August 17, 2026: Introducing the 20 Selected Participants for Latinos, Media, and Democracy Program (LMDP) 2026 - The AI Edition (Fall Cohort)
The Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA), in collaboration with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), is proud to announce the 20 participants selected for the Latinos, Media, and Democracy Program (LMDP) 2026 - The AI Edition (Fall Cohort).
Following the first cohort held earlier this year, DDIA’s second 2026 cohort brings together a multilingual group of journalists, content creators, and civil society leaders committed to strengthening a healthier information ecosystem for Latino communities in the United States and Latin America.
Twenty participants were selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants for their unique work, vision, and commitment to listening to and engaging with Latinos across U.S. states and territories.
These trusted messengers are creative thinkers and doers working at the intersection of media, artificial intelligence, information integrity, and democracy.
Throughout the program, the cohort will engage in briefings and hands-on workshops covering topics such as:
U.S. Latino media consumption and voting trends
AI-powered prompt engineering, content analysis, deep research, and verification
AI applications in reporting, investigations, and content creation, with an emphasis on ethical safeguards and human oversight
Information integrity and strategies for navigating today’s evolving information environment
LMDP 2026 will also welcome back an alumni from the 2024 cohort, whose experience and continued work since completing the program will add valuable perspective to this year’s group.
The 2026 Fall cohort brings together voices from Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and Washington, D.C., as well as from countries across the region, including Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico.
Please join DDIA and the DFRLab in welcoming our LMDP 2026 Fall cohort!
Claudia Rivera Cotto
Claudia Rivera Cotto is a bilingual journalist covering politics, government, and immigration issues in North Carolina for Enlace Latino NC. Previously, she worked as a social issues journalist at the Columbia Missourian. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from the University of Puerto Rico and a master’s degree in investigative and data journalism from the University of Missouri.
Crishtbel Mora
Crishtbel Mora is a five-time Emmy Award-winning multimedia journalist with more than 20 years of experience in broadcast news, digital journalism, and strategic communications across Venezuela and the United States. She currently serves as a Multimedia Journalist for Telemundo 62/NBCUniversal in Philadelphia, covering immigration, public safety, elections, and accountability reporting for Hispanic communities across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. In 2025, she became the first Latina recognized as Best Multimedia Journalist by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Television Academy. Through this fellowship, she aims to strengthen her investigative and AI-informed storytelling skills to serve underrepresented communities with accurate, trustworthy journalism.
Christian Ttito
Instagram | TikTok | Threads | Youtube | Facebook | Linktree | LinkedIn
Christian is a Peruvian-American storyteller, digital creator, and community builder dedicated to amplifying Latino voices through authentic storytelling. As the founder of Being Peruvian, he creates documentaries, interviews, and cultural content that celebrate identity, immigration, and belonging while connecting communities across the U.S. and Peru. His work explores the intersection of culture, creativity, and social impact, using digital media to foster understanding and representation. If selected, he hopes to bring curiosity, collaboration, and a commitment to uplifting diverse perspectives while learning alongside fellow changemakers.
Carolina Bazante
Carolina Bazante is an Ecuadorian journalist specializing in information verification and media literacy, with over 12 years of experience as an editor and reporter across print, TV, radio, and digital platforms in Latin America, the United States, and Spain. She is the founder and director of Lupa Media, Ecuador's leading independent fact-checking and media literacy organization. Co-author of Engañosfera Electoral (2025), she is an ICFJ fellow (2022, 2024) and DW Akademie fellow (2022). A regular speaker at regional and international forums on information integrity and disinformation, she has trained journalists, educators, students, and the general public across Ecuador and the region.
Daniel Robles
Instagram | Instagram - Conecta Arizona | Facebook | LinkedIn
Daniel Robles is a graphic designer with more than two decades of experience in visual arts, photography, illustration, advertising, and marketing. Originally from Sonora, Mexico, he holds an associate degree in Graphic Design and Advertising.
An award-winning creative recognized for his work in advertising campaign design and audiovisual projects, Robles has served as Creative Director of Conecta Arizona since its founding. In his free time, he enjoys practicing street and documentary photography.
Georgiana Gonzalez
Georgiana González is a journalist with over 20 years of experience in digital media. A fellow of the NAHJ Leadership Adelante Academy, she holds degrees from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and Boston University, plus a Professional Certificate in Content Business Management (IJNet & Escuela de Asuntos Digitales). Based in Miami, she is Editor-in-Chief of Yahoo en Español, leading strategies to connect and engage Hispanic audiences across the U.S. and Latin America.
Jaime Mendez
Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | LinkedIn
Jaime Méndez is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and influencer with significant presence in Washington State. His career spans nearly 30 years, including radio, TV and social media.
He served as news anchor and reporter for the daily news program on Univision Seattle from 2007-2023. On January 2024, Méndez cofounded Se Habla Media, where he acts as CEO, to offer local news and information in Spanish on social media.
He also serves at the Cariño Scholarship Foundation’s Board, offering financial support to undocumented students. Originally from Colombia, Méndez graduated in Communications and Social Sciences from The Evergreen State College.
José Alonso Muñoz
José Alonso Muñoz is a bilingual communications strategist specializing in counter-disinformation targeting Latino communities. As Hispanic Press Secretary at the DCCC during the 2024 cycle, he led counter-disinformation efforts in one of the most complex electoral environments in recent memory. Previously, he directed counter-disinformation programming at United We Dream Action, focusing on immigration narratives and U.S. Latino audiences. He is the founder of Six Twelve Strategies, a bilingual public affairs firm advising candidates and organizations on Latino engagement. José brings unique expertise at the nexus of counter disinformation, electoral politics, and Hispanic media.
Juan Carlos Campuzano II
Juan Carlos Campuzano II, best known as Juanky, is an Emmy-nominated, bilingual producer from Miami. He has worked on television shows and produced digital content for notable networks like NBC, Netflix, and Nickelodeon, among others. His recent projects include launching Red Table Talk: The Estefans, three YouTube series for Lunario Media, a short documentary for The Examination, and the Roku series Serenata de las Estrellas. Based in Miami and New York, Juanky is currently working on several projects worldwide, across various media genres, formats, and platforms. Learn more at juankyinc.com.
Juanita Ramos
Instagram | Instagram 2 | Youtube | LinkedIn
Juanita Ramos is a bilingual journalist and community engagement specialist based in New York. She currently works as an Impact and Engagement Strategist for the AP Fund for Journalism, the nonprofit arm of the Associated Press, helping strengthen connections between newsrooms and the communities they serve. She also leads her own project, Reinterpretar, which focuses on stories from the Hispanic community in NYC, as well as media literacy workshops. Previously, she worked as a digital journalist for Noticias Telemundo, a TV producer for NY1 Noticias, and at several media outlets in Colombia, where she is from.
Lego Rodriguez
Lego Rodriguez is a Communications specialist with over a decade of experience in print, digital, and multimedia journalism. I began my career covering politics and sports for Mexico’s largest newspaper organization, where I led coverage and oversaw print design. I now serve as Lead News Editor at La Campesina Network, where I host two daily shows focused on local Arizona news and national U.S. issues affecting Latino communities.
Liliana Baglietto
Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | LinkedIn
Liliana Baglietto is a bilingual marketing and communications leader with more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit, media, and community impact work. She serves as Marketing Manager at New Pathways for Youth in Phoenix, where she leads bilingual communications, donor storytelling, and digital strategy. She is also the founder and producer of Voces del Valle, a Spanish-language community radio program and podcast on La Onda 99.5 FM, amplifying Latino voices across the Valley. Recognized as one of the Most Influential Women of Tijuana, she is committed to language equity and community access to information.
Liliana López Ruelas
Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | LinkedIn
Born in Douglas, Arizona, and raised in Agua Prieta, Mexico, Liliana Lopez is a bilingual journalist, entrepreneur, and founder of Somos Tucson, an independent Spanish-language digital news outlet serving Tucsonans. After earning a degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Sonora, she spent a decade working in Mexico City before joining the Arizona Daily Star, where she worked for 12 years, leading Hispanic community engagement and editing La Estrella de Tucson. She later earned a master’s degree in Bilingual Journalism from the University of Arizona. A mother of two, Liliana is committed to strengthening and informing Tucson’s Spanish-speaking community.
Marisol Jiménez
Marisol Jiménez is a Mexican journalist and Digital Copy Editor at CNN en Español, where she covers Latino communities in the United States. She previously worked as a trends and social media writer at EL PAÍS. Her work bridges reporting and audience strategy, using social media to expand reach, deepen engagement, and amplify underrepresented voices. She focuses on stories of identity, migration, justice, and human rights, with a commitment to making complex issues accessible and visible to broader audiences.
Mariana Pineda
Mariana Pineda is an award-winning bilingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience. A two-time Edward R. Murrow Award recipient, Emmy, Golden Mike, and NAHJ Ñ Award winner, she currently reports for Radio Bilingüe. She is an IWMF and ICFJ fellow and a Poynter alumna. Her reporting focuses on immigration, public policy, environmental justice, and Latino communities, with a commitment to accurate, solutions-oriented journalism that makes complex issues accessible and meaningful for diverse audiences.
Olivia Rivarola
Instagram | TikTok | X | Youtube | LinkedIn
Olivia Rivarola is Social Media and Special Projects Manager at Factchequeado, a nonpartisan media initiative serving Latino communities in the United States. Her work focuses on understanding how Latinos consume content, navigate platforms, and engage with public-interest information. She has helped grow Factchequeado’s community by more than 300% and contributed to products such as FactDesafIA, Electobot, and Electopedia. During the 2024 U.S. elections, she helped create a chatbot, a dedicated website, and more than 100 content pieces that explained the electoral process to Latinos. She is interested in using AI to create engaging, trustworthy, culturally relevant content.
Melisa Trad Malmod
Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | Youtube | LinkedIn
Melisa Trad Malmod is an award-winning Argentine journalist and foreign correspondent. She has reported from over 50 countries across six continents, covering conflict, democracy, and underreported human rights issues. Based in San Juan, Argentina, she produces and hosts the province’s leading geopolitics program on Radio Universidad and XAMA TV and contributes to international outlets.
She holds a licentiate degree in Social Communication (University of San Juan) and an MA on International Security (University of Glasgow).Beyond journalism, she has spent more than a decade advancing dialogue and civic engagement across the Global South, using storytelling as a tool for peacebuilding.
Paulina Velasco
Paulina Velasco is a multilingual journalist based in California with over a decade of experience in audio production, editing, feature writing, and investigative reporting. She examined the impacts of disinformation on Spanish-language radio for an investigation in 2024 that won an NAHJ Ñ Award. Her enterprise reporting on conditions faced by asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border was cited in a complaint to the Department of Homeland Security. In 2025, she was named one of Current's Rising Stars in Public Media for her contributions to nonprofit radio, which is how she got started in journalism.
Simon Santodomingo
Instagram | Instagram - El Tiempo Latino | Instagram - Tiempo News | LinkedIn
Simón Santodomingo is a Venezuelan multimedia journalist, researcher, and video producer based in the Washington, D.C., area. His work explores politics, democracy, immigration, and international affairs through investigative research and visual storytelling. Having left Venezuela amid political turmoil, he brings a firsthand understanding of democratic institutions and authoritarianism to his reporting. He is currently pursuing a degree in Political Science while producing bilingual digital journalism that combines rigorous fact-checking, compelling multimedia production, and accessible storytelling for diverse audiences.
Violeta Luza
Valentina Luza Carrión is the vice president of Amaranta NGO, a journalist, a graduate in social communication, a certified specialist in gender and violence, and a program developer. She has worked in communications and content creation on topics related to gender, science, and technology, ranging from media outlets to social organizations. She currently conducts workshops, teaches classes, and creates educational content.
June 1, 2026: DDIA seeks 20 journalists, content creators, media professionals, or civil society leaders for an 8-week, AI-focused, capacity-building program.
Apply by July 5, 2026 (11:59 p.m. ET)
Today DDIA launches its call for applications for The Latinos, Media, and Democracy Program (LMDP) 2026 - The AI Edition | Fall Cohort, an 8-week, no-cost, series of workshops designed to support Latino front-line communicators and trusted messengers with the tools and knowledge they need to strengthen their coverage, understanding of, and overall engagement with Latino communities in the United States.
The program is open to Latino journalists, content creators, media professionals, and civil society leaders. Twenty participants will be selected for this cohort.
LMDP 2026 will teach participants to harness AI for prompt engineering, content analysis, and search and verification, and will cover the ethical framework for AI use in reporting, investigations, and content creation, focusing on bias mitigation and data privacy. The program will be conducted in collaboration with the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) and will feature other guest speakers.
This program will also cover the foundations of information ecosystem trends impacting U.S. Latinos, including media consumption trends, voting patterns, and Latino engagement with misinformation and other online harms. The twenty trusted messengers selected for this program will also be given the opportunity to learn from and engage with experts from a variety of disciplines in and outside of Washington, D.C.
Participants will walk away from the program with:
1) access to training and tools for harnessing AI for better investigations, content production, and engagement with Latinos;
2) a greater understanding of AI adoption and perceptions of AI among Latinos, and
3) the skills to help fortify trust between Latino audiences and democracy.
Review the call for applications here.
Apply by July 5, 2026 (11:59 p.m. ET)
Eligibility Criteria:
Participants must fit into at least one of the categories described below:
Be a U.S.-based journalist covering politics or elections in the United States
Be a Latin America-based journalist covering the 2026 midterm elections in the United States
Be a U.S.-based journalist covering entertainment, tech, or social media
Be an influencer (with over 5,000 followers) or media producer based in the United States producing content in English and/or Spanish for social media channels that are geared, at least in part, to Latinos
Be a U.S. civil society leader covering or focusing on specific states or cities
Be a U.S. civil society leader working on organizing and engaging Latino communities around elections
Participants should be fluent in English (and preferably also in Spanish or Portuguese), and be working with/for the Latino community in 2026.
Skills, attributes, and experiences that may be particularly relevant to this program include:
Interest in the intersections of AI, elections, media, and community engagement
Interest in investigating and/or researching how online harms circulate among Latinos and how (if) it impacts on their behavior
Interest in learning new AI tools and techniques to improve reporting/content production
Interest in participating in an emerging cohort of Latino-centered trusted messengers
Knowledge, networks, or experience related to issues affecting Latinos across the United States.
Program Expectations and Commitment:
Be ready to dedicate at least three hours of time to the program per week between September and November 2026, being present in all sessions scheduled (in advance) by DDIA.
Be open and able to travel to Washington, DC, for three days over the last week of August for program kick-off activities.
Commit to producing and publishing one original project or piece of content inspired by at least one of the lessons learned during the program, and to measuring the output’s impact.
Be willing to publish, distribute, or implement original content created based on the program’s learnings through an account, outlet, platform, or organization.
Commit to filling out pre- and post-session surveys as part of DDIA’s measurement and evaluation requirements.
More details about the program here.