference brings together more than 1,000 world leaders to debate and discuss the most pressing developments facing the Americas. Now in its 22nd year, the conference has grown to become the primary forum for policy makers and analysts, journalists, governments and international organizations, entrepreneurs and investors, and civil society representatives to review progress in the Western Hemisphere and address pending challenges. 

The 22^nd Annual CAF Conference touched on some of the most important topics facing the region. The conference opened with a session on “21^st Century Challenges to A Free Press,” which sparked a lively debate among Marty Baron, editor of The Washington Post, Carlos Dada of El Faro, and the editors of El Tiempo and La Nación, two of the region’s most influential newspapers. The first day of the conference came to a close with a session on China-Latin America relations, where policy experts and academics discussed new perspectives for trade and investment.

The second day of the conference focused on the return of economic growth and featured a discussion between representatives of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and CAF – Development Bank of Latin America. Other panelists discussed innovation and productivity, and the importance of technology in the region. In the afternoon, young leaders from various countries across Central and South America came together to discuss sustainable growth. The conference concluded with a provocative discussion of elections and political trends in Latin America, focusing primarily on Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, and Venezuela.

LIVE: 22nd Annual CAF Conference (Day 1) 

LIVE: 22nd Annual CAF Conference (Day 2) 

Co-Organizers

      Media Partners

Wednesday, September 5

Thursday, September 6

Luis Almagro (Uruguay) is the secretary general of the Organization of American States, and was the minister of foreign affairs of Uruguay from 2010 until March 2015. He also served as ambassador to China from 2007 until 2010 and represented Uruguay in UNESCO in 1998.
  @Almagro_OEA2015 

Alicia Bárcena (Mexico) is executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Originally trained as a biologist, she served as director of Mexico’s National Institute of Fisheries, coordinator of the UN Environment Programme, and UN under-secretary for management.
  @AliciaBarcena

Luis Bareiro (Paraguay) is a Paraguayan journalist and commentator working at the Última Hora newspaper, Radio Uno, and Telefuturo.
@LuisBareiro

Marty Baron (United States) is editor of The Washington Post. Under Baron, The Post has won several Pulitzers, including for coverage of NSA surveillance in 2014, security lapses at the Secret Service in 2015, and documenting every killing by a police officer nationwide in 2016. Before joining the Post, Baron was editor of the Boston Globe from 2001 until 2012, during which time the Globe won a Pulitzer for groundbreaking investigations into sexual abuse at Boston’s Catholic archdiocese.
@PostBaron

Andrea Bernal (Colombia) is news anchor and news director at NTN24, one of Colombia’s premier news channels. As a leading female reporter, she is known in Colombia for commentating on the challenges of work-life balance.
@AndreBernal26

Urenna Best (Panama) is the general director of the National Secretariat for the Development of Afro-Panamanians (SENADAP). She previously worked as part of the Afro-Descendant Consulting Group of UNICEF and as a consultant for the regional office of the High Commissioner of Indigenous and Afro-descendant women and youth. Best was closely involved with the development of Law 64 in Panama, which created SENADAP in 2016.
@UrennaBest

Catalina Botero (Colombia) is dean of the Faculty of Law at Universidad de los Andes and founding partner of a Colombian non-profit called DeJusticia Colombia, focused on the regional defense of human rights. She previously served as the special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
@cboteromarino

Miguel Braun (Argentina) is the secretary of commerce of Argentina. Braun has  consulted on projects related to fiscal policy for the IDB, World Bank, UNICEF, ECLAC, and the ministry of economy of Argentina. He is also a co-founder of the think tank CIPPEC and previously served as the executive director, as well as as the executive director of the Pensar Foundation and a director at Banco Ciudad. Braun has also taught public finance courses at the University of Buenos Aires and the Universidad Torcuato di Tella.
@braunmi

Luis Carranza (Peru) is the president of CAF – the Development Bank of Latin America. He served as minister of economy and finance from 2006 to 2009. He previously served as the head of Latin America and emerging markets for BBVA and as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank. 
@AgendaCAF

Miguel Castilla (Peru) is a Peruvian economist. He is currently the general manager and chief of strategic development for the Inter-American Development Bank and previously served as the Peruvian ambassador to the United States. He was the minister of economy and finance under President Ollanta Humala from 2011-2014 and deputy minister of the treasury from 2010-2011. He also served as chief economist and corporate director of public policies and competitiveness for CAF – Development Bank of Latin America from 2006 to 2009

Gonzalo Chávez (Bolivia) is an economist and professor at the Catholic University of Bolivia in La Paz, where he directs the master’s program for development studies. He has written various case studies analyzing Bolivian economic policy, covering its regulatory regime, privatization, and decentralization over the past decades, and frequently writes for Pagina Siete.
@GonzaloChavezA

Arturo Condo (Ecuador) is president of EARTH University in Costa Rica, an innovative institution training future global leaders on sustainable practices and development. Condo previously served as president of INCAE Business School and as the dean of the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development.
@arturocondo

Mariana Costa (Peru) is CEO and co-founder of Laboratoria, a company that equips and trains women with the digital skills necessary to thrive in the 21^st century global economy, with training facilities for women in Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil. Laboratoria has been featured on CNN, BBC, and the MIT Technology Review, built global partnerships with Google, BlackRock, and Citi Group, and received endorsements from President Barack Obama and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
@mcostach

Carlos Dada (El Salvador) is an award-winning journalist who founded El Salvador’s first online-only publication, El Faro, which took on hard-hitting investigations that exposed the country’s endemic violence, poverty, and corruption. He began his career at San Salvador’s largest newspaper, La Prensa Gráfica, in 1999.  In 2004, Dada was awarded the prestigious John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University and was named Journalist of the Year by the El Salvador Journalists’ Association.
@carlosdada

Monica de Bolle (Brazil) is the director of the Latin American studies program and emerging markets specialization at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.  She is also a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. De Bolle focuses on macroeconomics, foreign exchange policy, monetary and fiscal policy, trade and inequality, financial regulation, and capital markets. Previously she was a director of the Institute for Economic Policy Research (IEPE/Casa das Garças), a think tank based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was also an economist at the International Monetary Fund.
@bollemdb

Dulcidio De La Guardia (Panama) is the former minister of economy and finance of Panama. He previously served as finance director of Grupo Morgan & Morgan, vice minister of finance of Panama, and director for corporate and market banking at HSBC, among other roles.
@ddelaguardia

Dyogo Henrique de Oliveira (Brazil) is president of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). Previously, he served as the minister of planning, budget, and management under President Michel Temer.
@BNDES

Jorge Familiar (Mexico) is vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank. He was previously vice president and corporate secretary of the World Bank Group and CEO of Mexico’s Instituto del Fondo Nacional para el Consumo de los Trabajadores.
@Familiar_BM

Kevin Gallagher (United States) is a professor of global development policy at Boston University where he also directs the Global Development Policy Center. Gallagher has written books covering topics such as China-Latin American relations, emerging markets, foreign direct investment, sustainability, NAFTA, and more. He served on the International Investment Division at the United Nations. He is a co-editor of The Review of International Political Economy and regularly contributes to the Financial. Gallagher also collaborates with the Inter-American Dialogue to update the Chinese-Latin America Finance Database.
@KevinPGallagher

Luís Ernesto Gómez (Colombia) is former vice minister of the interior of Colombia. In this role, Gómez worked to create a dialogue between government, indigenous groups, and citizens, improving representation and introducing citizen ideas into governing.
@LuisErnestoGL

Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica) currently serves as the secretary general of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). Grynspan was vice president of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. Concurrently, she was coordinating minister of the government’s social and economic sectors, housing and human settlements minister, and vice minister of finance. Grynspan has served as under-secretary general of the United Nations, associate administrator of the United Nations Development Program, and Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean.
@RGrynspan

Monica Gonzalez (Chile)  is a writer and journalist and the current director of the Center for Journalistic Research of Chile (CIPER). Gonzaláz founded and directed the Siete+7 magazine, Diario Siete, and has worked as a corespondent with many other publications including Argentine newspapers Clarín and La Nación. Gonzalez has won numerous awards for her journalist and continues to serve as an influential voice in Chilean media.
@ciper

José Juan Haro (Peru)  has served as the director for LatAm public policy and wholesale business for Telefónica since 2011, where is responsible for coordinating the regulatory strategy of the company and leading the business unit that engages with other telecom operators in the region. Haro joined Telefónica Peru in 2003, where he became the vice president of strategy and regulation and a member of the company’s Executive Committee. 
@jjharoseijas

Isabel Hilton (Scotland) is a London-based international journalist and broadcaster and the current editor of China Dialogue. Hilton has recently written a series of acclaimed articles on China and its paradoxical role as a global leader in combating climate change, while simultaneously being one of the biggest polluters on the planet.
@IsabelHilton

Hernán Larraín Matte (Chile) is the president of Evolución Política (Evópoli), a center-right Chilean political party. Larraín worked as the marketing coordinator of Sebastián Piñera’s first presidential campaign and later served as a strategic communications adviser to President Piñera. Larraín also worked as a lawyer at Inacap and worked on the production team of his brother Pablo Larraín’s first film, Fuga.
@hernanlarrain

Santiago Levy (Mexico) is vice president for sectors and knowledge at the Inter-American Development Bank, and previously served as general manager and chief economist for the organization’s research department. He was also general director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), the deputy minister at the ministry of finance and public credit of Mexico, and the president of the FCC in Mexico. 
@the_IDB

Juan Maquieyra (Argentina) is the president of the Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires. Before this, he was the social cabinet coordinator of the City of Buenos Aires. He also worked for the ministry of education at the Buenos Aires city government, as the chief negotiator of the teachers’ collective bargaining agreements.
@JuanMaquieyra

Álvaro Mendez (Colombia) is the co-director of the LSE Global South Unit, senior research fellow at the London School of Economics and senior fellow at Fudan University.His most recent publication is The China-Latin American Axis: Emerging Markets and their Role in an increasingly Globalized World (Palgrave, 2018). Mendez is currently co-authoring two books:China and Latin America: Changes and Dominance in the New Global Economy (with Chis Alden, Zed); and The Political Economy of China–Latin America Relations: The AIIB Membership(with Mariano Turzi, Palgrave Pivot).
@alvaroimendez

Alexandra Ocles (Ecuador) is the secretary for public risk of Ecuador. From 2013 to 2017, Ocles served as a member of the National Assembly, president of the Parliamentary Group for the Rights of Peoples and Nationalities, and the head of the Alianza País bloc. Previously, she served as the secretary for people under President Rafael Correa and as an alternate member of Congress for the Frente Amplio party.
@alexocles

Mónica Pachón (Colombia) is a professor in the Department of political science, government, and international relations at the University del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia. She writes on a wide variety of topics related to Colombia and Latin America, including democratic governance, the rise and fall of coalitions, women in Colombian politics, and presidential politics.
@Mpachoncv

Michael Penfold (Venezuela) is a professor of political economy and governance at Venezuela’s Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA). Since May 2016, Penfold as been a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Penfold served as director for public policy at CAF – Development Bank of Latin America from 2009 to 2015, and as executive director for Venezuela’s Foreign Investment Agency (CONAPRI).
@penfold_michael

Roberto Pombo Holguín (Colombia) is the award-winning director of Colombia’s most circulated and influential daily newspaper, El Tiempo, where he has worked first as reporter, then politics editor, and then general editor. Before that, Pombo worked at various media outlets, including Alternativa, El Heraldo, and Semana.
@robertopomboh

Carlos Reymundo Roberts (Argentina) is the editor-in-chief of La Nación, one of Argentina’s two most important newspapers. Previously he worked as a correspondent and reporter, covering the Gulf War and the wars in Ecuador and Peru in the 1990s. He is also director of the master’s program in Journalism at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires.
@CRRoberts

Tatiana Rosito (Brazil) is the China chief representative and general manager for business development in Asia for Petrobras. Previously, Rosito, who is a career diplomat and economist, has worked as the executive secretary of the Brazilian Foreign Trade Board (CAMEX), economic advisor for Brazilian ministers and politicians in various embassies across Asia, and as part of the Brazilian delegation to the United Nations. She is a member of the consultative board of the China-Brazil Business Council (CBBC) and senior fellow at the Brazilian Centre for International Relations (CEBRI), where she coordinates the China Group.
@CEBRIonline

Michael Shifter (United States) is president of the Inter-American Dialogue and an adjunct professor of Latin American politics at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He previously directed the Latin American and Caribbean Program at the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ford Foundation’s Governance and Human Rights Program in the Andean region and the Southern Cone. 
@MichaelShifter

Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez (Mexico) is an analyst and professor in the School of Government of the Monterrey Institute of Technology. He writes regularly as a columnist for the daily newspaper Reforma. He also contributes to the journals NexosandLetras Libres.
@jshm00

Rogers Valencia (Peru) is the minister of foreign trade and tourism of Peru. Valencia has over 30 years of experience in tourism, previously working as deputy minister of tourism, a professor at the Graduate School of Tourism at the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (UPC), a researcher at San Martin de Porres University, and as a consultant for various communities and enterprises for developing sustainable and environmentally viable tourism.
 @MINCETUR

Alejandro Werner (Mexico) is the director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He previously served as undersecretary of finance and public credit of Mexico from 2006 to 2010  and head of corporate and investment banking at BBVA-Bancomer.
@IMFNews