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Draft:Maribel Aponte García

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Maribel Aponte-García

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Maribel Aponte-García is a Puerto Rican economist, professor, and researcher at the Graduate School of Business and the Social Science Research Center of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. She is recognized for coining the concept of New Strategic Regionalism[1] and for developing the Chain–Business–Trade Method[2], both of which have influenced research on regional integration, international trade, and the geopolitics of supply chains in Latin America and the Global South.

Academic Background

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Aponte-García earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she studied under Carmen Diana Deere, Michael H. Best, and the late Julie Graham. At the University of Puerto Rico, Maribel Aponte García teaches international trade, disaster economics, and comparative business systems, and has supervised and published extensively on trade sovereignty, South–South cooperation, and regional development strategies.

Major Contributions

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New Strategic Regionalism

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Aponte-García introduced the concept of New Strategic Regionalism (NSR) in her 2014 book El Nuevo Regionalismo Estratégico, proposing an alternative to neoliberal, market-driven regional integration. Her approach emphasizes regional sovereignty, strategic public enterprises, and multidimensional cooperation in areas such as energy, food, finance, and infrastructure.[3]

In the book, she applied this theory to analyze ALBA-TCP (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America), arguing that it represents a sovereign-oriented integration bloc focused on social development and state-led cooperation. Her framework critiques open regionalism and highlights the role of "Grannational Enterprises" (EGNs) in coordinating production, trade, and resource management.[4]

In her forthcoming chapter in Essays on Global Regionalism (Springer, 2025), she extends NSR to analyze BRICS+, integrating decolonial theory and critical logistics to explore how regional blocs function as geopolitical actors in global governance.

Chain–Business–Trade Method and Early Geopolitical Research

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Aponte-García developed the Chain–Business–Trade Method, a data-based methodology to analyze trade flows, enterprise behavior, and supply chains. First applied to ALBA-TCP in the early 2010s,[5] the method integrates UN Comtrade data, firm structures, and logistical mappings using harmonized system (HS) and Bill of Lading data.

Her 2017 award-winning essay, Integración, geopolítica, recursos naturales y mapeo de cadenas, received first prize in CLACSO’s Ruy Mauro Marini Essay Award.[6] It laid the groundwork for a geopolitical approach to value chains, proposing a methodology for mapping natural resource control, corporate power, and regional responses to transnational extraction.

Her 2024 article in the Russian Journal of Economics[7] further develops this framework by analyzing hydrocarbon trade deflection under sanctions, particularly how Russia redirected oil flows toward BRICS+ countries like India and China, reflecting a shift in trade and financial architectures beyond the Global North.

Research on Sanctions, Trade Deflection, and Critical Logistics

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Aponte-García argues that supply chains are shaped by exclusion, power, and crisis rather than neutral market forces. Her research addresses logistical chokepoints, monetary bypass systems (e.g., BRICS Pay), and South–South strategic infrastructures as pathways for economic sovereignty.

In 2023, she presented her findings at a high-level international seminar in Caracas, speaking alongside Rafael Correa, Ernesto Samper, and Alicia Bárcena on topics such as oil sovereignty, sanctions, and regional integration logistics.

Recognitions and Grants

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  • Listed among the Top 3% of scientists in Latin America and in the Top 200 globally in international trade, according to the AD Scientific Index (2021–2024).
  • First woman economist in Puerto Rico to receive the Recognition Award from the Association of Economists of Puerto Rico (AEPR), 2023.
  • Winner of the Ruy Mauro Marini Essay Prize (First Place), CLACSO, 2016.
  • Director of the research initiative Value and Supply Chains in International Trade, recognized by CLACSO, ECLAC, and the Puerto Rico Science and Technology Trust.
  • Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) of the project Access to Food: Between History, Memory, and Food Security in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and the World (2025–2026), funded by the Puerto Rico Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation, in collaboration with Dr. Libia González.

Selected Publications

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  • Aponte-García, M. (2025, forthcoming). New Strategic Regionalism, South–South Cooperation and Decolonial/DeWesternization Approaches: Theorization from the South with Applications to ALBA-TCP and BRICS. In Essays on Global Regionalism. Springer.
  • Aponte-García, M. (2024). "Hydrocarbon Trade Deflection and Supply Chain Restructuring Under Sanctions." Russian Journal of Economics, 10(3), 299–318. https://doi.org/10.32609/j.ruje.10.125317
  • Aponte-García, M. (2017). "Integración, geopolítica, recursos naturales y mapeo de cadenas." In Giller, D. et al. (Eds.), Desafíos, perspectivas y horizontes de la integración en América Latina y el Caribe (pp. 257–342). CLACSO. Available here
  • Aponte-García, M. (2014). El Nuevo Regionalismo Estratégico: Los primeros diez años del ALBA-TCP. CLACSO. Full text
  • Aponte-García, M., Quiñones-Domínguez, M., & Feliciano-Cestero, M. (2023). Economía posdesastres y desarrollo: Voces de las mujeres economistas de Puerto Rico. CLACSO. Online access

References

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  1. ^ Aponte García, Maribel (2014). El Nuevo Regionalismo Estratégico: Los primeros diez años del ALBA-TCP (PDF) (1 ed.). Buenos Aires, Argentina: CLACSO.
  2. ^ Aponte García, Maribel (2017). "Integración, geopolítica, recursos naturales y mapeo de cadenas.". In Giller, D; et al. (eds.). Desafíos, perspectivas y horizontes de la integración en América Latina y el Caribe (PDF). pp. 257–342.
  3. ^ Aponte García, Maribel (2014). El Nuevo Regionalismo Estratégico: Los primeros diez años del ALBA-TCP (PDF) (1 ed.). Buenos Aires, Argentina: CLACSO.
  4. ^ Aponte García, Maribel (2014). El Nuevo Regionalismo Estratégico: Los primeros diez años del ALBA-TCP (PDF) (1 ed.). Buenos Aires, Argentina: CLACSO.
  5. ^ Aponte García, Maribel (2014). El Nuevo Regionalismo Estratégico: Los primeros diez años del ALBA-TCP (PDF) (1 ed.). Buenos Aires, Argentina: CLACSO.
  6. ^ Aponte García, Maribel (2017). "Integración, geopolítica, recursos naturales y mapeo de cadenas.". In Giller, D; et al. (eds.). Desafíos, perspectivas y horizontes de la integración en América Latina y el Caribe (PDF). pp. 257–342.
  7. ^ Aponte García, Maribel (2024). "Hydrocarbon Trade Deflection and Supply Chain Restructuring Under Sanctions". Russian Journal of Economics. 10 (3): 299–318. doi:10.32609/j.ruje.10.125317.
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