Authoritarian narratives in Central America don’t rely on persuasion alone. They demand that people toe the official line, and that grip is hard for conventional counter-narratives to break. Humor, satire, and irony work differently. They expose the gap between what those in power say and what’s actually happening, corner leaders with no good response, and spread through informal networks fast and slippery enough to protect the people who make them, cracking the authoritarian narrative underneath. 

This workshop brings together journalists, artists, activists, and researchers who use these tools across the region. They’ll share their own work and strategies, covering forms like satire, irony, institutional parody, absurdism, and carnivalesque inversion, and break down how each one works, when to use it, and what risks it carries. Together, participants will practice the skills needed to push back on authoritarian narratives. 

Note: This session is by invitation only. To request an invitation, please reach out to Carlos Martínez Ruiz at [email protected].