Bernardo Sepulveda
Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico (1982-1988)
Professor of International Law and International Organizations at El Colegio de México since 1967, where he is an Associate Researcher. Deputy Director of Legal Affairs, Secretary of the Presidency of the Mexican Government (1968-1970); Director of the External Investment Program (1971-1975) and Director General of Foreign Affairs (1976-1980) at the Secretariat of the National Treasury. Principal Advisor on International Affairs to the Secretariat of the Budget (1981). Ambassador of Mexico to the United States (1982). Ambassador of Mexico to the United Kingdom and, simultaneously, to Ireland (1989-1993).

Isabel Soares
President of the Mário Soares and Maria Barroso Foundation
Director of Colégio Moderno and president of the Board of Directors of the Mário Soares and Maria Barroso Foundation.

Bruno Figueroa
Ambassador of Mexico to Portugal
Graduated in International Relations from The College of Mexico, and a Master in Public Administration from the National School of Administration in France, has disseminated Mexican foreign policy through courses, conferences and publications. He is a career diplomat and ambassador since 2011. His most recent positions include: Alternate Representative to the OECD; Director General of International Cooperation for Development; Ambassador of Mexico to South Korea. He is a Doctor Honoris Causa from Shinhan University (Korea) and Commander of the Legion of Honor of France.

Victor Ramalho
Consultant to the Civil House of the President of the Republic (1986-1996)
Graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon. He has held several public and civil society positions, including Secretary of State for Labour, consultant to the Civil Household of the President of the Republic, President of the National Group of the Forum of Portuguese-Speaking Parliamentarians, Secretary-General of the Union of Portuguese-Speaking Capital Cities. He was co-organiser of the 1st Congress of Angolan Professionals Abroad and president of the Academic Association of the Faculty of Law of Lisbon (1969). He is currently one of the five Personalities of Recognized Merit of the Economic and Social Council (CES).

Moderator
Peter Lamb
With a degree in Language and Knowledge Engineering from the University of Lisbon, he worked in this area before enrolling in a Master's in Journalism at the newspaper El País/Universidade Autónoma de Madrid. After internships at Público and Tempo magazine, he worked at Courrier Internacional from its founding in 2005 until its sale by Impresa in 2017. He joined Expresso in 2009, where he has been editor of the International section since 2018. A father of four daughters and a Benfica fan, he teaches Political Science at Colégio Moderno and does translations.

Testimony (video)

Felipe Gonzalez
Secretary General of the PSOE (1974-1997), President of the Government of Spain (1982-1996)

A prominent figure in the democratic transition in Spain, he was the third prime minister in a democracy at the end of the 1970s, having served four terms in thirteen and a half years (1982 and 1996), being the president who remained in office for the longest time.

Spain's modernization and full integration into Europe occurred during his years in government, among others. Although he has retired from politics, the former president remains active in various current affairs in Europe and Latin America.

Participants

John Torres

Vice President of the Socialist International

Master in Civil Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Elected Member of Parliament in the 13th and 15th legislatures for the Porto constituency, he is Vice-President of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party. He is a full member of the European Affairs Committee and a substitute member of the National Defence Committee. He was Secretary-General of the Socialist Youth between 2012 and 2016. He is Deputy Secretary-General of the Socialist Party.

Bernd Rother

Willy Brandt Foundation

He studied history and political science. In 1984 he completed his doctorate with a thesis on the Portuguese Socialist Party. He was a fellow of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (1986–1988), a research associate at the Institute for Social History, Bonn (1988–1990) and a research associate and deputy executive director of the Willy Brandt Foundation, Berlin (1999–2000). He was a member (2007–2018) and vice-chairman (2013–2018) of the Historical Commission of the SPD Party Executive. He has been a member of the SPD History Forum since February 2019.

Mariano Schuster

New Society Magazine

Editor of the digital platform of the magazine Nueva Sociedad. He was editor-in-chief of the Argentine socialist publications La Vanguardia and Nueva Revista Socialista. He collaborates with media outlets such as Letras Libres and Le Monde diplomatique, among others.

Ana Monica Fonseca

Director CEI-ISCTE

Professor at the Department of History and, since 2022, Director of the Center for International Studies at ISCTE. Since January 2021, she has been Director of the Master's Degree in Modern and Contemporary History. She was Deputy Director of the Master's Degree in International Studies (2019-2023) and is an integrated researcher at the Center for International Studies at ISCTE (CEI-IUL). She holds a PhD in Modern and Contemporary History (2011) from the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), received an Honorable Mention from the Vítor de Sá Prize for Contemporary History (2012) and an Honorable Mention from the Mário Soares Foundation-EDP Prize (2012).

moderator
Nancy Elena Ferreira Gomes,
Director of the Chair of Ibero-American Studies OEI-UAL
PhD in International Relations (IR) from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Master in IR from ISCSP of the University of Lisbon. Degree in International Studies from the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the Central University of Venezuela. Associate Professor at UAL, where she has taught since 1995. She is currently Coordinator of the Advanced Course in Studies on Latin America, organized by the Department of International Relations of UAL and the Institute of National Defense. Researcher at the Center for International Studies of ISCTE-IUL, and at OBSERVARE, specializing in Ibero-American Affairs.

Participants

Cristina Manzano

Director of External Relations of SEGIB

Director of External Relations of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). She has developed her career in the management of organizations and the generation of content. As a journalist, she has been a regular contributor to newspapers such as El País and El Periódico de Catalunya, as well as to audiovisual media such as RTVE and Cadena SER. She regularly participates in meetings on international relations, with a special focus on the management of globalization and global governance, European foreign policy and Spanish foreign policy. She is a member of the Spanish Council of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), of the Scientific Committee of CIDOB and of the Board of Directors of the NGO Alianza por la Solidaridad/Action Aid. She is a member of the boards of directors of the Spanish section of the Club of Rome and the Club of Madrid. She is the editorial coordinator of the magazine Pensamiento Iberoamericano, published by the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). Master's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland (College Park, USA), and a degree in Information Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid.

Rachel Patrick
Professor at the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon
PhD in International Relations from the Institute of International Relations of the University of Brasília. Associate Professor at ISCSP/ULisboa. Her research areas are: foreign policy, Latin American studies (especially Brazilian Foreign Policy), International Relations theory and International Politics, as well as Introduction to International Relations.

Nancy Elena Ferreira Gomes
Director of the Chair of Ibero-American Studies OEI-UAL
PhD in International Relations (IR) from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Master in IR from ISCSP of the University of Lisbon. Degree in International Studies from the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the Central University of Venezuela. Associate Professor at UAL, where she has taught since 1995. She is currently Coordinator of the Advanced Course in Studies on Latin America, organized by the Department of International Relations of UAL and the Institute of National Defense. Researcher at the Center for International Studies of ISCTE-IUL, and at OBSERVARE, specializing in Ibero-American Affairs.

Ricardo Victoria
National Coordinator of the Ibero-American Conference
Graduated in International Relations from the Institute of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP) of the Technical University of Lisbon; Master in International Economics from the Higher Institute of Economics and Management of the same university; Assistant Professor at the Catholic University (1999-2001); passed the entrance exam for the position of Embassy Attaché, opened on June 5, 1997. He served as a diplomat in Madrid, Berlin, at the Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels, Luanda and, again in Berlin as Deputy Head of Mission. He was Director of Services for the Americas, integrated in the General Directorate of Foreign Policy, Vice-President of the Board of Directors of Camões – Institute for Cooperation and Language, IP and, currently, Deputy Director-General of Foreign Policy and National Coordinator of the Ibero-American Conference.

Moderator
Paulo Neves
President of IPDAL

Born in Funchal, Madeira Island. Married. Father of one daughter and two sons. President of IPDAL – Institute for the Promotion of Latin America and the Caribbean. Member of the Portuguese National Assembly (Member of the Committees for Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities and for the Economy). He was a professor of Higher Education in the area of Communication. He was a journalist in the areas of Politics and Economics. He trained in the areas of Journalism, International Relations, Organizational Behavior and Psychology. He was Honorary Consul of São Tomé and Príncipe. 

Participants
Carlos Gaspar
Full Professor UAL

Visiting Full Professor, Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa. Researcher at the Portuguese Institute of International Relations of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (IPRI NOVA). Advisor to the National Defense Institute. Advisor to the Board of Directors of the Fundação Oriente. Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Member of the Board of Advisors of the Real Instituto Elcano. Member of the Portuguese Association of Political Science. He was a Member of the Civil Household of the President of the Republic (1977-2006), Visiting Full Professor at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Director of IPRI NOVA. Author of The Post-Cold War (2016); The Balance of Europe (2017); Raymond Aron and the Cold War (2018); The Return of Anarchy (2019); The World of Tomorrow (2020); The End of Europe (2022); and Return to Europe (2025).

Ana Paula Zacarias
Director of the Diplomatic Institute (ID)

Graduated in Cultural Anthropology from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, where she was an assistant until 1985. She entered the diplomatic career in 1983, having held several positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: State Protocol Service (1984-1985); Information and Press Office (1996-1998); Instituto Camões (1998-2000), where she was Vice-President. Consultant for International Relations at the Civil House of the President of the Republic (1986-1988). She served at the Portuguese Embassy in Washington (1988-1993); Portuguese Consulate in Curitiba, Brazil (1993-1996); Portuguese Mission to UNESCO as Deputy Permanent Representative (2000-2005), Ambassador of Portugal in Tallinn (2005-2008) and Deputy Permanent Representative of Portugal to the European Union (2009-2011). She was Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation in Brazil (2011-2015) and in Colombia and Ecuador (2015-2017). Appointed Secretary of State for European Affairs (2017-2022). Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations (2022-2024). Since September 2024, she has been Director of the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Andres Malamud,
Principal Investigator Center for Social Studies – UL
Principal researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon. He holds a degree in political science from the University of Buenos Aires and a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence. He has been a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg and the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a regular guest professor at universities in Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Mexico and Portugal.

Cátia Miriam Costa
CEI-ISCTE Researcher
She holds a degree in International Relations and a Master’s degree in African Studies from ISCSP – University of Lisbon, and a PhD in Literature from the University of Évora. She is a researcher at the Center for International Studies (ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa) and a visiting assistant professor at ISCTE-IUL. She is a visiting professor at the University of Macau and the University of Granada, where she is also co-coordinator of the Asian Studies Lab. She is Director of the Chair of Interregionalism and Global Governance (University of Stockholm/University of Salamanca). She has coordinated and been a researcher in scientific projects funded by the European Commission, CYTED – Ibero-American Science and Technology for Development Program and the Foundation for Science and Technology.

Moderator
Filipe Vasconcelos Romao
UAL Lecturer and International Affairs Commentator

Assistant professor at UAL and visiting professor at ORT University in Uruguay. Integrated researcher at OBSERVARE. International policy commentator for Antena 1 and RTP. President of the South Atlantic Chamber of Commerce and consultant for the internationalization of companies in Latin American markets. Honorary Consul of Ecuador in Lisbon. PhD in International Relations (University of Coimbra).

Participants
Francisco Aldecoa Luzarraga
President of the Spanish Federal Council of the European Movement, Jean Monet Chair

A university professor, he has dedicated his entire life to the study of European integration. He is a professor of International Relations at the UPV-EHU (1988-2000) and the UCM (2000-present), and has been a Jean Monnet Professor ad personam since 1995. Since June 2018, he has been president of the Spanish Federal Council of the European Movement (CFEME). Over the more than 45 years of his full and exclusive dedication to the public university, he has taught many of his subjects in the field of European integration. He has also published several books on the EU.

Ramon Jauregui
President of the Euroamerica Foundation
President of the Fundación Euroamérica since June 2019. i Minister of the Presidency of the Spanish Government (2010-2011), MEP (2009-2010 and 2014-2019), presiding over the Parliamentary Assembly of EUROLAT. Member of the Spanish Parliament (Cortes Españolas) (2000-2009 and 2011-2014). He was Vice-President of the Basque Government (1987-1990) and Minister of Justice, Economy and Labour in the same government (1994-1997). In his organic positions as leader of the PSOE, he was leader of the Basque Socialists, member of the Executive Committee of the PSOE and member of its Federal Committee. He was a visiting professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid and has given numerous lectures on various topics at different universities and institutions. Frequent columnist in various media outlets: El Correo, El País, Letras Libres and many others.

Carlos Quenan
Vice President of the Institute of the Americas
Professor of Economics at IHEAL- Université Sorbonne Nouvelle. He holds a Master’s degree in “Money, Finance and Banking” and a PhD in Economics from the University of Grenoble Alpes. He is the author of several books, book chapters, articles, academic studies and reports on international economic relations, the macroeconomics of emerging countries, mainly in Latin America, and public policies in economics and education. He is currently vice-president of the Institute of the Americas, and senior advisor to France Education International (FEI), the international cooperation agency of the French Ministry of Education (MEN).

Moderator
Peter Lamb
Journalist
He holds a degree in Language and Knowledge Engineering from the University of Lisbon, where he worked before enrolling in a Master's in Journalism at the newspaper El País/Universidade Autónoma de Madrid. After internships at Público and Tempo magazine, he worked at Courrier Internacional from its founding in 2005 until its sale by Impresa in 2017. He joined Expresso in 2009, where he has been editor of the International section since 2018. He teaches Political Science at Colégio Moderno and does translations.