Graduating senior Ixchtel Aguilar-Moore acquired broad research, study abroad and community engagement experience during her four years at UCLA.

UCLA International Institute, June 13, 2025 — As a UCLA Undergraduate Research Scholar, Ixchtel Aguilar-Moore (ULCA 2025 B.A. global studies/ geography & Spanish minors) received a $6,000 scholarship to research and write a senior thesis over three quarters, which she presented at Undergraduate Research Week in May.

Her global studies thesis examines post-coup democratization trends in Central America and seeks to answer the question: Why does Central America lag in post-coup democratization compared to other parts of the world?

“The degree of U.S. intervention in the coup, and historically in political and economic structures, play a role in the post-coup democratization processes’ success level,” hypothesized Aguilar-Moore.

In addition to the coup itself, her research paper looks at social movements, political party formation and diplomatic relationships between Central America and the U.S. to explain the connection between coups and democracy.

“One of my case studies… is the Honduran coup of 2009,” she explained at a meeting on community-engaged research in late May. “I realized that when it comes to research, there’s a lot of different narratives… but I really wanted to turn to my own community to describe the coup and be able to represent that [perspective] in my research.”

She accordingly drew on her work with the student association Unión Centroamericana de Estudiantes (UNICA) over the past two years, first as an external liaison and then as a political educator, to interview Hondurans who lived through the coup and its tumultuous aftermath. Unsurprisingly, their accounts differed from those of western scholars.

UNICA seeks to empower Central American Bruins by building community and informing members on political, historical and cultural issues through social events. Its horizons do not, however, stop at UCLA. “UNICA works with Central American communities in LA, in Central America and at UCLA,” explained Aguilar-Moore. “We really [work] on bridging the gaps between all these ... communities.”

As a Honduran American, she hopes that her “research will support corruption-free democratic structures in Central America by understanding the events and factors that form the current political structures.”

Aguilar-Moore’s extracurricular and academic engagement at UCLA includes being a peer learning facilitator for the Undergraduate Writing Center, a member of the Global Development Lab, a volunteer with the Campaign for Justice and a Study Abroad Ambassador for the UCLA International Education/Study Abroad office.

For the latter role, she regularly spoke to students about the two summer travel study programs she attended in South Africa and The Hague, respectively.

“[W]hen it comes to transnational solidarities, my research, and also the internship that I did in Cape Town, South Africa … focused on immigrant and refugee communities. Specifically [in South Africa], the impact of xenophobia on policy that targeted Zimbabwean migrants,” said Aguilar-Moore.

“This is something that keeps coming up within my own research, with the political climate and the attack on the immigrant communities right now, and also topics that come up in my classes.”

In South Africa, said the global studies senior, “I think turning to those people and listening to how they defined their own community was the most helpful… [E]specially when it comes to immigrant communities, that separation [between “our” community and other communities] was something that I was able to connect to my own identity, being Central American in the United States as well.”

Looking ahead, Aguilar-Moore aims to continue her education, and research, at law school, where she hopes to study international law with a focus on humanitarian and refugee law. 

Published: Friday, June 13, 2025