Outreaching particle physics to Latin America: CEVALE2VE and the use of ATLAS open data

Particle physics outreach can play a key role in promoting scientific culture and in the modernisation of university education in Latin America. In this context, the CEVALE2VE virtual community (Centro de Altos Estudios de Altas Energías in Spanish) builds collaborative networks with and between Latin American institutions and motivates physics undergraduate and master students to consider a career in scientific research by introducing them to cutting-edge research and tools used in High Energy Physics (HEP). The ATLAS open data project has been fundamental to achieve these goals as one of our main educational tools. As part of its commitment to open access and public engagement the ATLAS experiment has made available a large dataset to the public for the first time in 2016 and CEVALE2VE have been using this dataset for HEP virtual courses and Physics Without Frontiers roadshows. In this contribution we will present the different activities hosted by CEVALE2VE and discuss the importance of using open data and open software to reach strong young students lacking exposure to particle physics research.