Democracy is under attack.
Not as a metaphor. Not as a talking point. As a fact, visible right now, in this country, in this moment. Institutions are being dismantled. Courts are being defied. Journalists are being targeted. Communities are living in fear. The rights of millions are being stripped away by executive fiat.
This is not a new story. Across Latin America, civic leaders have watched this pattern before. The consolidation of power. The weaponization of fear. The assault on the independent institutions that make self-governance possible. Many of them fought back. Some of them won.
They have something essential to teach us. And in the spring of 2025, as the full weight of what was unfolding in this country became clear, we went to find them.
On the shores of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, Global Exchange convened 140 activists, organizers, Indigenous leaders, and democracy defenders from across the Americas for a gathering called Democracies Under Attack: From Crisis to Strategy. We chose Guatemala deliberately. It is a country that knows both the devastation of authoritarianism and the tenacity of people who refuse to be crushed by it. The conversations that happened there were urgent, clear-eyed, and full of hard-won knowledge that most Americans have not yet had access to.
Democracy Defenders Roadshow | June-Sept 2026
Launching in Minneapolis this June, Global Exchange is bringing experienced democracy defenders from across Latin America into direct dialogue with communities throughout the United States. These are not theorists or diplomats. They are civic leaders, journalists, human rights advocates, and community organizers who have defended participation, accountability, and democratic norms under real pressure. And held.
They know how it unfolds. They know what it fears. And they know, because they have done it, that it can be stopped.
From June through September, the Roadshow will travel coast to coast, stopping in communities large and small for public forums, community exchanges, and strategy sessions. The kind of honest, grounded conversations that movements are built from.
The Democracy Defenders Roadshow website is now live:
https://globalexchange.org/
There, you can learn more about the Roadshow, explore resources and featured videos from the leaders who will be traveling to the United States, and find upcoming events as registration becomes available.
Featured voices include:
• Lucía Vijil (Honduras) — researcher and defender of Honduran democracy affiliated with CESPAD
• Dayana Mosquera (Colombia) — Global Exchange consultant and policy analyst
• Alí Bantú Ashanti (Colombia) — lawyer, human rights defender, and strategist with Colectivo Justicia Racial
• Ernesto Ledesma (Mexico) — investigative journalist and founder of Rompeviento TV
• Mynor Alonzo (Guatemala) — political analyst, strategist, and co-founder of FOCO
• Elena Gutiérrez (Mexico) — Global Exchange Mexico-US Program Director
• Alberto Solís Castro (Mexico) — Peacebuilder and human rights specialist
• Omar Gómez (Mexico) — Human rights lawyer
Watch the Meet the Defenders videos
We are excited to share a new video series where each speaker introduces themselves, their regional context, and the work they are bringing to the Roadshow.
Meet the defenders and watch all the videos here. If the Roadshow is coming to your area, we invite you to sign up and join us. If you know people in one of the communities we will be visiting, please share the event with them. These conversations are meant to travel through relationships, networks, and communities of people who understand what is at stake.
We will also be sharing updates, speaker content, event announcements, and reflections from the road through Global Exchange’s social media channels.
Here is what we know: democracy does not defend itself. We defend it, together, in community, through relationships built across every line that power tries to draw between us.
The people joining us this summer have already proven that. They stood up when it was costly. They built coalitions when it felt impossible. They protected the vote, the press, the courts, the streets. And they held.
Now it is our turn. And we do not have to start from zero.
We are looking for host partners who want to bring this conversation to their community. Civic organizations, universities, faith communities, worker and immigrant groups, coalitions working on democratic participation, human rights, or community safety.
Democracy is under attack. The defenders are mobilizing. Join us.