Do Latin American countries have something to teach the United States about how to defend democracy? Ted Lewis of a San Francisco-based human rights organization says they do.
With the support of two Butte County city council members – Addison Winslow of Chico and Catalina Sanchez of Gridley – plus several Chico organizations, including ChicoSol, Lewis plans to bring Global Exchange’s Defenders of Democracy Roadshow to Chico on Aug. 1.
Roadshow events have already taken place in Midwestern cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, and East Coast cities like New York. The roadshow tour will eventually include 20 U.S. cities, culminating in a binational event in September in El Paso, Texas, and Cd. Juarez, Mexico.
“We wanted to bring the voices from Latin America who have experienced authoritarian regimes and the process of establishing democracy to come talk to the U.S. directly,” Lewis told ChicoSol in a phone interview. “These folks have deep experiences and have lessons to share.
“There’s a real hunger in these communities for honest conversations about politics … It’s very healing.”
Two events in Chico – billed as non-partisan, civic exchange – include a discussion on the state of journalism and democracy with local journalists in the morning and a panel discussion with journalists and activists from abroad in the afternoon.
The afternoon panel, conducted in English and Spanish with professional interpretation, features:
- Omar Gómez Trejo, a Mexican human rights lawyer internationally recognized for his work as special prosecutor in the Ayotzinapa case in Mexico, one of the most emblematic forced disappearance cases in contemporary Latin America;
- Ernesto Ledesma, an investigative journalist and founder of Rompeviento TV, an independent digital platform dedicated to human rights journalism, democratic accountability, and analysis of social movements in Mexico; and
- Mynor Alonzo. a political analyst, strategist, and co-founder of FOCO, a Guatemalan social research organization.
Noting that people in the United States may feel they are facing situations that threaten democracy for the first time, Lewis said, “with the second election of Donald Trump our alarm bells really went off in terms of democracy.”
Gridley Councilmember Sanchez, who will moderate panels in Chico Aug. 1 and in Sacramento Aug. 2, said that as she anticipates the Defenders of Democracy Roadshow, the word “intersectionality” comes to her mind. It was a buzzword a few years ago that she wants to bring back.
“It’s time to have conversations about how it all is connected,” she said, referring to the Constitution, the Supreme Court, the economic system, labor and education. “The event comes at a very critical, and almost vulnerable, point in our community and also in our country.”
Dani Anguiano, local correspondent of The Guardian, Leslie Layton, founding editor of ChicoSol, and Michael Weber, an Enterprise Record reporter, will talk about the current state of journalism and democracy at the Bidwell Bowl Amphitheater beginning at 10 a.m.
There will be a one hour break between that discussion – titled “Journalism at Risk/Periodismo en Peligro” discussion – and the afternoon panel discussion set for 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Chico State’s Behavioral and Social Sciences Building at 230 W. First St.
Lewis, co-executive director of Global Exchange, hatched the idea of bringing Latin American activists to cities in the United States to share their knowledge in May 2025 when attending the Global Exchange Democracies Under Attack conference in Guatemala.
The California Trade Justice Coalition organized the events in Chico and Sacramento. Winslow said Chico organizations supporting the event are the Peace Alliance, Re-Sisters, Democratic Socialists of America, Chico State University’s colleges of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Geography and Environmental Sciences, and ChicoSol.
To register for the free events go to: CHICO (Session 1); CHICO (Session 2); SACRAMENTO.
ChicoSol is a co-sponsor of the Aug. 1 event.