Alejandro Rodríguez
Alejandro Rodríguez is a human rights defender and researcher at Impunity Watch in Guatemala. He is a lawyer and a notary, and holds a Phd in Law from the University of Salamanca. He is a founding member of the Institute for Comparative Studies of Criminal Law in Guatemala (Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales de Guatemala - ICCPG). He was also Director of Criminal Investigation at the Public Prosecutor's Office of Guatemala from 2011 - 2013.
Since Otto Pérez Molina assumed the role of President in January 2012, cases of harassment and threats against HRDs have been on the rise. Human rights defenders (HRDs) in Guatemala are subjected to death threats, physical attacks, acts of harassment, surveillance, stigmatisation, judicial harassment, arbitrary detention, forced disappearance and killings. Many of the violations are carried out by clandestine security structures and illegal groups. The exceptionally high level of impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators increases the risk exponentially for HRDs.
