Class XXI (2023-2024)

5. Natalia Suarez Viatela

Natalia Suárez Viatela is a woman committed to crime prevention and peacebuilding in Colombia since 2011. She studied Government and International Relations at the Universidad Externado de Colombia. She completed her last semester at the Institut d'Études Politiques, Sciences Po, Bordeaux, France.

She worked for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Colombia for seven years supporting the Terrorism Prevention Branch and the Global Programme against Money Laundering. In 2017, she contributed to the design of the Illicit Finance Strategy as an anti-money laundering specialist in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the US Embassy in Bogotá.

Since 2016, she has been contributing to implementing the FARC Peace Agreement as a volunteer with Embrace Dialogue. She worked for two years supporting the reincorporation process of former FARC combatants (2019). Her recent work includes research for the Global Mine Action Programme 'Exploring the potential of Mine Action in stabilisation and peacebuilding contexts, Colombia case study', facilitating dialogues for the United States Institute of Peace in areas affected by the armed conflict, supporting the Truth Commission's 'Community of Pedagogical Practices for Truth, Memory and Non-Repetition', doing peace pedagogy in schools and promoting partnerships and initiatives related to peace education.