Wednesday, September 2, 2026
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. EDT
Location: Online Zoom
September 2, 2026
The State of Democracy in Venezuela
Event Series: Challenges to Democracy: The Latin American Landscape
Democracy in Latin America, as in the rest of the world, is facing major challenges in political governance, electoral integrity, institutional strength, economic growth, and social cohesion. While it is true that these challenges—which pose threats to democracy worldwide—manifest with varying intensity and emphasis in each country of the region, there are also common elements and similarities that highlight the importance of addressing specific cases from a global, comparative perspective. In this regard, over the course of 25 years, we have moved from a celebration of democracy at the beginning of the twenty-first century—a time when all Latin American countries were living within a framework of constitutional democracy—to a situation of concern regarding the circumstances facing practically every country in the region.
In this context and as a lead up to the third annual conference on the state of democracy in the Americas, jointly organized by the Georgetown Americas Institute and FORMA, a virtual series of discussions titled Democracy in Latin America will be held from May to September 2026, coordinated by GAI Resident Fellow Lorenzo Córdova Vianello. In each of the biweekly sessions, Córdova will speak with experts from a dozen Latin American countries to analyze the state of democracy and the specific challenges each faces.
The seventh event in this series will offer an overview of the current state of democracy in Venezuela by Carlos Ayala, vice president of the International Commission of Jurists.
Featuring
Carlos Ayala Corao graduated cum laude in law from Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), Caracas, 1979. He completed postgraduate studies at Georgetown University in 1981, and finished the coursework for a doctorate in Law at UCAB. He is a full member of the Venezuelan Academy of Political and Social Sciences. He possesses extensive experience in constitutional, administrative, banking, international, and human rights law. He serves as vice president of the International Commission of Jurists (2018 to present) and litigator representing victims before the Inter-American human rights protection system. He previously was a member and president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (1996 to 1999) and a member and president of the Andean Commission of Jurists (1993 to 2009). He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, and Human Rights at UCAB and has also taught postgraduate courses as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, American University, Oxford University, and other universities abroad. He served as an advisor and consultant to the UN regarding the appointment processes for the Supreme Courts of Justice in Ecuador (2004) and Guatemala (2009). He was honorary president of the Venezuelan Association of Constitutional Law, president of the Venezuelan chapter of the Ibero-American Institute of Constitutional Law, and board member of the Ibero-American Institute of Constitutional Procedural Law. He was also a signatory to the Pro Bono Declaration of the Americas as well as a member and advisor to various human rights NGOs.
Lorenzo Córdova is a Mexican constitutional scholar and public intellectual specializing in electoral law, constitutional theory, and democratic governance. He earned his law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds a Ph.D. in political theory from the University of Turin, Italy. He is a full-time Researcher “B” at UNAM’s Legal Research Institute and is recognized by Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNI) as a Level III National Researcher, the highest distinction awarded by the program. Córdova is also a professor of constitutional theory and constitutional law at the UNAM Law School. His public service career includes serving as electoral councilor of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) from December 2011 to April 2014, followed by his tenure as councilor president of the National Electoral Institute (INE) from April 2014 to April 2023. A prolific author, Córdova has written, co-written, or coordinated more than a dozen books on constitutionalism, democracy, and political theory. His most recent work is La democracia constitucional en riesgo. Los autoritarios no descansan (2024). He is currently a weekly video columnist for Latinus, a columnist for El Universal, and a frequent contributor to specialized journals and broadcast media.