Keith Mines recently retired after a thirty-eight-year career as a diplomat, soldier, and peacebuilder. He was most recently vice president for Latin America at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he focused on Central America, Venezuela, Haiti, and Colombia. During his government service, he worked on governance and institution-building in Central America and Colombia; Middle East peace in Israel and the West Bank; post-conflict stabilization in Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan; famine relief and tribal reconciliation in Darfur and Somalia; and fostering a culture of lawfulness as the first director of the Mérida Initiative in Mexico City. He was posted to Port-au-Prince from 1995 to 1997.
Mines has written extensively on post-conflict stabilization, peacebuilding and negotiations, and the roots of civil conflict. His book, Why Nation Building Matters: Political Consolidation, Building Security Forces, and Economic Development in Failed and Fragile States, was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2020. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.
Mines is a member of the Think Tank Haiti (TTH) network and co-founder of the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Inter-American Dialogue’s Haiti Working Group.
