Rebecca Hanson advances scholarship on crime and Venezuela

Timely research topics and expert analysis define year of fellowships, book projects, and public scholarship

The past academic year hasn’t exactly resembled routine for Center faculty Rebecca Hanson: in the fall, she was the Peggy Rockefeller Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; in the spring, she was a visiting fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. During the year away, she published one book and began developing another, in between the usual lectures, seminars, and other activities of a visiting scholar. “It was so valuable to connect with scholars and students who are working on similar issues, in an almost incubator-like setting,” Dr. Hanson shares. “There were a lot of consistent, intense conversations about the topics I'm interested in, like authoritarianism, security, and violence.”

These topics are at the center of much of Dr. Hanson’s recent work on Venezuela, whether in her fellowship presentations, her latest book (Policing the Revolution: The Transformation of Coercive Power and Venezuela's Security Landscape During Chavismo) or her upcoming book project examining the country’s authoritarian consolidation under Nicolás Maduro. Dr. Hanson emphasizes that the uniqueness of the Venezuelan case makes it an important addition to scholarship on authoritarianism: while we tend to think about the centralization of coercive power, the Venezuelan context is characterized by decentralization. In short, coercive power was dispersed among multiple state and nonstate armed groups. “This is absolutely crucial to understanding how authoritarianism operates in the country,” says Dr. Hanson. “I hope my work corrects some longheld misconceptions about the Venezuelan case that have been circulating for a long time.”

Misconceptions about Venezuela have only become more salient in past year, as the U.S. government designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua a “transnational criminal organization” and a “foreign terrorist organization.” In March 2025, after the Trump administration invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, 238 Venezuelan immigrants were deported to El Salvador. The administration claimed that the deportees had ties to Tren de Aragua without substantiating evidence.

Equipped with over a decade of data to dispel myths about Tren de Aragua, Dr. Hanson has penned two articles for The Conversation, appeared on the NPR Podcast “On Point,” coauthored an op-ed for The New York Times, and been quoted in news items for Reuters and USA Today to challenge ideas about the group’s presence in the U.S. “Policies are being implemented based on hyperbolic political discourse, poor police reporting, and a few salacious cases that whip up fear in the media,” she states. “It really shows why rigorous, empirical academic research is so important.”

As Dr. Hanson prepares to return to Gainesville, it’s clear that despite the year's changes in routine, the core values of her academic life have remained constant: empirical scholarly research, intellectual exchange, public scholarship—and of course, teaching, which she'll resume in the fall at UF. “I'm always inspired by the MALAS students and their interests. Our cohorts are always so special,” she reflects. “I'm really looking forward to being back in that environment, interacting with them and supporting them in their research.” ◆