Understanding multilateral institutions' role in the construction of desirable goals for educational reform is a key element to grasp the weight globalisation has on local practices of education. Comparative studies of civics and moral education point to the idea of 'citizenship' as a site revealing not only the political economy but also the cultural politics involved in the globalisation of education. Through political discourse analysis, this paper analyses key multilateral agencies' discourses on citizenship education for Latin America. It traces the concerns, diagnoses, definitions and proposals of what citizenship education is (or should be) in agenda-setting documents and policy reports promoted by these organisations. Drawing on Latin American decolonial theories, it challenges concerns with civic disengagement and "convivencia" underpinning multilateral citizenship education discourses. As a counterpoint, it presents research from scholars highlighting alternative--often overlooked--participatory and decolonial pedagogical experiences present in Latin America that open new standpoints for citizenship education comparative research in the region.