Lee Schlenker is a research associate with the Global South program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, where he focuses on Latin America. His research interests include US-Cuba relations, Colombian peace and security issues, counternarcotics, sanctions policy, and regional integration and geopolitics.

Lee has written for Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The Hill, and The Intercept, and been quoted in The New York Times, Financial Times, Associated Press, Newsweek, Los Angeles Times and others. Before joining QI, he served as policy director at the Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect, producer with award-winning media outlet Belly of the Beast, and Cuba program director and Northeast regional director at Witness for Peace. He has conducted research on Latin American political and economic issues at Boston University, Brandeis University, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Columbia University, and Corporación Escenarios. 

Schlenker completed a Masters in Latin American Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College as an Independent Scholar in Latin American Urban Studies. He is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese.