Antonio Mercader, Uruguay's ambassador to the Organization of American States, will give a lecture at Cornell on Monday, April 28, at 4:30 p.m. in Room G-08 Uris Hall.

The free and public lecture is titled "El Futuro de la Democracia en America Latina" and will be given in Spanish with English translation.

"The OAS is a key political entity for developing strategy regarding issues in the Americas," said Mary Jo Dudley, associate director of Cornell's Latin American Studies Program, which is sponsoring the lecture. "We hope that Ambassador Mercader will address some of the critical issues related to democratization in the Americas, such as the hostage crisis in Peru, the development of trade agreements and restitution of land disputes."

Before becoming his country's ambassador to the OAS, a nearly 50-year-old intergovernmental organization based in Washington, D.C., Mercader was Uruguay's minister of education and culture and president of the InterAmerican Committee on Science, Education and Culture of the OAS. He has a law degree and is a former Fulbright Fellow.

For more information about Mercader's lecture, call the Latin American Studies Program at (607) 255-3345.