Orlando J. Pérez

Orlando J. Pérez is Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Political Science at Central Michigan University. He teaches courses in comparative politics, Latin American politics, and U.S.-Latin American relations. He has carried out field research in Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and Venezuela. As a consultant, he has worked on public opinion surveys, democratization, civil-military relations, and anti-corruption issues for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UN Development Program.

He is a recipient of a grant from the United States Institute of Peace for his project studying the transformation of civil-military relations in post-authoritarian Central America. He is the co-editor (with Richard Millett and Jennifer Holmes) of Latin American Democracy: Emerging Reality or Endangered Species? (2009), and editor of Post-Invasion Panama: The Challenges of Democratization in the New World Order (2000).