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On Aug. 21-23, AFT leaders joined union leaders from across the Americas in Cañete, Peru, for the VII Latin America Pedagogical Movement Summit organized by Education International Latin America Region. The conference focused on challenges to public education across multiple borders, and involved educators from Central and South America, the Caribbean and Portugal who shared strategies and solutions to mounting challenges in our education systems, whether they are in Washington, D.C., Santiago, Chile, or a small village in Honduras.
Days later, leaders convened again with Latin American unionists, this time for a virtual dialogue exploring the threat of authoritarianism, privatization and economic inequality and exchanging strategies for resistance and solidarity.
Education in Latin America: Teachers fighting for justice
At the EI Summit, AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus joined a panel of guests to help anchor the summit’s themes. She discussed the treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers in the United States and the massive deportations being carried out here, warning of threats to democracy and linking them to global authoritarian trends. DeJesus emphasized that teachers unions—whether in Lima, Peru; Bogotá, Colombia or New York City—are guardians of democracy, and underscored the AFT’s position as a partner in the fight for education, labor rights and democratic freedoms.
Speakers and presenters agreed: Without strong public education, there is no democracy; and without strong unions, there is no defense of education.
But the struggle is real. In Argentina, Chile, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Uruguay, reports of repression, restricted bargaining rights and the criminalization of strikes are particularly troubling. In Colombia, teachers are mobilizing against austerity and violence. In Peru, they have won some important battles regarding pension reform and have successfully fought political attacks.
Working groups of participants focused on six priorities:
- Protect public education by resisting privatization and ensuring equitable funding.
- Elevate the teaching profession by defending pensions, salaries and dignity.
- Increase union member engagement by growing leadership, diversifying outreach tactics and engaging new teachers in the union movement.
- Strengthen community ties.
- Defend democracy and unite against authoritarianism, neoliberalism and repression.
- Advance justice, including gender equality, Indigenous inclusion and equity.
DeJesus reminded delegates during the closing plenary of two key points: Democracy is never finished, and must be defended every day; and joy is an act of resistance. Throughout the meeting, participants were reminded that educators are not just teachers, but also defenders of democracy and protectors of cultural heritage.
Solidarity across borders
That theme was echoed at a virtual discussion Aug. 25. The third in the “Defending Democracy: How to Stop a Backsliding Democracy” series organized by the Albert Shanker Institute, AFT International Affairs Department and in partnership with Education International Latin America Region, the session featured international leaders discussing Latin American resistance to authoritarianism.
The unique exchange between AFT vice presidents who are Latino and Latin America union leaders underscored a central theme: Unions are essential defenders of democracy, human rights and public education. The webinar brought together educators and union leaders from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Puerto Rico and the United States.
“Our democracy is hanging by a thread, and it is breaking farther each week,” said DeJesus. “Fortunately the labor movement believes in international solidarity, so we can draw from the experiences and knowledge of our brothers and sisters who, God bless them, are willing to share and help us learn from the recent histories.”
It is difficult to talk about Latin America as a single region, but as moderator Mark Feierstein, senior Latin American policy adviser in the Clinton and Obama-Biden administrations and former acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, pointed out, several common themes surfaced during the conversation: the importance of a strong union movement; coalition building that includes educators, workers, students and families; civil society; social movements; and international solidarity.
From Argentina to Colombia, Honduras to Chile, Puerto Rico to other parts of the U.S., the call to action was the same: We need a multipronged strategy that includes courts, legislation and street protests to create change. And the solidarity that so many named as crucial to the fight was very much on display on the panel.
Key exchanges and lessons learned
AFT leaders were eager to learn from the experiences of colleagues from other nations. J. Philippe Abraham, AFT vice president and secretary-treasurer of New York State United Teachers, wanted to know: How can unions mobilize members and align with other social movements to resist authoritarian government? In Argentina, where unions are facing repression and President Javier Milei is dismantling democratic institutions, the union is working with a broad coalition to defend public education and workers’ rights, said Sonia Alesso, secretary general of the Confederación de Trabajadores de la Educación de la República Argentina. Unions cannot resist authoritarianism alone, she said. Alliances with communities, parents and social movements strengthen legitimacy and impact.
Drawing on her own Honduran heritage, Karla Hernandez-Mats, AFT vice president and former United Teachers of Dade president asked Luis Daniel Fonseca, president of El Colegio Profesional Superación Magisterial Hondureño in Honduras, how unions can sustain the coalition movements so crucial to the struggle. Fonseca’s union is pairing its work to strengthen Honduras’ education system with resistance to government-driven union fragmentation. It is raising issues beyond teacher pay and benefits, and engaging parents, students and teachers across traditional and digital platforms. Campaigns must go beyond specific demands to include a vision that resonates across generations, said Fonseca.
In Chile, the power of student and teacher mobilizations shaped national politics when Gabriel Boric, a student movement leader, was elected president in 2021. In a conversation with Kathy Chavez, AFT vice president and president of the Albuquerque Educational Assistants Association, Mario Aguilar, president of the Colegio de Profesores in Chile, stressed the need to move beyond the traditional model of democracy toward a participatory democracy where unions and grassroots groups influence governance directly.
In a conversation that drew parallels between the struggle for immigrant justice in the U.S. and the democratic struggles in Colombia, Juan Ramirez, AFT vice president and executive vice president CFT (the California state federation), and Isabel Olaya, vice president of Education International in Latin America and an executive at the Federación Colombiana de Educadores in Colombia, discussed strategies for safe and effective protests. Olaya described a long history of repression against the teachers union in Colombia, where the murder rate among teachers is frighteningly high. She emphasized preparation, peaceful tactics, safety protocols, legal training and solidarity within communities as key measures for mobilization under violent repression.
History plays a large role in many of these struggles, as pointed out by Victor M. Bonilla Sánchez, AFT vice president and president of Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico. He highlighted Puerto Rico’s colonial history, the austerity measures imposed by the island’s U.S.-controlled fiscal board, and the need for unions to resist privatization while maintaining transparency. When it comes to corruption and colonial subordination, unions must model accountability, he said, while forging alliances at home and abroad. He highlighted the association with the AFT as an instrumental tool to defend public education in Puerto Rico.
These exchanges demonstrated the shared struggles of educators across the Americas. While contexts differ—Argentina’s authoritarian turn, Honduras’ fragile democracy, Chile’s participatory demands, Colombia’s violence, Puerto Rico’s colonial subordination—unions have been a part of the way forward in each case.
“We can fight against this if we are together,” said Sonia Alesso of CTERA in Argentina. “You can count on us. We are with you.”
[Virginia Myers]