LACIGF Program Committee

Initially promoted by just three organizations, this process immediately began to attract new sponsors and gain the community's trust and attention. Once the space had been consolidated, it was necessary to formalize a coordination mechanism that would transcend the founding organizations, guarantee the representation of all sectors involved, and ensure the forum's continuity and sustainability.

Thus, the forum's Program Committee was created, a multistakeholder coordination group comprising representatives of the various actors and aimed at managing the process in representation of the Latin American and Caribbean community.

The Program Committee is the forum's general coordination body and is made up by 2 members appointed by each of the following interest groups:

  • Regional organizations representing the private sector.
  • Latin American and Caribbean government representatives, appointed according to the eLAC follow-up mechanism.
  • Civil Society organizations.
  • Regional organizations representing the technical Internet community.

Each sector plans its own course of action and selects its representatives based on its own criteria.

This year, the 2015 Program Committee is made up as follows:

Government Representatives:

  • Argentine Republic / Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Olga Cavalli
  • Federal Republic of Brazil / Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty): Pedro Ivo Ferraz da Silva.
  • Uruguay: Alejandra Erramuspe.
  • Mexico: Víctor Martínez, Federal Telecommunications Institute.
  • Cuba: Manuel Cabrera Rojas, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Office.
  • Ecuador: Gabriela García Merchán, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility.

Private Sector Representatives:

  • AHCIET (the Ibero-American Association of Telecommunication Companies): Andrés Sastre.
  • ECOMLAC (the Latin American and Caribbean Federation for Internet and Electronic Commerce): Ana Lucía Lenis.

Civil Society Representatives:

  • APC (the Association for Progressive Communications): Valeria Betancourt and Cristiana Gonzalez.
  •  AGEIA DENSI Argentina: Fátima Cambronero.
  • NGO Digital Rights: Claudio Ruiz.
  •  ADC (the Civil Rights Association): Valeria Milanes.

Representatives of the Technical Internet Community:

  • LACTLD (the Association of Latin American and Caribbean ccTLD Administrators): Carolina Aguerre.
  • Internet Society: Sebastián Bellagamba.

The current Program Committee has begun discussions to establish mechanisms for deciding the Committee's composition and how its members will be renewed. These discussions are open to the entire regional community and the mechanisms are expected to be approved during this year's LACIGF meeting. Among other aspects, these mechanisms should establish number of members representing each stakeholder group and the process for their selection and renewal, as well as the Committee's attributions.

In addition to appointing the Program Committee, it was also necessary to assign the role of Secretariat in order to have a stable structure that would support the process over the years and to cooperate with meeting logistics in close consultation with the Program Committee.

The Secretariat has been entrusted to the Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACNIC), one of the three process's three founding organizations.