About Us

Second Floor Strategies LLC was founded by Wilder Alejandro Sánchez in 2021, the firm's President. After working on international defense and security issues in Washington DC for almost 20 years, the capital of global politics, Mr. Sánchez decided to found Second Floor Strategies LLC in order to provide his clients with more personalized and professional services and solutions.  On the Second Floor, the light is always on.

Mr.  Sánchez is an analyst who focuses on geopolitics, trade, defense &  security issues across the Western Hemisphere, Eastern Europe, and  Central Asia.

His research interests include:

• Weapons transfers in the Western Hemisphere and other regions
• U.S. security and defense cooperation and operations in the Western Hemisphere
• The current and future projects of Latin American defense industries
• The role of various Latin American, Moldovan, and Kazakhstani militaries in peacekeeping operations
• The rising use of unmanned aerial vehicles for defense, security, and civilian activities in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Inter-state tensions (e.g., border disputes, disputes over maritime resources)
• Separatism issues (e.g., Moldova and the breakaway region of Transnistria)
• The past, present and future of narco-insurgent movements and drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere
• Commercial and investment arbitration in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Central Asia

He is a writer for Breaking Defense, Janes, and Shephard Media. He  is also a member of the Center for International Maritime Security  (CIMSEC), where he publishes a column titled “The Southern Tide,” where  he discusses maritime security issues relating to Latin America and the  Caribbean. His work also regularly appears in e-International  Relations, International Policy Digest, Geopolitical Monitor, The Diplomat, and The National Interest, among others. 

Mr. Sánchez is a non-resident Senior Associate at the Americas Program, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also a non-resident research associate at the research center Expediente Abierto.

His analyses have appeared in numerous refereed journals, including the SAIS Review of International Affairs, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Defence Studies, Polar Journal, the Journal of Slavic Military Studies, European Security, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and Perspectivas. He has published book chapters on topics like “The Architectonics of Bolivia’s Foreign Policy,” published in Latin American Foreign Policies Between Ideology and Pragmatism.  Among his book chapters are a co-authored analysis about separatism in  Moldova and an essay on economic diversification in Kazakhstan. 

He has appeared in different media outlets like KazInform, The Epoch Times, Global Finance Magazine, Toronto Star, New Internationalist, Russia Today, Al Jazeera, Fusion, BBC, Le Figaro, El Comercio (Peru), Opera Mundi (Brazil), and the Washington Diplomat, among others.

Mr.  Sánchez’s presentations include a presentation about the role of Latin American and Caribbean militaries in humanitarian assistance & disaster relief operations at the National Defense University’s William J. Perry Center (formerly the Center for  Hemispheric Defense Studies). During a workshop organized by Florida International University’s Applied Research Center, he also discussed Peru’s strategic culture. He also discussed Russia’s  influence in the Caribbean at an “off the record”  workshop organized by the Institute of National Strategic Studies at the  National Defense University in Washington D.C. Additionally, he has given presentations at the Inter-American Defense College, CIMSEC’s Forum of  Authors and Readers, Hudson Institute, the Colombian National Police,  and the Colombian Navy, as well as to university classes at William  Patterson University, American University, Miami University (Ohio), the  Washington Center, among others.

 Mr.  Sánchez holds a Master’s degree in International Peace and Conflict  Resolution from American University’s School of International Service.  He has attended the Institute of World Politics, Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and studied in  Austria, Belgium, and France. He also studied at the National Defense University’s William J. Perry Center (formerly the Center for  Hemispheric Defense Studies) in Washington, DC.

His personal blog, Geopolitics, has a comprehensive list of his publications.