Sara Torres Raisbeck
I’m from Colombia and grew up in the Dominican Republic. I studied International Relations and Latin American Studies at Tufts University, where I was co-founder and president of the Latin American Committee. During my studies, I focused on Latin American political economy, democratization, political history, rentier states, and violence, and wrote my senior honor’s thesis on the role of clientelism in the consolidation, and later collapse, of partyarchy in Venezuela’s Puntofijo period. While studying, I had the opportunity to intern at WOLA and the Wilson Center and be research assistant at the Council on Foreign Relations.
After graduating, I moved to Colombia, where I worked as a Compliance, Forensics, Intelligence Researcher for the Andean region at Control Risks, conducting due diligence investigations, as well as anti-fraud and anti-bribery investigations. Simultaneously, I helped Venezuelan scholar Michael Penfold as his research assistant, researching subjects like Venezuelan civil-military and foreign relations, as well as prospects for re-institutionalization. Then, I became a political risk analysis consultant in Eurasia Group’s Latin America team, covering political risk in Colombia, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Chile; in this role, I had the opportunity to follow Chile’s constitutional process and presidential election, Colombia’s legislative and presidential elections, and Venezuela’s municipal elections. Most recently, I was the Communications Coordinator of Colombia Risk Analysis, a small (yet growing!) political risk consultancy based in Bogotá; in this role I did everything from being the main editor of the team and managing clients, to social media, organizing events, and even co-authoring a report on local perceptions toward Chinese investment in Colombia.
At the LAC, I’m excited to learn more about Latin American state- and nation-building, as well as the role of technology and emerging global actors (like China, GCC and India) in the region’s development. When I’m not reading, you’ll probably find me exploring coffee shops, hiking, or perhaps just dancing some classic Juan Luis Guerra songs.
