Eduardo Gamarra

Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University
Eduardo A. Gamarra is 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, 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. In February 2016 he was appointed founding director of the Latino Public Opinion Forum at the Stephen Green School of International and Public Affairs.

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 2017 is co authored with Brian Fonseca, examines the development of strategic culture throughout the Americas.

Throughout his career, Gamarra’s research, teaching and consulting focus has been on the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. He has conducted research and served as a consultant in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. The focus of his work includes security, democratization, drug trafficking and related illicit industries, political parties, campaigns/elections, public opinion, among other topics.

Gamarra has served as the principal consultant on security sector reform, foreign policy, campaign strategy and strategic communications to several heads of state and government in the Americas including most recently Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic and Laurent Lamothe of Haiti.

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. During the current academic year, he is teaching graduate and undergraduate seminars on the Caribbean and South America.

In addition to conducting research and teaching about Latin America and the Caribbean, Gamarra regularly lectures at leading universities, think tanks, and other organizations in Latin America, 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 including Colombia. In addition, he has testified several times 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. C-span.org

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, Costa Rica, 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, Univision, Telemundo, 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. See for example: Univision.com; Wlrn.org; Youtube.com

Gamarra is the founder of Integrated Communications and Research (ICR), a consulting firm with an active portfolio of public and private sector clients throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. His most recent consulting work has centered primarily on market research and public opinion polling. Much of his polling has been used to develop political campaign strategies and messaging as well as public policy decision making, especially in the security area.

Most recently Gamarra’s polling has focused on the Latino vote in the United States. Through an alliance with Adsmovil, a mobile advertising firm, he directs a tracking poll of Latino voting patterns in the context of the 2016 presidential elections. Adrianacisneros.com; Latinousa.org

Gamarra serves on a variety of academic and private sector boards around the Americas including among others: Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (Washington, DC and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic); Tenacitas (Miami, Florida); Burston Marstellar (Miami, Florida), La Casa de la Madre y el Niño (Bogota, Colombia). He is an elected member of Bolivia’s National Academy of Sciences.