LACNIC R&D Ambassadors: Drivers of Internet Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

13/06/2025

LACNIC R&D Ambassadors: Drivers of Internet Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Guillermo Cicileo, Head of Internet Infrastructure Research and Development

Local Voices Are Transforming Internet Infrastructure

A year ago, LACNIC launched the first edition of its Research and Development (R&D) Ambassadors Program with the goal of identifying, training, and supporting new technical leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean. This initiative seeks to strengthen the development of an open, stable, and secure Internet by empowering professionals to become leaders within their local communities.

During LACNIC 43, we welcomed the first cohort of R&D Ambassadors: Andrés Cortés, Celsa Sánchez, Hernán Samaniego, Richard Huchani, and Raitme Citterio. Each ambassador led a technical project in key areas such as Internet measurement, routing, DNSSEC, RPKI, and IPv6, with a strong community-based component.

Chile: Expanding the Measurement Network and Strengthening BGP and RPKI

One of the highlights of the program is the experience of Celsa Sánchez of NIC Chile, who led a project for expanding the RIPE Atlas measurement network and promoting the adoption of BGP, DNSSEC, and RPKI in the country.

“We started with 58 probes and finished with 84, reaching regions where there were previously no probes at all. This represents a 45% increase and marks a turning point in our monitoring capacity,” Sánchez explained.

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Her work also included talks, meetings with providers, and collaboration with universities, combining technology, community, and education.

Costa Rica: Municipal Monitoring and Technical Leadership at the Local Level

The second R&D Ambassador to share his experience was Andrés Cortés, head of the Information Technology Department at the Municipality of Carrillo, in the province of Guanacaste.

Cortés emphasized that, although municipalities are often the last link in the connectivity chain—they are end users of ISPs and IXPs—each actor who is part of the ecosystem has the responsibility to implement best practices and security measures such as IPv6, BGP, and RPKI.

The views expressed by the authors of this blog are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of LACNIC.

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