Right to Democracy hosts dialogue on democracy, equity, and self-determination

10/14/2025 - The Northern Marianas College Library became a space for honest reflection and connection on Saturday evening as community leaders, educators, and advocates from across the U.S. territories gathered for a panel discussion on democracy, equity, and self-determination.

Hosted by Right to Democracy in partnership with Northern Marianas College, Saturday’s forum, Advancing Democracy, Equity and Self-Determination in the U.S. Territories, brought together panelists from the CNMI, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Each shared historical context, personal reflection, and pointed criticism of the limitations placed on territorial self-governance in US territories.

“We need more conversation”

Moderator Sheila Babauta, who serves as the NMI fellow for Right to Democracy, opened the discussion by calling for more open dialogue at home.

“Here in the CNMI, we just need more conversation and more dialogue on our political status, on democracy, on self-determination,” Babauta said. “There’s so much that we need to be involved in and have a seat at the table and have these conversations locally.”

Babauta noted that the event came at a “divine timing and alignment” as the CNMI reflects on its Covenant and the United States nears its 250th anniversary of independence.

Her stance throughout the discussion underscored one theme: empowerment through awareness. “We have to understand that we are not small islands—we are a large ocean state,” she said, later linking that message to her advocacy with Our Commonwealth 670, a local organization promoting demilitarization and environmental justice.

“We have a sacred responsibility to care for our lands and our oceans that feed us and be in relationship with the ocean and the land,” she said.

A call to “continue building”

For Dr. Galvin Deleon Guerrero, president of NMC, the approaching Covenant anniversary is not a celebration of perfection but a call to responsibility.

“Our founding fathers didn’t write it so that it would be set in stone,” he said. “They didn’t like build the perfect car and say, okay, Commonwealth, drive it. We are not just passengers in that car. We are not just drivers of the car. But it is up to us to continue building that car.”

Deleon Guerrero reminded attendees that the Covenant took 27 months to negotiate and warned against “romanticizing the past.” He described self-government as an unfinished project requiring what he called “eternal vigilance.”

On environmental sovereignty, he said the CNMI has almost no control over its surrounding waters despite having one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the United States.

“For something that's so important, we have almost no jurisdiction over it,” he said. “Our say stops as far as three miles off shore… The thing that defines our heritage of ancient navigators and sailors who sailed across the Pacific on the proa—we own the ocean. Not anymore. And that's terrible.”

“We believed it”: Puerto Rico’s struggle

Representing Puerto Rico, Adi Martínez-Román offered a sobering account of how U.S. control has shaped her territory’s politics and economy.

“Puerto Rico started its relationship with the United States officially more than 125 years ago in 1898 after the Spanish-American-Cuban War, where Puerto Rico was with Guam and the Philippines, un botín de guerra, a spoil of war,” she said.

Martínez-Román explained how Puerto Rico’s 1952 Constitution, initially seen as a step toward autonomy, was later stripped of key socioeconomic protections by Congress and ultimately ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court to be a creation of federal law.

“We believed it,” she said. “Some of us kind of knew that it was not until I would say 2016, 2017, where… the Supreme Court of the United States told us that… Puerto Rico doesn’t have any degree of autonomy outside of being an unincorporated territory.”

She shared that self-determination must be driven by the people, not granted from above.

“Self-determination is not a one and done deal,” she said. “The process of self-determination is always an ongoing process… We want to be able to define our relationship and our political rights in a way that really respects the will of the people.”

“People should have a say”

Neil Weare, co-director of Right to Democracy and an attorney from Guam, focused on the structural inequities built into U.S. territorial law.

“People should have a say in the decisions that impact their lives,” Weare said. “It’s not radical. It should be a mainstream understanding.”

He recalled his experience arguing before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, where he said the U.S. defended its denial of presidential voting rights to territorial residents by claiming they could simply move to the mainland to vote.

“After I picked my jaw up off the floor, just realizing how audacious some of these defenses and arguments that the United States had made,” he said, “I expected the tribunal… to really let the United States have it. And there was not a critical question asked.”

Weare’s shared that legal and political reforms must be driven from the territories outward, since “The courts have never upheld limits on federal power… The United States has made deep promises, but the courts have been unwilling to uphold them,” he said.

“Navigating change for ourselves and our neighbors”

For Zeno Deleon Guerrero Jr., an educator and Right to Democracy board member, the organization’s strength lies in connecting young people and communities across island territories to recognize shared struggles.

“I really see Rights of Democracy as furthering the education of our youth,” he said. “Because I have learned so much from the other territories… There is so much to learn.”

He warned that while residents take pride in the Covenant’s history, they must also confront its fragility.

“It’s really up to the whims of the legislative body on changing that law,” he said. “If they decide that this is not the law, then screw mutual consent. It’s up to them.”

When asked to define self-determination, Zeno offered the reflection: “Navigating change for ourselves and our neighbors.”

As the discussion closed, Weare reminded the audience “I think we each need to ask ourselves, how can I be part of the change? And what does that look like, to have power and agency of my own to move these issues forward? “

Panelists encouraged the students in the room, think critically not only about the present situation, but also what past decisions led up to that moment and how to make their voices heard and make a change for a better future in the territories and the generations to come. 

Martinez-Roman shared that with discussions like these happening in the community, she has a renewed faith and hope “...I it is essential to be hopeful and have faith amongst us, like for each other and with each other. And so, sometimes this work is really tiring and consuming. And you know, Sheila knows. She was traveling with us in American Samoa, We're tired. But then after having this conversation with you, it renews my hope and my faith.”

Report by Chrystal Marino