Judge Gálvez

Exiled Guatemalan Judge Miguel Angel Gálvez is presently based in Costa Rica and a Fellow of the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission in Washington. Judge Gálvez is recognized for his leadership and courage as a judge who presided over cases that were key to fighting for democracy, judicial independence and against impunity in Guatemala.

Judge Gálvez has ruled on charges against former dictators, sitting presidents, death squad operators, oligarchs and drug cartels. Notably, he served as an investigating judge against former military leader and dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt, who became the first former head of state to be convicted of genocide by a domestic court; and ordered the arrest of former president Otto Pérez Molin, who is being tried on corruption charges related to a major customs fraud scam.

In November 2022, he was forced to flee into exile. After four years in exile, he is courageously putting his name forward to serve as a judge of the Constitutional Court, the highest court of Guatemala.