Latin America has become a key laboratory for the global tensions that threaten democracy today: concentration of power, setbacks in the rule of law, institutional capture, and systematic use of illicit financing to erode freedoms and weaken public trust. In this scenario, the boundaries between legal and illegal are blurred, while authoritarian actors and corrupt networks take advantage of institutional gaps and democratic fragility.
Drawing on the experience of its regional and national projects, this session offers a strategic perspective on how integrity, understood as a principle, practice, and collective action, can serve as a democratic shield. International cooperation, public institutions, civil society, the private sector, and independent journalism are emerging as key actors in defending democracy against illicit power and disinformation.
The session aims to analyze the factors driving democratic deterioration in Latin America and highlight specific experiences, with integrity as a central theme, that have succeeded in strengthening accountability and protecting fundamental rights and freedoms through multi-stakeholder and multilateral cooperation.
The session also aims to identify innovative and replicable strategies, promoted by German cooperation and its regional partners, that contribute to rebuilding trust, strengthening democratic resilience, and promoting collective action to defend democracy against corruption.
