02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Emerging young voices in independent media from Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation, and Armenia discussed the common challenges they face while reporting within their home countries and across the region.
03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Ronald J. Deibert and Xiao Qiang discussed the multifaceted challenges posed by sharpening levels of online polarization and manipulation, new threats to individual rights and privacy in the digital space, the tension between the business model of social media companies and their responsibilities to democratic societies, and authoritarian efforts to diffuse digital technologies of surveillance and control.
09:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Launched in 2005 by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez ostensibly as a means to foster regional development in Central America and the Caribbean, the Petrocaribe program injected an estimated $28 billion into 14 beneficiary countries. However, the disbursement of the funds and their use by local governments was opaque and often mismanaged, and served to buy the diplomatic loyalty that has shielded the Chávez/Maduro regime from greater international opprobrium.
