{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chuygarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-garcia-participates-in-the-third-panamerican-congress", "Congressman Garc\u00eda Participates in the Third Panamerican Congress", "2026-08-24", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Jes\u00fas G. \"Chuy\" Garc\u00eda", "G000586", "chuygarcia.house.gov", "chuygarcia", "https://chuygarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Congressman Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda (IL-04) participated in the Third Panamerican Congress that took place from Friday, Aug. 21, through Sunday, Aug. 23. The opening day began with a press conference and an opening ceremony at Uruguay\u2019s Legislative Palace led by Uruguayan Vice President Carolina Cosse. The gatherings\u2019 first closed-door working session started right after.\n\nThat afternoon, a public event entitled \u201cThis Is America\u201d brought together more than 600 people to the historic Teatro Sol\u00eds. Former Chilean President Gabriel Boric, former Colombian President Gustavo Petro, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof, former Uruguayan Vice President Luc\u00eda Topolansky, former Chilean presidential candidate Jeannette Jara and former Chilean government spokesperson Camila Vallejo were among the progressive leaders from across the Americas who shared their visions for the region\u2019s future.\n\nOn Saturday, delegations continued with additional closed-door working sessions and workshops on emerging issues, including the defense of democracy, the new global economy and cybersecurity.\n\nThe Third Panamerican Congress concluded Sunday with a closing session at the MERCOSUR Parliament, or Parlasur, in Montevideo. The parliamentary forum of democratic forces across the Americas brought together more than 150 lawmakers, former presidents, ministers and political leaders from 15 countries. Participants reviewed the outcomes of the working sessions held in Montevideo and announced Brazil as the next host country of the fourth Panamerican Congress in 2027.\n\nThe closing session began with presentations of the conclusions from four working groups focused on peace, multilateralism and security; sustainable economic development and regional integration; digital sovereignty and artificial intelligence; and well-being and care for the majority. Lawmakers agreed that the hemisphere\u2019s challenges\u2014from financial coercion and weaponized sanctions to concentrated technological power and the erosion of traditional welfare systems\u2014require coordinated regional action rather than fragmented national responses.\n\nParticipants from the United States included a Congressional delegation led by U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-7), and Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda (D-IL-04).\n\nU.S. Rep. Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda said members of the U.S. delegation share the Congress\u2019 vision.\n\n\u201cThose of us who serve in the United States Congress share the vision of this Panamerican Congress,\u201d Garc\u00eda said. \u201cI believe winning back the majority in Congress can open space to change U.S. policy toward the region and the Global South. We will center working-class well-being, respect for human rights and respect for the sovereignty of Latin American nations.\u201d\n\nDavid Adler, General Coordinator of the Panamerican Congress, marked the gathering\u2019s conclusion:\n\n\u201cThe third Panamerican Congress has now concluded. We are very pleased and honored to have brought together 150 leaders and lawmakers from 15 countries across the region around a clear message: We need more dialogue at a hemispheric scale between North and South America, but on a new and more equal footing,\u201d Adler said. \u201cOver these three days, we have shown that it is possible to sit down and discuss concrete issues, including peace and security, care and social welfare systems, in terms that reflect the deep bonds shared across the Americas.\u201d\n\nUruguayan lawmaker In\u00e9s Cort\u00e9s also highlighted the Congress\u2019 accomplishments.\n\n\u201cThis was a very productive Congress,\u201d Cort\u00e9s said. \u201cWe had already held preliminary activities and workshops in several countries across the region on some of these issues. Today, we concluded three days of work in which we built a common agenda and developed legislative priorities designed to outlast political swings in executive leadership across the hemisphere. We are advancing along another path by bringing together legislatures from across the Americas.\u201d\n\nJahiren Noriega, an Ecuadorian National Assembly member representing Pichincha, emphasized the importance of the gathering for her country.\n\n\u201cEcuador is currently experiencing an aggressive militarization policy and deeply unequal security cooperation arrangements between the U.S. and Ecuadorian governments,\u201d Noriega said. \u201cThe cooperation between the Ecuadorian and U.S. militaries has already resulted in serious human rights violations. In that sense, this Congress is not only a space to expose what is happening in Ecuador but, above all, an opportunity to develop strategies for parliamentary cooperation. By working with U.S. lawmakers, we can bring these abuses to light and press for oversight in the United States. As a region, we are facing a wave of far-right governments that are undermining our rights and our democracy. Organizing to develop strategies of resistance is therefore essential.\u201d\n\nRepresenting Brazil, scholar Larissa Ramina underscored the broader regional significance of the gathering.\n\n\u201cThis Congress is especially important because it allows us to sound the alarm publicly about what is happening in Latin America and, at this moment, in Brazil,\u201d Ramina said. \u201cIt also allows us to draw attention to the many issues discussed here, including artificial intelligence, electoral sovereignty, multilateralism, greater cooperation and the importance of strengthening regional integration.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-25T05:31:37Z", "2026-08-25T05:33:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chuygarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-garcia-participates-in-the-third-panamerican-congress"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.730509964749217, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}