Julian Velez got a seat as an impromptu interpreter for Jadder Mendoza, Centro para la Autonomía y Desarrollo para los Pueblos Indígenas (CADPI) at Key Messages of Indigenous Peoples side event.

There was no employed interpreter at the side event who would translate the discussion from english into spanish, which gave less chance for the key speakers who were not fluent in english to actively participate in the discussion. While Julian didn’t translate the discussion from english to spanish, he did volunteer to contribute to more proficient translation of spanish with his native speaking skills.