Markus Schultze-Kraft

Latin America Program Director
Bogotá, Colombia

Crisis Group role:

Markus Schultze-Kraft heads and manages the Crisis Group Latin America and Caribbean program from Bogotá. Working with a four-member team, he drafts reports on Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Haiti, Peru and Venezuela, and engages in regular policy dialogue with decision-makers in Latin and North America and Europe. Among the issues Markus has been addressing are the armed conflict and political developments in Colombia, the negotiations between the administration of Álvaro Uribe (2002 to present) and the paramilitaries and their demobilisation and reinsertion, peace prospects with the insurgent FARC and ELN, relations between the Andean nations and border issues, the linkages between the illegal drug industry and (armed) conflict and organised crime across Latin America, political-institutional crises and constitutional change in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, and security system reform and international cooperation for stabilisation in Haiti.

Areas of expertise:

• Latin American and comparative politics
• Conflict prevention and resolution
• Political analysis and policy design
• Human rights and international humanitarian law observation

Professional background:

• Colombia/Andes Project Director, International Crisis Group
• Coordinator of the Observation Unit in the Colombia office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
• Colombia/Andes Senior Analyst, International Crisis Group
• Doctor of Philosophy in Politics, Oxford University
• Graduate Tutor in Latin American Politics at Oxford University and lecturer in comparative politics and conflict resolution at Los Andes University (Bogotá)
• Member, German Working Group on Latin America (ADLAF)

Publications and media:

• "South America's Power Puzzle", International Relations and Security Network, 7 January 2010
• "Hugo Chávez unter Druck", Die Zeit, 1 December 2009
• "U.S. Sends Wrong Messages to Latin America", Reuters - The Great Debate, 24 August 2009
• "Erica": imperativo en resolución del conflicto armado en Colombia, UN Periódico (Colombia), 10 July 2009
• "Symptom of A Widening gulf between The Andean Nations", The Independent, 19 June 2009
• Farc en el 2009: "¿Renacimiento político "inducido" como oportunidad para la resolución del conflicto?", UN Periódico, 9 March 2009
• "¿Llegó, por fin, la hora de las víctimas?", with Juan Munévar, UN Periódico, 9 November 2008
• "Narcotráfico en América Latina: Un nuevo consenso internacional”, Política Exterior, N°126 (Madrid), Nov.-Dec. 2008.
• "El verdadero desafío de Chávez" , El Tiempo, 20 July 2008
• "Todos son culpables del fracaso", with Mauricio Ángel M., La Razón, 20 December 2007
• “Venezuela vor dem Chavismus?”, Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik (Berlin), May 2007
• "El lado oscuro de la desmovilización paramilitar", El Tiempo, 30 April 2007
• "Una propuesta constructiva", El Tiempo, 9 April 2007
• "El año de las definiciones políticas", El Espectador, 27 March-2 April 2005
• Pacificación y poder civil en Centroamérica. Las relaciones cívico-militares en El Salvador, Guatemala y Nicaragua en el posconflicto, Bogotá, 2005
• "Se require la cooperación andina para enfrentar al conflicto colombiano", El Comerico, 30 October 2004
• "EU-US Wedge Thwarts Efforts in Latin America", European Voice, 14 October 2004
• Frequent interviews with Colombian and international media, most recently: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, El Espectador, European Voice, El Comercio, El País, Jornal do Brazil, Fohla do Sao Paolo, El Universal, The Washington Post, Radio Netherlands, Caracol Hora 20, Reuters, European Information System

Languages:

• German (native)
• English (fluent)
• Spanish (fluent)
• French (intermediate)

Click here for a high-resolution photo of Markus Schultze-Kraft.

Click here for a one-page PDF document of this information with contact details.