Research Affiliates | Center of Complex Interventions https://centerofci.org/ Helping Communities Translate Science Into Action Mon, 17 Oct 2022 13:44:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.1 https://centerofci.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cropped-CCI-32x32.png Research Affiliates | Center of Complex Interventions https://centerofci.org/ 32 32 Jose Arocha https://centerofci.org/team/jose-arocha/ Tue, 04 Oct 2022 06:30:07 +0000 https://centerofci.org/?post_type=person#038;p=2372 José Gustavo Arocha is a national security expert, specialized in analyzing civil-military relations, violent conflicts, complex systems, and counter-transnational organized crime. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Venezuelan Army, having fled his home country in 2015 after confronting the totalitarian regime. Living in the United States, Mr. Arocha has testified multiple times before the Organization of American States. He has briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department about the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.

Mr. Arocha has published articles in The Hill, Harvard Kennedy School Latin America Policy Journal, and the American Foreign Policy Council.

He graduated with full honors in 1990 from Venezuela’s Military Academy, being the highest scoring officer in his promotion group when he ascended to captain in 1998. Following his forced resignation from the Venezuelan Army in 2009, Mr. Arocha founded a political consultancy, GeoFenix, that provided strategic advice and logistical services to high-profile Venezuelan dissidents and regime critics. In 2014, he was detained by Venezuelan regime security services under false treason charges. He was imprisoned for eight months without trial, kept in solitary confinement, and tortured in an underground prison known as “La Tumba.” Since escaping captivity in March 2015, he has resided in the United States.

Mr. Arocha received his Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University in 2018. He is an Edward S. Mason Fellow and a postgraduate degree in Organizational Development at Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (UCAB) in Venezuela in 2003.

]]> Ariel Ekblaw https://centerofci.org/team/ariel-ekblaw/ Wed, 12 Oct 2022 12:42:20 +0000 https://centerofci.org/?post_type=team#038;p=2598 Ariel Ekblaw brings an interdisciplinary approach to her work at CCI, bridging “extreme environments” between Earth and Space. She advises the climate change mitigation, adaptation, and geoengineering research areas for CCI. Outside CCI, she is the founder and Director of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative and leads a space architecture research portfolio. Her work aims to create new technologies and explore systems-level impact to empower humans in resource-constrained environments.

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