Monday | August 25, 2025
Spanish:
English:
This is the third in a series of ASI’s virtual dialogue sessions on Defending Democracy: How to Stop a Backsliding Democracy. In this session, co-sponsored by the AFT and Internacional de la Educatión América Latina (IEAL), leaders experienced with hands-on organizing and mobilizing from education unions in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Honduras, were questioned by AFT leaders on the tactics and political muscle that sustain the scale of the democracy movement throughout the continent.
Panelists:
Sonia Alesso, President, Internacional de la Educatión América Latina (IEAL)
Evelyn DeJesus, Executive Vice President, AFT; Board Director, Albert Shanker Institute
Mary Cathryn Ricker, Executive Director, Albert Shanker Institute
J. Phillipe Abraham, Secretary-Treasurer, NYSUT
Mario Aguilar, President, CPCP, Chile
Kathy Chavez, Executive Vice President, AFT New Mexico
Luis Daniel Fonseca, President, COLPROSUMAH, Honduras
Karla Hernandez-Mats, AFT Vice President, Florida
Isabel Olaya, Vice President, Internacional de la Educatióon América Latina (IEAL)
Juan Ramirez, Executive Vice President, California Federation of Teachers
Victor Bonilla Sanchez, President, Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico; Vice President, AFT
Moderator: Mark Feierstein, senior Latin American policy advisor, Clinton and Obama-Biden Administrations; former Acting Deputy Administrator of USAID