ALEJANDRA ANCHEITA PAGAZA
Full biography (click here)
She has a Law Degree from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) and Master in International Law and Global Justice from Fordham University School of Law (USA). She has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Paris Nanterre (France).
Executive Director and founder of ProDESC. Since 2005 she has led processes aimed at the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, achieving unprecedented results such as the application of accountability mechanisms to major transnational corporations. Due to the impact of the work she has done, in 2014 she was awarded with the Martin Ennals Award by the International Human Rights Community. Likewise, in 2015 she received recognition from the Mexican Senate for her continuous work as a defender of the rights of workers, migrants and indigenous communities.
Alberto Solis
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration from UNAM, with a Master’s in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA. He is a specialist in Protection and Security for Human Rights Defenders from the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, and has completed professional studies in Philosophy, Literary Creation, and Theology.
In addition, he has coordinated and participated in research projects on indigenous people, social conflict in Mexico, and transitional justice in Latin America.
From 2014 to 2021, he served as Executive Director of Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz A.C. (Serapaz). He accompanied over 80 conflict processes with social movements advocating for various causes, such as the defense of territory, truth and justice for families of the disappeared, democratic conditions, and economic, social and cultural rights.
Recently, he worked on human rights advocacy and peacebuilding with a binational agenda (Mexico-United States) as a “Mexico Human Rights Senior Fellow” for Global Exchange and Latin American Working Group based in Washington D.C.
LAUTARO COSTANTINI
He has a degree in Political Science from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He has been a research and teaching assistant in various subjects at the Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales of the UNAM (FCPS-UNAM). He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Development at the Latin American Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO Argentina).
In 2014 he joined the Government of Mexico City and worked in the analysis and improvement of public organizations, particularly with entities responsible for human rights policies in the City. Subsequently, he actively participated in the planning and construction of Mexico City’s career public service and in issues related to the professionalization of public servants. In addition, he collaborated in the Secretariat of Mobility on innovation and risk control issues. During his professional career, Lautaro has specialized in professionalization, analysis and improvement of organizations, as well as in planning, monitoring and evaluation. He currently works as Institutional Development Coordinator at ProDESC.
BETZAIDA LÓPEZ
She holds a degree in Public Administration from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). She is currently studying a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management at UNAM.
She began her career in 2015 in the Secretariat of Academic Staff of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, where she performed process improvement activities in the procedures of professors, as well as in the selection of aspiring professors. In 2016 she incorporated to the Government of Mexico City, being in charge of supervising the implementation of work-life balance programs, among them “Oficina en tu casa” (Office in your home). In 2017 she joined the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), where she was responsible for the overall planning for the development of statistical projects, among which are the National Census of Government, Public Safety and State Prison System and the National Census of Federal Government. She is currently a member of the Institutional Development Coordination.
Fernando Barajas
He holds a Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD degree in Literature from UNAM. He has collaborated with organized civil society for 20 years. He was a researcher at the Centro de Investigación y Acción Social del Centro ProDH, where he specialized in diagnosis, monitoring, and evaluation of community organizing processes.
In 2021, he began collaborating with ControlaTuGobierno, A.C., an organization dedicated to strengthening organizations in the demand and exercise of their human rights through tools for access to information and social auditing. In this role, he worked on organizational strengthening, strategic planning, evaluation processes, and the drafting of processes, manuals, and policies.
Additionally, he worked as a reporter and later as editor in chief of electronic media outlets focused on political and urban issues.
ISAURA PAGAZA SÁNCHEZ
She has a degree in Business Administration. She has participated for 35 years in the human rights movement in Mexico. She began her participation in a women’s collective in Chiapas and later in K’inal Antzetik, an organization that works with indigenous women throughout the country. She collaborated in the organization of events for the sale of handicrafts as part of self-sufficiency programs. She also participated in a political group called Convergencia Socialista where she was in charge of administration. Since 2007, she has collaborated with ProDESC. She is currently the Administration and Finance Coordinator where she is responsible for financial planning, as well as the preparation of reports and sustainability projections for the organization.
KELLY RODRÍGUEZ
He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Accounting from the Universidad Alejandro Humboldt in Caracas, Venezuela and a Master’s Degree in Finance from Universidad Simón Rodríguez. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Risk Analysis from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración de Venezuela. He is a certified speaker from Universidad Central de Venezuela.
He has developed his professional career in the field of administration, working for nine years as a business manager at a bank serving commercial clients. Then he was an administrator in a company dedicated to the sale of beauty products for 5 years. Upon his arrival in Mexico he was finance and marketing manager in a company in the tourism industry. In 2017 he was a financial advisor in a company that works with a bank in granting loans. Currently he is part of the Administration and Finance Coordination of ProDESC, as Head of Accounting and Human Resources.
ELIZABETH ZAMORA QUINTANAR
Public Accountant, graduated from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, campus ESCA Santo Tomas.
She began her career in Accounting Firms, occupying positions of accounting assistant. In 2003 she was Account Receivable Analyst at Universal Pictures. In 2004 she joined Danone Group, where she worked for 17 years, first as Accounts Receivable Supervisor, performing the collection management in the Self-Service area, in 2010 as Accounts Payable Supervisor, performing payment functions to suppliers and finally in 2018 as Operational Accountant, having as main activity the review of the activities of the Distribution Centers.
She joined ProDESC in January 2022, to perform accounting functions.
EDUARDO VILLARREAL CANTÚ
PhD in Public Policy from the Institut de Govern i Polítiques Públiques (IGOP) of the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. In 2004, he received the National Thesis Award on Corruption from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
He has worked as a professor and researcher at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Penales (INACIPE), in the areas of Public Policy, Governance, Citizen Participation and Public Policy instruments. He participated as compiler in “Instrumentos de Políticas Públicas”, wrote the book “La Gobernanza en México. Análisis de la participación ciudadana en las políticas públicas” and served as coordinator in the book “Pre-Textos para el Análisis Político. Disciplines, rules and processes”. Since 2020, he has been the Coordinator of Analysis and Advocacy at ProDESC.
JESÚS GUARNEROS DÍAZ
He has a degree in Human Rights and Peace Management from the Universidad Claustro de Sor Juana in Mexico City.
Jesús has collaborated with organizations such as the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center in the indigenous mountain region of Guerrero, the Mesoamerica Program of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) in Costa Rica, the Business and Human Rights Reasearch Center for the region of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and in community development projects with campesinos in the central highlands of Mexico. He has also collaborated with the Tlaxcala State Human Rights Commission in the direction of Programs and attention to civil society and with the Foundation for Human Rights Education A.C. organizing and teaching human rights training programs for public officials, activists and the judiciary. He is interested in learning and researching about public policy, business and human rights, gender and justice.
GUILLERMO TORRES
He holds a law degree from the Universidad Regional del Sureste, with honors, and a Masters in Law from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He also has a Specialization in Administrative Justice from the Centro de Estudios del Tribunal Federal de Justicia Administrativa. He has taken courses on Strategic Litigation in defense of DESC by the IIJ-UNAM; Inter-American Human Rights System by the IIJ-UNAM, the IACHR and the IACHR Court; and on Amparo Trial by the SCJN. He is a member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Critical Theory of Transnational Legal Production (CEIICH-UNAM) and of the Seminar on “Social Rights and Social Justice” (Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, UNAM). He has written articles and papers on tax law, transnational law and human rights.
Currently, he is a member of the Transnational Justice Coordination of ProDESC, working as a lawyer in strategic litigation for the protection of human rights related to land and territory, as well as labor human rights.
MARLENE RODRÍGUEZ ATRIANO
She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Law, Specialist in Human Rights and a Master’s Degree in Law from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). She has obtained several diplomates from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, the Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, the Instituto de Liderazgo Simone de Beauvoir and the 17- Instituto de Estudios Críticos in human rights, indigenous peoples’ rights and feminism.
She has worked as a litigation lawyer in family matters oriented to the attention of gender violence. She was a parliamentary advisor in the Congress of Mexico City and also a legal advisor in the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples.
She has collaborated with various civil society organizations and collectives in the defense and promotion of human rights through diagnoses, research, teaching courses, conferences and workshops, especially in processes of autonomy and self-determination of indigenous peoples. She has worked as a teacher in higher education institutions.
GABRIEL ROCHA BELLONI
He has a degree in International Relations from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Tec de Monterrey), a Master in Economics, State and Society from the University College London (UCL) and a Master in Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki. He has more than 10 years of experience in monitoring and research in contexts of generalized violence, armed conflicts and socio-environmental conflicts, as well as in the accompaniment of individuals, communities and groups victims of violence in Latin America.
DANIEL PACHECO ÁLVAREZ
Daniel’s participation in the defense of human rights began with rural communities of the state of Guerrero in the central zone and communities of Alto Balsas, supporting the demand for their rights to food, self-determination and defense of their territory. He also participated within the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Guerrero with groups of artists who demanded the right to express their art and to have adequate spaces for that purpose. In 2008, he participated in the process of defending and demanding rights in the process of defending the territory and self-determination of the ejido La Sierrita against the Canadian mining company Excellon.
DAVID BRAVO RIVERA
He graduated with a degree in sociology from UAM-Azcapotzalco. While studying, he participated in the academic participation in the academic project “Research, habitat and design” of the Research and Design department of the UAM-A, and was part of the student collective “Uamer@s por la paz con justicia y dignidad”, in which they developed accompaniment projects with base communities of the EZLN.
He has worked with several civil society organizations developing and accompanying community development processes, productive and cultural projects, union organizing and gender issues. He has also participated in qualitative and quantitative research projects on various topics such as: Situation and position of women in rural municipalities (Lazos A.C.), updating of catalogs of indigenous communities and cultural manifestations of Chiapas and Oaxaca (CIESAS-CDI), methodology for preventive interventions in cities with habitat polygons (ECOSUR-Tapachula) and several investigations to evaluate social programs.
Independently, he has collaborated with several researchers in the use of GIS tools applied to social research.
OLIVIA FERNANDA GUZMÁN GARCÍA
Originally from the port of Topolobampo, Sinaloa, she is a member and founder of the Coalición de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores Migrantes Temporales Sinaloenses. She has led the struggle for the respect of the labor rights of those who come to the United States under the H-2 visa program. She has been a temporary migrant worker for almost twenty years, and works seasonally in the State of Louisiana (United States) in fishing activities. Since October 2018, she has been in charge of operating the Centro de Asistencia, Asesoría y Atención al Trabajador Migrante en Topolobampo, a project implemented by the Coalition in conjunction with ProDESC.
EFRÉN LUGO CAMPOS
He has a degree in Communication Sciences at the Universidad de Occidente campus Los Mochis, where he was also part of the production team of institutional radio and television programs. He has been dedicated for 10 years to the production of audiovisual content for companies and government institutions, as well as social causes in the port of Topolobampo, Sinaloa. For the past 5 years he has participated with the Colectivo raíces aéreas in the generation of artistic and cultural spaces in his region of Sinaloa. In addition, for the past 3 years he has been a member of the Coalición de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores Migrantes Temporales Sinaloenses where he provides advice, assistance and attention to fellow workers who, like him, are migrants in search of family, economic and social wellbeing. It is also the place where he has found his passion for human and labor rights.
Edmundo Estefan Fuentes
He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Law from UNAM, where he is currently pursuing a PhD in Law. He has a Diploma in the Inter-American System and studies in applied social research at the Institute of Legal Research of UNAM. He is a specialist in constitutional justice and human rights.
His professional experience began in 2007 as a research assistant at the Institute of Legal Research of UNAM, focusing on constitutional justice, human rights protection, legal interpretation, and argumentation, in addition to collaborating in the Planning and Institutional Relations Unit of that academic entity. In 2012, he joined the UNAM’s University Rights Ombudsman’s Office as a lawyer, while also serving as Technical Secretary of the UNESCO Chair. In 2015, he collaborated in the Sixth Inspectorate of the National Human Rights Commission as an adjunct visitor and area director, focusing on investigations related to economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights, as well as comprehensive reparations for serious violations.