Riordan Roett

Background

Roett, Riordan was born on September 10, 1938 in New York City. Son of Riordan Junior and Marion (Underwood) Roett.

Education

He received his Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University in political science and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Career

He was assistant professor (1967–1973) and acting director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt University and is currently the Sarita and Don Johnston Professor of Political Science and Director of the Western Hemisphere Program at the Johns Hopkins University"s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, District of Columbia Fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, he is a renowned specialist on Brazilian, Mercosur, and Mexican issues and the author of several books on Latin America’s political economy. Roett has been an advisor to Chase Manhattan Bank. From 1989 to 1997, he served as a Faculty Fellow of the World Economic Forum at the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Since 1999 Roett has served as a consultant to the National Intelligence Council of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Since 2011, he acts as Advisor on the United States of America and Latin America especially for politics to Fair Observer, an online magazine covering global issues from a plurality of perspectives. On January 13, 1995 the Chase Manhattan Bank sent a memo calling on the Mexican government to crush the indigenous Zapatista uprising, stating:

"While Chiapas, in our opinion, does not pose a fundamental threat to Mexican political stability, it is perceived to be so by many in the investment community.

The government will need to eliminate the Zapatistas to demonstrate their effective control of the national territory and of security policy.".

Achievements

• Riordan Roett has been listed as a noteworthy Political science educator, consultant by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Latin America in a Changing Global Environment (A Text-in-Time Edition)

    (Publisher: Lynne Rienner / Boulder LondonEdition: First)

  • Mexico and the United States: Managing the Relationship (Westview Special Studies on Latin America and the Caribbean)

    (A study of Mexico-US relations.)

  • The Andes in Focus: Security, Democracy, and Economic Reform: 1st (First) Edition

Views

The memo was authored by Riordan Roett who claimed it was essential, from the investor point of view, to resolve the Chiapas issue as quickly as possible." 48 hours once the memo was distributed, the Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo ordered a military (counter-insurgency) crackdown on the Zapatista rebels.

Membership

Member Latin American Studies Association (vice president l977, president l978), Council on Foreign Relations, Cosmos Club, University Club.

Connections

Father:

Riordan Roett Junior

Mother:

Marion (Underwood) Roett